Toshiba Excite 7.7 unboxing and initial hands on review


Toshiba is upping the anti for tablets in 2012 after the lack of success from the Thrive lineup. These newer versions are thinner, sport a better design, and feature more horsepower. We recently reviewed the Excite 10 LE, which didn’t quite impress us, but Toshiba has three newer tabs from Excite line: the Excite 7.7, Excite 10, and Excite 13. All three tabs sport the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 5MP rear camera, 2MP front-facing camera, stereo speakers enhanced by Toshiba and SRS Technologies, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich. All three look gorgeous and feels great in the hand thanks to the textured aluminum body.

The biggest difference with the three models is the display size. I’m reviewing the 7.7, which sports, you guess it, a 7.7-inch display. This version is the only one with a AMOLED display and it’s resolution is at 1280 x 800. They did include a microSD slot for up to an additional 32GB of storage, a microUSB port, and Toshiba’s proprietary connector slot for charging and connecting to optional docks.

Toshiba is offering the 16GB version for $499 and the 32GB for $579 starting June 10th. My initial impression is that it’s a great tablet, but the price seems very high. Yes, it has a Tegra 3, but ASUS is offering up the Transformer Pad TF300 for $399, which sports a Tegra 3 and has a 10.1-inch display. I do need to spend more time with it, but for now check out my initial hands on….

 

 

About the Author: Robert Nazarian

Robert lives in upstate New York where he was born and raised. Technology was always his passion. His first computer was a Radio Shack TRS80 Color that used a cassette tape to save programs, and his first laptop was a Toshiba T1200FB that sported a CGA greyscale screen and two 720kb floppy drives (no hardrive). From the early 90’s through late 2011, he only owned Motorola phones starting with the MircroTAC all the way through to the Droid X. He broke that streak when he bought the Galaxy Nexus. Now he's sporting a Galaxy Note 4, and absolutely loves it. He has a wonderful wife and a 6 year old son. In his free time he enjoys sports, movies, TV, working out, and trying to keep up with the rapid fast world of technology.

  • http://jordanhotmann.com/ Jordan Hotmann

    Holy expensive tablet batman…bring that thing down to $300

    • tonybigs

       With AMOLED? Not at this time.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jark-Garling/639076072 Jark Garling

    Its cheaper than the Samsung 7.7, plus it has the Tegra 3 processor. I really wish they would bring out a 7.7 with a standard display so it wouldn’t cost so much.

    • tonybigs

      Wait for the Google Tablet although it will probably be 7″ panel.

  • dracosolon

    Very interested to know if micro usb port charges it.

    • tonybigs

       “Charges it while running?” is the question.

  • tonybigs

    The price reflects the inclusion of the AMOLED panel. That’s what you’re paying for. The pricing is not out of line. The somewhat similar Samsung P6810 (available outside the USA) has a dual core Exynos and a 3.2MP rear camera and sells for roughly the same price but no USA warranty. Expensive, yes. That’s the price of being an early adopter.

  • http://gravatar.com/kyriakosbrastianos Kyriakos Brastianos

    + & – compared to the Samsung tab 7.7? Except the obvious quad versus dual core. Is this the same amoled screen used in the Samsung tablet?

  • Alex Plasmadis

    It looks like the non-US version will have a SIM slot, 3G data, and can make voice calls. It’d be about worth the $500 if they threw that in.