Android goes big

Toshiba actually held off on releasing the uselessly-named AT100 tablet in some markets so that they could be let out into the wild with the Android 3.1 “Honeycomb” OS instead of the older 3.0. Good and noble we suppose considering Android’s hopeless approach to upgrading the OS, but by the end of the review period we were left wondering “Why?”

Because, here’s the thing, the AT100 doesn’t feel particularly cutting-edge, so why should it have to have the latest and greatest OS environment? The hardware and casing are from a little bit of a bygone era anyway, technologically speaking, bar perhaps the NVidia Tegra 2 processor, which is dual-core but remains clocked at “just” 1 GHz precluding it from competing with the performance leaders out there, who have mostly ramped up to 1.5GHz dual-cores.

So why am I saying that the hardware is dates? Well, it just feels it really, because of the packaging. It’s a chunky beast the AT100, at just over 15mm it’s double the thickness of an iPad2 for instance, while the rubberised back might make it feel more durable and easier to grip, but also brings with it a sensation of flimsiness. It also utterly destroys the ultra-cool sexiness factor that plays a major part in making the iPad sexy – yes even if you replace the standard black plastic at the rear of this retail AT100 with a pink aftermarket cover, it still won’t be sexy or cool, sorry.

So perhaps it’s more of a work tool than a fashion accessory then? Toshiba would certainly love for you to believe so, hence the inclusion of four ports unusual in the tablet space, ports which are also the reason why the device has to be so thick. A MicroUSB, regular USB, external HDMI and one standard SD-card slot. If you absolutely must have a tablet which has all of these ports by default, the AT100 is one of very few options available to you.

All right, so I did love having the SD-card available right there, as this allowed me to quickly swap the card from my camera into the tablet to get a better view of how my shots looked straight away. Of course you can also put a big, empty SD card in to increase the amount of space available to you on the tablet, although this doesn’t seem as useful as it sounds on a modern, hyper-connected device like this which isn’t a standalone computing solution, more a cog in your personal IT infrastructure environment.

Otherwise the two USB ports are also fairly useless, again apart from convenient file transfers or adding more storage capacity. Because generally the two things you might want USB for, a mouse and keyboard, really aren’t ever necessary when operating the AT100. Why use an external pointer when you can just touch the screen to navigate the menus? Similarly, a USB keyboard is only likely to be appreciated if you’re writing War and Peace on the tablet – the AT100 features such a nice, big virtual keyboard that typing on the screen itself is just about as fast as using a physical ‘board. Even though I’m a touch-typist and the AT100 doesn’t have haptics to alert me through vibration of every keypress.

I did like the HDMI port, but this alone wouldn’t have required the bulky width of the AT100. So Toshiba have made an inherently quite sexy tech toy, a tablet, into something far more workmanlike for basically no real reason at all. Weird.

Unfortunately that isn’t where it ends. If packaging alone was the problem with the AT100, it could be forgiven, as some users and some usages are likely to welcome the extra bulk and the upped port count.

The display itself, despite featuring Toshibas Resolution+ techniques to improve the clarity and crispness of the content, isn’t as bright or vivid as the benchmark Apple equivalent. Nor is it anywhere near as responsive, and I often had to press my finger to the screen several times with increasing levels of frustrated pressure to get the desired response from the machine. The display is too reflective as well, and after not much use picks up a patina of oily finger marks which make it completely impossible to use outside in daylight, because you just can’t see past the smudgy glare.

That 1GHz NVidia CPU doesn’t do it any favours either, as sometimes slow response is due to processing lag rather than the inferior touch-screen technology. Sure there’s enough CPU and graphics power for even quite demanding games to run smoothly and at good frame rates, but the OS itself still has moments where it overpowers the available clock speed.

Having said all that, I did enjoy my time with the AT100, and the younger members of my family took to the unit straight away. The rubberised back end meant I had fewer worries about them accidentally dropping the Toshiba while bashing away at Angry Birds than a smooth-surfaced iPad, and I can certainly attest to the screen being at least durable enough to withstand the very enthusiastic hammerings of a four-year-old gaming addict in the making.

But the final problem with AT100, the final insult for me, is the price. It’s actually a bit of a unique situation we have here in SA, where because of intense and still-ongoing flak from local Apple users Core have had to get quite creative and aggressive in their pricing strategies. So locally the R4999 RRP Toshiba is actually a few hundred bucks more expensive than the equivalent iPad2.

It’s not a conundrum limited to the Toshiba however – in SA just about all the Android-based tabs are significantly pricier than Apple equivalents. And although I was never a true, committed fan of the now iconic brand, it’s obvious from the moment you touch it that the iPad is substantially superior to all of these units, in just about every respect. Specifically the casing is slicker and with heaps more feel-good factor, the screen is brighter and clearer, the processor seems incapable of lag, and of course the OS environment is significantly slicker and more polished than Google’s competitor.

Why on Earth, then, would you want to spend more money on a similar device with inferior capabilities? This problem also afflicts the Samsung Galaxy Tab, HTC Flyer, just about all of the competition in SA. Hell, you can buy an original iPad still for an even bigger price differential and still have the cooler, sexier, and more satisfying-to-use device.

If you truly hate the Apple brand, sure, then, the Toshiba AT100 might well be a consideration. At just less than R5K, it’s actually one of the more affordable Android alternatives. But you do “pay” for this pseudo-affordable price with some minor hardware frustration in the end.

-Russell Bennett

Likes: Big soft keyboard.

Good grip thanks to rubberised rear panel.

Potentially upgradeable?

Disliked: A bit bulky, not sexy.

Android OS gets laggy sometimes

Screen not as bright or crisp, or responsive, as the best.