Toshiba Thrive 10.1-Inch 16 GB Android Tablet AT105-T1016

*** UPDATE ***Toshiba has been very responsive about the wake-from-sleep issue. They have released several patches and the latest one seems to fix the problem. At least it is waking up just about every time, with only one "fail to wake" issue in the past week. That could be one of the dozens of apps I have loaded just misbehaving.My guess is this problem has been fixed. The good news is Toshiba was VERY responsive. Their consumer support 800-line was pleasant but mostly useless. The forums, however, turned out to be a great resource. Toshiba is actually reading & responding to the forum posts and have taken an active role in working with people and keeping everyone informed about the issues.At this point I'm certain the problem is resolved. If not I have full confidence Toshiba will address any remaining issues quickly & professionally.On the PLUS side, this thing is great. I'm loving it more every day. My wife and my 5 year-old son use this every day now as well. It is probably the most used device in the house these days. There are a ton of great new Android apps coming out every day, my newest favorite is the CNN News app. It is designed specifically for the tablet and is a quality product. My son loves Angry Birds, it is a much better experience on this platform over a phone and also a quality app. Another HUGE plus... the ability to surf just about any site in mobile or standard mode. MOST sites are WAAAAYYYY better in standard mode, and that is only possible because this device fully supports Flash and almost any other web design element.Very cool. I'm keeping it and highly recommend it to anyone. In fact we are probably going to order one for my Grandmother today.*** UPDATE ***Turns out there is a critical design flaw with the Thrive that Toshiba is fully aware of. The Thrive will not wake up out of sleep mode for 80% of the devices on the market. My particular unit would come out of sleep mode after a hard reboot (hold down power to power off/hold down power to power on) but eventually hung so badly we needed to do a factory restore with Toshiba Support which wipes everything off the system (apps loaded, passwords, accounts, and anything you've saved).Toshiba is "fast tracking" a firmware update but as of this writing it is not out yet (July 14th, 2011).*** Original Review ***I'm a tech geek and I like to play with the latest gadgets. Both for my business (we write apps for phones, tablets, desktops and the web) and just as a personal hobby. I regularly update my collection of electronic toys and am always looking for new ways to put them to use. However I've been late to the table/pad party. Not because I don't like the idea. I LOVE my smartphones, having gotten in on the iPhone the first month it came out, upgraded to an Android phone after that. The general concept is great and certainly has made my life easier.But for the tablets I always walk away wanting more than is offered. That was before Toshiba announced the Thrive. As soon as it was available for pre-order I bought one at Amazon. The primary reasons I waited were two-fold, the lack of Flash on the iPad series was a deal breaker there. The lack of any viable input/output ports on the other devices, poor screen quality, or small screens stopped me from a lot of "coulda been" tablets. The Toshiba promised speed, power, an nvidia chip set driving the video, normal USB ports, an HDMI out, and more. It sounded perfect.Finally, after 2 months of waiting, the Toshiba Thrive arrived today. Granted I haven't played with it for very long yet, but I already like a lot of things about it.What I Like:- I plugged in my keyboard and started typing my email responses. No extra drivers or hacks. Very cool. The normal on-screen keyboard works great, but for extended work the keyboard is a HUGE advantage over other tablets.- I then plugged in a small USB hub I had from another project, it is a small 4-port vanilla hub half the size of the credit card. I then connected my keyboard and mouse. Now I have the equivalent of a pretty sweet notebook computer with a touch screen. Again no special drivers or other trickery required, I just unplugged the keyboard & mouse from my laptop and put them in the hub on the tablet and it worked immediately.- The screen resolution is great. Better than I expected but it is not as vibrant as some other screens I have seen. However 90% of the time I'll be using this in the house or the office and the brightness and contrast is plenty for indoor use and I'm guessing anything but bright outdoor use.- The Honeycomb OS with the Toshiba tweaks is pretty decent. Not sure if I like it as much as the HTC layer on Android 2.X, but it is right up there with it.- Setup and configuration was quick & painless. All of my account information, marketplace apps, and more were readily available. Every marketplace app for my phone is download and runs. Only one app (WeatherBug premium) is not quite refined for the tablet with some text display overlaps (odd given the extra screen real estate).- There are a number of decent accessories already on the market from Toshiba for docking stations, replaceable backplates, quick-swap batteries, and carrying cases.- Some of the built-in apps are fairly well done. The news service is a decent app and things like GMail are way easier to use on the Thrive than my phone and the UI feels better than even that on my web browser on my desktop system.