Toshiba’s tablet targets Apple’s iPad

Toshiba is set to showcase its tablet slate PC during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2011 which will be held in Las Vegas.

The much-hyped tablet of Toshiba is expected to be loaded with Android Honeycomb OS, which is the Google OS version specially designed for tablets. In other words, Toshiba's will be the first tablet which will carry the Android Honeycomb OS. With OS being compatible with Adobe Flash content, that alone can be a quick advantage over Apple iPad.

Toshiba’s tablet is mainly in the fray due to its pricing which to some extent is confirmed as $499. The Apple iPad version starts from $499 as well. The only other tablet that could match Apple iPad pricing is Samsung’s Galaxy Tab whose price was reduced to $499.99 lately from $600 range in order to compete with iPad’s pricing.

Toshiba’s tablet has Nvidia’s Tegra 2 processor which is expected to clock at 1 GHz compared to Apple iPad’s 1 GHz Apple A4 processor. Tegra 2 processor is a dual core processor with Nvidia graphics; the processor should give consumer quicker multi-tasking and faster video game playback.

The tablet from Toshiba features 10.1-inch multi-touch display with 1280x800 resolution compared to Apple iPad 9.7-inch display which gives 1024×768 resolution. As Toshiba tablet comes with “Toshiba Adaptive Display technology”, the device will automatically adjust color and brightness as per the lighting conditions.

Another gap which Toshiba tablet may fill is when it comes to camera. Apple iPad features no camera, but Toshiba’s tablet will contain a 2 mega-pixel front-facing camera and 5 mega-pixel rear camera which again is a step ahead of Apple iPad.

Moreover, the tablet will include USB 2.0, mini USB and SD card ports. And it also has support for 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and has built-in GPS.

The heaviest model of Apple iPad weighs 1.6 pounds whereas Toshiba’s tablet will weigh at around 1.7 pounds.

Another advantage of Toshiba tablet will be its replaceable lithium ion battery but again until today no competitors have offered a battery life of 10 hours of runtime provided by Apple’s iPad.

Doubt looms over Toshiba’s tablet app market, whether the tablet from Toshiba may support Google’s app market or will they provide their own app market.

By looks it’s clear that Toshiba’s tablet is appearing to be much more polished compared to Samsung Galaxy Tab and more rugged compared to Apple iPad.

Until today Apple has sold close to 12 million iPads in 2010 as no other rival tablet producers have been able to trounce Apple iPad from its throne. With competitive pricing and few other added features Toshiba may have a chance, but all this will be cleared during the CES 2011.