Benefits of Toshiba's all new AT200, the slimmest Honeycomb tablet yet

Toshiba’s new AT 200 is a trimmer & bettered version of Thrive. This 10.1 inch AT 200 is Toshiba's answer to enhancements wanted by customers using Thrive. AT 200 is a honeycomb tablet PC, with a 10.1 inch widescreen, and 1200*800 display resolution. Powered by a 2 GHz processor the tablet PC has 64 GB of storage. There’s a micro SD card slot providing additional storage.

Toshiba AT200

Two cameras–one 5MP and a 2MP, are placed on the rear and front side of the tablet. The front camera is used as a web camera, which will enable you to stream the video through chat clients or videoconferencing. You can connect with other Bluetooth devices. You can output the video from the tablet PC into high resolution displays using the micro HDMI port. You can also input/retrieve data to/from the tablet PC using the micro USB slot.

Pricing and availability

The AT 200 is rumored to hit the markets during the fourth quarter of this year. But there’s not been any definitive word on the price yet. Toshiba is yet to announce the price, availability and detailed specifications of the AT 200.

What’s great

Slim beauty

The tablet is only 7 millimeters thick. Talking about slim, you’ll be surprised to know that it is light too. Weighing at just 558 grams, this is a tablet PC that weighs as less as a small mobile phone. Wonder how they achieved this!

Another selling point of the AT 200 is the operating system. Running on Android 3.2 Honeycomb, users get the rich experience of the best selling operating system as of now.

Get connected anywhere, anytime

The AT 200 supports WiFi and Bluetooth. You can get connected to a network no matter where you are. You may be at the airport or any other place where there is a wireless network. Just switch the Wi-Fi on AT 200 on and you are connected to the network immediately. In places where there is no Wi-Fi, you can use the micro USB slot to insert a USB modem and get connected to the Internet. You can share your personal or professional files with others using Bluetooth. Switch on the Bluetooth feature on AT 200, and pair with other devices you trust. Share your personal files seamlessly. You can do so many things with the AT 200. It is a truly liberating experience.

Watch high-definition videos

When you are at home, don’t keep your AT 200 tablet PC idle. Use its HDMI output facility to connect it with your HD television. You may have downloaded content when on the move. When you are at home, you can view such downloaded videos on your high-definition television. Use the HDMI port of AT 200 to connect with your television to view the videos.

The AT 200 is powered by a 1.2GHz TI OMAP 4430 processor, and a 1 GB RAM. This is a very good configuration for an extremely slim tablet PC.

Listen to great audio

The AT 200 delivers superior audio playback, courtesy its 1.5 watt stereo speakers. These two speakers deliver high-output sound with great clarity, based on a patented technology called Adaptive Sound Device Enhancer. This is essentially an algorithm that converts sound to high output sound. What’s more is that Toshiba has developed another supporting technology to give users a great audio playback experience. This technology is called Sound Masking Equalizer, which manages the stereo sound according to external noise.

Phew! So many good features in the AT 200!

What’s not so great

We talked about the good things about AT 200. So we thought about keeping the not-so-great things to the last.

The one not-so-great aspect of the AT 200 is its price. The product is supposed to be expensive. Although official confirmation on the price is not out yet, going by what officials say, the AT 200 will be a premium priced tablet PC. From the consumers’ point of view, they will have to shell out extra cash to own the AT 200.

The premium pricing speculation is based on the comments made by Toshiba officials. Toshiba has invested extensively on the usability part, without making the tablet bulky and big. This is a huge plus, and is definitely a big investment made by Toshiba in product design.

Verdict

The AT 200 is definitely worth a buy. It’s slim, small, and highly usable. The product design blends perfectly with the functional design. Toshiba has made great strides into delivering great customer experience with the AT 200, thereby bridging the gap it felt with its last tablet PC product – Thrive. The AT 200 promises a great future for tablets, which are already flickering under the pressure of sales margins.