Toshiba Thrive… or My New McKay-blet ;)
This past week, Z delivered to me my Post Christmas present, the Toshiba Thrive McKay-blet (err… Tablet for those of you not fans of Stargate Atlantis’, Dr. Rodney McKay). It is my pleasure to say that as a creative type of person, this device is, hands down, the most useful daily use device I have ever had the pleasure of owning.
Hardware Highlights
The Thrive is an honestly amazing bit of technology. At 10.1 and 7 inch varieties, I decided to go with a little more real estate and asked for the 10.1 inch model. I did this after alot of research into the tablets currently on the market and with mini-usb, Full USB, HDMI out and an sdcard expander, it kicks the snot out of the ipad and samsung galaxy.
I can plug in a full size usb keyboard or use a bluetooth one, I can add more internal memory via an SDcard (full size or mini via an adapter [full size only on 10.1″ models]) and if I need more storage space, I can plug a full external Hd onto the device and have as much storage or access to stored media as I like, directly. Right now i’m using es file explorer to access things over wifi at home though, if I’m ever in need though.. external hd capacity is right there waiting.
Power Utilization
My god its full of stars! Literally, through all functions other than video use, the Thrive gives me a little over 8hrs of continuous multi-app use. I had resigned myself to tethering for power with other devices up to now, only taking them off charge when I had somewhere to go, but this allows me to get out from behind my desk (where my tower pc is) and move around.
I have discovered other areas of my house that I hereto for only heard reference to in legend… aka the ‘living room’.
Customization
The Thrive comes with the latest Honeycomb Android OS, though I hear Ice Cream Sandwich is coming soon. Nevermind that though, the Thrive is happy where it is and requires little customization of the OS itself to run like a powerhouse. In fact the only thing I had to do was replace the standard honeycomb keyboard with the ‘Hacker’s Keyboard’, available for free in the Google Market. As a result I have all the sanity of a regular keyboard, including function keys and arrows, and this makes life alot more friendly.
Apps
With the Google Marketplace being right there, its easy peasy to go hunting for the apps that are right for you, many have free and paid versions, so you can check out the applications before you buy, with various restrictions that are removed from the full version. I have noticed though, that many software vendors on android are really good about not getting in your face about buying, or throwing ads in your face constantly. They really seem to want you to get a good idea of what you’d get from the full version. The only time you really notice its not a paid app that you have, is when you reach for the extra features. And honestly, that’s nice.. I don’t need popups annoying the snark out of me every five minutes like some pc and mac software used to.
Communications Hub
Equipped with Google Talk and gmail, straight out of the gate, the Thrive has already taken over (from my OG Motorola Droid) my primary communications functions.
There’s more space to read and to type at a respectable full keyboard speed, even if i do end up hitting ‘n’ instead of the spacebar due to honeycomb not allowing you to extend down the full screen (it keeps a status bar on the bottom which means you either hit the bezel and nothing happens, hit the spacebar, or for a righty like me, you hit the ‘n’). Alas, this is not toshiba’s fault. This is android, and while noted -its not a big deal, and if you watch your keys, your good to go.. Just something to watch.
More next entry ;)
~Lourdes
Lourdes Laysan 