After the release of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, Toshiba followed with its own Android 2.2 tablet, the Toshiba Folio 100. Unlike the 7 inch Galaxy Tab, the Folio 100 is a 10 inch tablet. And yes, it is fully compatible with Adobe Flash 10.1, unlike the iPad, and is set to be more cost competitive than the Tab.
The Folio’s interface is based on Android 2.2 (sometimes referred to as “Froyo”), powered by the Nvidia Tegra 2 processor chip. You can get apps for it from the Toshiba Marketplace, which you can access from the Folio. The device is aimed at those looking for a less expensive alternative to the iPad who don’t want to step down to a 7 inch device like the Tab.
The Toshiba Folio 100 comes with 16 GB of memory, and it has an SD card slot so you can add up to an additional 32 GB. It also has an HDMI slot so that you can hook your Folio up to, say, a flat screen television for watching videos. It works with HD televisions (1080p) as well as regular definition ones. There is also a USB 2.0 port, and it comes with integrated WiFi.
The screen is a capacitive multi touch screen for super responsiveness and has a resolution of 1024 x 600. On the front is a 1.3 MP webcam that you can use for making video calls. Though the Folio 100 has both Bluetooth and WiFi built in, it doesn’t have 3G connectivity. The 3G version of the Toshiba Folio is expected sometime during spring 2011. Battery life is rated at around 7 hours under normal use.
The Folio comes with several apps already installed, including Opera Mobile, Toshiba’s media player, Fring (a peer-to-peer mobile VoIP program), Evernote, FBReader, Document to Go, and Music Place, which links to an on-demand music catalog. The Folio weighs about 1.5 lbs, and is 14 mm (just over half an inch) thick. Total dimensions are 281 x 181 x 14 mm, or approximately 11 x 7 x 0.55 inches.
The 1 GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 processor is well up to the task of powering the Folio, allowing it to zoom through the Android menus and giving the user the feeling that the tablet totally knows what it’s doing. And the HDMI port lets you make the most of the Tegra chip’s great graphics processing power, handling HD video playback with ease. And, since the tablet is Flash 10.1 ready, you can watch HD YouTube clips with no problem.
As far as the “look and feel” experience of using the Toshiba Folio 100, you do know you’re not handling a Toshiba branded iPad. The device will creak a bit when subjected to handling that includes twisting motion. The 1024 x 600 pixel resolution on the 10.1 inch touch screen does not give the great image quality of the iPad. Tilting the device shows that the viewing angles are rather narrow.
Overall, the Toshiba Folio 100 is a good effort at an iPad alternative. It has terrific connectivity, good configuration settings, and a nice apps mix pre-installed. It would be better with access to the Android Market, Google Voice, Google Maps, and the other things that make the Android experience unique. You’ll like the back-lit navigation buttons and the SIM card slot, plus the full sized USB port.
Having made a positive impact when it made its debut at IFA 2010, Europe’s largest tech event, the Toshiba Folio 100 received “fair to good” reviews after it was released onto the market in Europe. But Toshiba has made some tweaks and is ready for 2011, with it’s latest version scheduled for release in March 2011. If you’re determined to have a tablet running Android 3.0 Honeycomb, Toshiba is currently working on a tablet (with no name yet) that will run Honeycomb, but its release date is uncertain.
March 19, 2011
Android Tablet Reviews