18 Nov, 2011
Another holiday giveaway! Toshiba Thrive Tablet review and giveaway
Posted by andrea tomkins in: Giveaways and product reviews
Christmas came early here at Casa Fishbowl. A few weeks ago the good folks at Toshiba Canada sent me a 10” Thrive Tablet. The plan was, if I liked it, I would agree to a giveaway. And here I am! Liking it! But first I want to tell you what I like (and, er, don’t like) about it… just in case you’re in the market for a tablet any time soon.
I have to say, when I first turned it on I did a big WHAT THE HELL. I think families who aren’t “Apple” families might have an easier transition than I did. The styling and functionality are very “PC” feeling and the Thrive reminds me of a condensed laptop, which would make it very attractive to longtime PC users. If you’re an Apple user, the Android interface will seem rather cold at first.
Apple seems more feminine than anything that’s out there. Or is it just me? The iPad is sleek and slim, the pretty smart girl with glasses and soft hair and great skin… whereas the Tablet is manly and dark, that big rugged athletic guy who used to live down the street. It’s a matter of personal preference, but I will say this, the more I used the Tablet the more I liked it, manly bits and all.
I still wonder about the camera placement, especially when I’m holding it in landscape mode like in the photo above. My hand is almost always covering it when I’m reading and I worry about smudging and scratching the lens.
The Thrive is really durable. It is solid, and has good heft and is comfortable to carry and hold. It’s slightly heavier than an iPad, but I think its additional weight is a good thing. If it was any lighter and slimmer I might be too nervous about the kids using it. I was talking to someone about its durability recently and she agreed. “I just throw the thing in my bag,” she said. “I don’t even put a cover on it!”
The back of it has a special rubberized coating that ensures it is practically slip-free. It’s removable too, which means you can switch it out for different colours (sold separately) and replace your own battery if you need to.
The responsiveness of the touch screen is great, and the browser is super fast – faster than my iPhone, which I appreciate when I want to check something quickly. For example, I like using the tablet in the kitchen while I’m cooking. 90% of the time I am cooking in the kitchen I’m using a recipe from somewhere on the web. And if I’m doing that, I’m using my iPhone. Or at least I used to. I’d find the recipe and leave it on the screen so I can check it as I measure out ingredients. You can imagine how well THAT worked, especially when my hands were covered in flour or sticky dough. Yuck. Touch-scrolling a small screen in the kitchen is not ideal. The Tablet is so much better for this. In fact, I am asking Santa for a dock, just for this purpose. :)
The Thrive makes a fabulous e-reader, especially when it comes to library books. It’s 10” backlit display is a delight. I’ve figured out two things (a) I enjoy reading white on black text (which is one of the reader options available), and (b) how to turn off the auto-rotate, which comes in handy when I read in bed. Sidebar: I own two generations of the Kobo. As some of you may recall, I wasn’t happy with the first one. The second one I received (I actually won it at an event) has a touch screen and is less clunky (Mark inherited that one) but I was never completely happy with the “single purposeness” of that kind of device. The KOBO is for reading, and that’s pretty much it. Not everyone will agree but I like reading on a device that easily performs a multiple of other things I need to do to on a whim; whether it’s to look up the weather or quickly answer an email. I am a busy person. I know reading time should be reading time (something a little more sacred, and without so many interruptions), but I like having the ability to do other things if I need to.
Getting started with library books on the Tablet was very very easy. It took less than 10 minutes to set up. I downloaded the free Overdrive app (this is a third-party library app) over WiFi (which is FAST), navigated to the Ottawa Public Library and downloaded a book that was ready to be picked up. Getting a library book on the Kobo took hours to figure out, and even after I did finally figure it out, the process was far from seamless in terms of updating and syncing and getting other books. (I had to hook it up to the computer, use another program – Adobe Digital Editions – as a go-between etc etc. What a pain.)
The Thrive has a two-sided camera, and I find the picture quality and user interface is weaker than my iPhone’s, but hey, I’m a photography snob. I don’t see myself using it for this purpose, but I DO see myself uploading a bunch of photos to the tablet and carrying them with me as sort of an album. Or taking a slew of photos and transferring them over to view on the Tablet’s larger screen. The Toshiba doesn’t seem to have a way to do this. Apple has FaceTime for video calls but the Thrive does not seem to offer this option. I had assumed there’d be some integration with Google Hangout (a video chat app) but there isn’t. (Unless I have missed something. Correct me if I’m wrong!) I downloaded Skype for this purpose but haven’t tried it yet.
I was expecting higher quality video/game display on the Thrive given that it’s a Toshiba product. We compared it side-by-side to the new iPad (we did an Angry Birds demo) and the range of blacks weren’t as strong on the Thrive, but it certainly was respectable. And Angry Birds is a great game for the Tablet.
Android’s version of Apple’s App Store is called The Market. It might not be as extensive as the App Store but I found everything that I needed there. There is a great YouTube app that makes browsing and watching YouTube videos a pleasure. (We watch a lot of YouTube.) The girls have downloaded some great games and have been really enjoying playing them on the Tablet … a little too much if you ask me, because I am often looking for my book and I tend to find them hunkered down on the couch, draining my battery to precariously low levels. :)
The Toshiba Tablet is the only one on the market with full size ports (SD, USB, HDMI) for easy connectivity to other devices. I might see this coming in handy if I’m travelling and want to connect a keyboard or transfer documents and photos.
My only bugaboos are small ones: I prefer the Apple’s power and “Home” button to the Thrive’s awkward-and-hard-to-find power button on the side of the unit. The Thrives’s voice search isn’t as accurate as Apple’s Siri. And I am not sure if I’ll ever use the word processing program that came with the Tablet because my trembling fingers spazzmatically tap the touchscreen keyboard at regular and involuntary intervals, but who knows, maybe that’s just me. :)
You can learn about the Toshiba 10″ Thrive on the official Toshiba website. It has a lot of other great features that I can’t possibly cover here today.
Now for the giveaway part. Are you interested in having a 10″ Thrive of your very own to play with? Read on!
- This giveaway is open to anyone residing in Canada but is void in Quebec. (Here’s why.)
- In order for your entry to qualify you must answer the following question: “How do you see you and your family using the Toshiba tablet?”
- One entry per family please. We want lots of people to have the opportunity to win.
- If you can’t post your comment here for whatever reason, you can email it to me for posting. Send it to andrea at quietfish dot com … however I cannot be responsible if your entry is misdirected or gets stuck in my Spam folder.
- Good karma goes to those who tweet or post about this on Facebook. Do you know someone who would love the chance to win one of these? I bet you do. Forward this info to them! They will love you, especially if they won. (MERRY CHRISTMAS indeed!)
I will do a random draw of all qualifying entries using Random.org at noon EST on Friday November 25, 2011.
You should also know that Toshiba has a great Facebook promotion going on right now. Toshiba’s Nominate a Hero contest invites you to pay it forward by nominating a hero in your life who has helped you in a memorable way. By submitting your story and a photo, you will have the opportunity to select from 3 available prize packs that your hero could potentially win if they are selected as one of the top three winners. As a bonus, you will also receive a Toshiba Tablet if your hero is selected as one of three winners. Cool eh? You can get the full scoop on the Toshiba Canada Facebook page.
Sound good? Ok! Go!