- Videos are decent, sound is OK. Not great, but for something this small & lightweight you really can't expect too much in the way of sound quality with the built-in speakers.- Plays flash videos and other flash content just as I expect. I've not yet found any broken sites.Things To Improve- It is a little heaver than I expected. It is FAR more convenient/portable than any laptop/notebook I've ever come across. In fact it is way more powerful, compact, and lighter than most netbooks. Guess the 10" screen is a bit bigger and heavier than I've been used to with the 3.5" (or so) HTC Incredible I've been using for months. It is not so heavy that it is a burden, but after a 15 minutes of holding it in one hand while playing with the apps with the other hand I needed to rest it on my leg or on the chair arm. Then again, I'd not hold a notebook up for 30 minutes while using it and this is NOT meant to replace a handheld phone but is a better replacement for a small notebook/netbook.- The screen is not a newer oleophobic(sp?) type that is on most newer phones and the iPad2. That means it doesn't repel the oil from your hands as well so fingerprints are immediately noticeable. Not a big deal overall, but for people that want the surface to be clean and shiny all the time you'll need a lens cloth with you at all times. Which Toshiba does not provide; unusual for most higher end touch-screens these days.- The responsiveness of the power button could be refined. When it goes to sleep you need to hold the power in for a second. It doesn't always respond with a quick tap. Hold it in too long and it powers the unit off. Not a huge deal, but the timing definitely needs to be tweaked a bit. Two people in the office have already had issues waking it up and someone already powered it off when it appeared to hang.SummaryOverall I'm glad I waited. I've not even started to use the Thrive the way I expect, but just the cursory review leaves me happy I waited for this tablet over the others on the market.Also, as a testament to the better build quality of this unit it was already dropped face down on the floor, a thin carpet over concrete. It made a face-down "thud" as it hit the floor and I cringed as soon as I saw it take the fall. Luckily the protective plastic cover that it shipped with was still on the face. There was no damage whatsoever from a 30" drop off the edge of a desk, so I've already "battle-tested" the unit for those who are curious about the ability for this thing to take a beating.Based on the initial 5 hours with the unit I am thinking this one is a keeper and is something I will be recommending to clients at and our CSL blog ([...]). We'll see how the rest of the week plays about before writing a thorough review and planning our first Thrive apps.

OK, so I won't rehash here all the stuff you can read in the other reviews, I'll just give you my impressions after my hands on with my new Thrive. Note that I also own an iPad (32 GB 3G/Wifi) and several other smaller android devices and e-readers, netbooks, etc.; so I have some comparisons to judge by.Let's cut to the chase, I love the Thrive. Up and running in 5 minutes flat (or less). And after about 5 hours of fooling with it, it's everything I hoped it would be and meets my expectations in full. Now time will tell, but at this point, I am thrilled. It's comparable in size and weight to my iPad, I notice little difference as far as weight or thickness, indeed, I like the Thrive's grippy rubber backing. No need to buy one (rubber backing/case) like I had to do with my iPad.In comparing the screens, I also see little difference as far as sharpness, color, viewing angles, and so on. I do like the iPad's format better. For a tablet, the added width in the vertical orientation seems like a plus to me. That said, I did not notice any issues while using the Thrive, though I do prefer using it in landscape orientation for most things. Some apps make vertical a better choice, of course. So, to me, the Thrive is every bit in the same league as the iPad. Personally, I prefer the thicker, sturdy format, that's why I bought my iPad when iPad 2 came out. I wanted the iPad, not the iPad 2. For same reason, I did not like the Galaxy. Just personal preference, of course.Why did I get a Thrive then? Because I chafe under the "Apple Prison" and restrictions of the iPad. While having control does have some advantages, for someone like me who likes flexibility, it's a losing proposition. No standard ports? No easy way to load and play all my various video formats, iTunes is fine, but irks me sometimes.So when I saw the Thrive with Bluetooth (a must for me), 2 full USB ports, full SD card, and a full HDMI port, plus the File Manager and easy ways to share and deal with files (i.e. like every other darn device does except the iPad!), it caught my attention. A lot of research and a shot at a discount off an already good price and -- sold!Out of the box, everything has worked fine and it's even better than I had hoped. The screen seems great, decent black levels (important to me), and it is extremely easy to use. With limited previous Android experience, I find 3.1 to be a great OS, very intuitive. I have been able to figure out everything and personally feel it is easier to use than the iPad in many ways. Very happy with it. The speakers have very good stereo separation, thought they are definitely treble oriented (like every other tablet). What do you expect from