Toshiba AT300 Review

Feature set summary for Toshiba AT300 review

Plenty of storage – a full 32GB onboard, plus a five-megapixel snapper, plus a front-facing two-megapixel model for video calls.

Style and handling summary for Toshiba AT300 review

The AT300 is fatter than its forerunner, the AT200, but because it’s wider it actually looks slimmer. Build quality is nice, with just a tad of flex in the brushed aluminium chassis.

Battery power summary for Toshiba AT300 review

Pretty average for a tablet of this size – you get about six hours if you’re watching video.

Performance summary for Toshiba AT300 review

With a quad-core CPU lurking under the bonnet, there’s plenty of power for 3D games and the processor ensures a good degree of futureproofing. Mind you, the Asus Nexus 7 has the same amount of power at half the cost…

User friendliness summary for Toshiba AT300 review

The operating system, Android Ice Cream Sandwich, runs beautifully, and the touchscreen proves responsive, making it simple to find your way around the net, through menus and to play with games and apps.

Toshiba’s last release was the thinnest tablet in the world – the Toshiba AT200. This moniker helped it to stand out in an increasingly busy marketplace, even if it wasn’t as impressive as the new iPad or the Asus Transformer Prime. Now Toshiba has brought out the slightly chunkier AT300 – it’s more powerful, but is that enough?

Looks familiar

As soon as you see the Toshiba AT300, it’s obvious it is very familiar to its forerunner the AT200, even though it has a bigger 10.1in display. There is a black edge around the screen, and the reverse is in a smart silver brushed aluminium. It looks good, even though there is some flex in the body – we’d want to put it in a padded cover for taking out and about.

There’s a docking port along the bottom edge of the device (if you want a charging dock you’ll need to buy it separately). There’s also a micro USB port for transferring files to and from a PC, a Mini HDMI port to connect the device to the TV and an SD card slot should you wish to expand the already generous 32GB of onboard memory.

Next to the power button is a lock key, which prevents the display switching between portrait and landscape – it can also be used to mute the sound.

The operating system is Ice Cream Sandwich Android, which has not really been fiddled with by Toshiba. This is an excellent mobile OS, with lots of space for shortcuts and loads of widgets (now it is possible to expand and shrink them fit on your desktops). There’s speedy access to recent apps, as well as a useful notifications tab that lets you know when emails and other important messages have arrived.

The device is light and comfortable to hold for some time, if you’re playing games, for instance, and feels slim because it has a wider girth. However, a neat 7in device – the Google Nexus or AT200 maybe – might be preferable if you’re out and about a lot.

Screen star

The display measures 10.1 inches – it’s roomy and very responsive. Browsing the web is a joy – but it’s when messing around with apps or playing with games that it really comes into its own. Even the most fast-paced games ran beautifully thanks to the screen, which responded to all our swipes and pinches.

The display is not as bright as it could be, which is an issue when viewing in direct sunlight. Out of the sun, though, it shows off films and TV programmes well – colours stay true even when you tilt the device, and the screen glass is solid enough to avoid distortion if it is pressed. 

The screen also gets a boost from Toshiba’s Resolution+ setting, which makes photos and films more vibrant. Skin tones are warmer and outdoor snaps show bright, with lovely blue oceans and skies in our holiday pictures. There’s plenty of space to store all these movies and photos – with 32GB of onboard storage, with the option to expand via the SD memory card slot.

Power games

The powerful quad-core chip will delight games fans – it can handle any game you throw at it. Even complicated 3D games ran beautifully smoothly – and it’s futureproof too. Mind you, you can pick up the Asus Nexus 7, which has the same amount of power – for half the price.

Battery life is important if you’re always taking your device out and about – the battery life for the AT300 is pretty average – you’ll get about six hours of video viewing, so you might want to carry a charger with you.

Snapper

There’s a five-megapixel snapper onboard, which also boasts LED flash. Snaps came out a tad fuzzy when shown on the monitor or TV, but they’re okay. If you want to make Skype calls, there’s a front-facing two-megapixel snapper.

Our conclusion

The tablet market is remarkably full – but the Toshiba AT300 does boast quad-core power and a really responsive 10.1-inch touchscreen. It’s a good choice for apps and games fans. The display is not as bright as that on rivals such as the Apple iPad, but Toshiba’s Resolution+ feature makes a difference – plus there’s plenty of onboard storage.

By Simon Thomas on 19th August, 2012

Tags: Toshiba AT300, Toshiba Tablet, Toshiba