-What can be said about the Toshiba Thrive Tablet that hasn't already been said about every other tablet out there?
Hi, I'm Eric Franklin, senior editor at CNET and the answer to that question is, well, quite a few things actually.
The Thrive runs on Honeycomb 3.1 like nearly every other new tablet.
It has a front-facing 2-megapixel camera and a 5-megapixel back-facing camera for pictures and video.
It's 10.1-inch screen provides a 1280 X 800 resolution and its wide bezel makes it look kinda like a larger version of the T-Mobile G-Slate.
When picking it up, the first thing we notice is the groovy textured backside which feels really nice and grippy.
Toshiba also allows you to swap out the back panel and choose from seven different colors at $20 each to replace it.
Taking off the panel, which is a bit difficult to remove, also reveals the swappable battery.
The second thing we noticed about its physicality is just how girthy it is, as it actually measures out to nearly 3 times the thickness of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and feels noticeably heavier.
Toshiba doesn't waste the extra real-estate, however, as the Thrive features a number of ports including full USB, full HDMI, a mini USB port, and an SD card slot.
You'll also find a headphone jack, a rotation lock, volume rocker, power button, and a lock for the removable back panel as well.
An interesting decision was to include 3 status LED lights on the bezel for power, battery charge, and wireless.
We can see this being somewhat distracting depending on what you're using the tablet for at the time.
As for software, the Thrive's most useful and unique feature is a file manager
which provides native direct access to the file system, allowing you to easily launch files from the hard drive, SD card, or USB thumb drive.
As for the pricing, the Thrive starts at $429 for the 8-gigabyte version, $479 for the 16-gigabyte, and $579 for the 32-gigabyte model.
Be sure to check out the full review of the Toshiba Thrive with much more detailed impressions.
Once again, I'm Eric Franklin and this has been the First Look at the Toshiba Thrive.