tiny speakers? Still, I had no trouble watching YouTube vids. For better sound, I fired up one of my portable bluetooth stereo speakers and they paired easily and worked great. Much better bass and mid-range. Headphones sound great as well. As does my ZVOX audio system via my Bluetooth receiver there. So good sound is not an issue. (Tried it this with Creative Labs blutooth speaker system and it works well and sounds fantastic: Creative ZiiSound D3x Modular Wireless Speaker System (51MF8120AA002))As I said, even using the auto-brightness, I find the screen quite good and see no issues with it. The buttons all work great. I had no problems locating and using the power button as some have mentioned. Heck, it's right between the battery and WiFi LEDs, so not hard to locate. Much easier to use than the power button on the ipad in my opinion. Having the orientation lock is a nice feature. Just ask all the ipad users when Apple messed with that on the iPad. ;)So, absolutely great design. This is the power user's tablet, yet so easy to use, I think anyone would like it. Very snappy performance...as good or better than iPad. Battery life seems fine to me. No trouble getting 7-8 hours or more without trying. Good enough for me. I'm sure with a little effort I could get 10 or better. Basically, you can use this all day long under normal circumstances. Charges very quickly as many have noted. Swappable batteries, so no issues there. The ipad is awesome with 12-14 hours easily.)I can run my Amazon Cloud player on it, as well as Pandora and many other music apps. Nice! Covers that. Mobo app will play about any video. Included YouTube app plays YouTube HD videos well and they look super. Built-in apps good enough for most things, especially audio. Maps app works very well. Looks superb on this nice screen. Again, as good as iPad in my opinion. Web browsing works very well, superior to iPad in all respects. Performance, plus flash, and ease of use. Not a huge deal, but nice since that's a major use for me.And just so well designed and easy to use. I keep coming back to that because that's what kept jumping out to me as I explored the Thrive. I have yet to do any updates and everything is working great. I might not even update for awhile as I'm not sure I need to at this point. It's working fine for everything and I have not had any issues so far (of course, I have only used it for 5 or 6 hours, so need more time really. I may just wait for 3.2 to be released. (2011-11-19 Have now done one update, no major changes, everything still works fine. Just some minor tweaks.)Having the full size SD card was another big feature for me. I just popped in a 32 GB SDHC card with a ton of my mp3's on it and everything works as expected. Being able to back up data to your Google account and the SD card, a USB stick, or hard drive is a definite plus as well.I've had good luck with Toshiba products over the years and this will, hopefully, be no exception. Well designed and well built. As I get more time with it, I will come back and update this review if anything significant develops. (2011-11-19 -- 3 months and still loving it.)I like the iPad a lot, but feel the Thrive is every bit the equal, and is even better in many respects. Much greater connectivity and flexibility and that's very important as it means there's a lot more things you'll be able to do with your Thrive. By the way, the included NFS Shift game demo worked great and looked good.This baby has the right mix of features for me and is a great value. So, kudos Toshiba! The Thrive is a winner!---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*** 2011-11-04 update: This wireless touchpad/keyboard device works with the Thrive: Wireless Ultra-mini Touchpad Keyboard (VP6364) -- I have both and this unit was truly "plug and play" (see my review on the prod page) and everything worked as expected, touchpad, mouse buttons, keyboard, media keys, etc. all worked fine. Not something most people will need, but thought a few might benefit from knowing this. If you are a fearsome thumber, you might like it. I like it mainly for the media controls (play/pause., vol up/down, prev/next song, and so on).*** 2011-11-19 Have had my Thrive about 3 months now and I remain very satisfied with it. No issues, works well, using it more all the time. Gmail works great, better than on my laptop. GPS, maps and navigation work very well. Battery holds its charge and lasts a long time. Video, Music, Browsing are all fine, so I would still recommend this as a good choice if you like the feature mix (which I do). I got this leather case with flap/stand which works well for me and is cheap: Poetic Slimbook Leather Case for Toshiba Thrive 10.1-Inch Android Tablet, Black**** 2012-03-10 update: Many tablets come, many go. I remain very happy with my thrive. ;)----P.S. Haven't mentioned the cameras. That's because I see no real use for them and have not bothered to play with them. They could leave them off and cut the price as far as I am concerned. I have really good cameras and video cams if I need video or photos. Don't need my tablet for that. (OK, the cams work fine for occasional use.)But I do need the GPS! That's a nice plus I didn't mention above. (GPS works great!)P.P.S. About the apps advantage iPad has. Yes, many hundreds of thousands more apps. But I only need about 12 or so. Feel sure Android apps will continue to grow and I'll have what I need. iPad has almost too many choices. ;)