The Toshiba Thrive has been available stateside for almost two months, and now it seems the Japanese manufacturer is about to let Euros in on the action, too. The chunky Honeycomb tablet has appeared on Toshiba Europe's products website sporting the name AT100-100. There are no references to the Thrive branding specifically, but the specs are an exact match, as is the product image.
If the idea of a larger Android tablet with full USB, SD card and MMC support has your interest piqued, then be sure to read our full review of the American version to find out more.
Google has made the Honeycomb 3.2 SDK component available for download, as well as an update to the SDK tools, the compatibility package and a new release of the Android NDK. These tools help developers create new apps using features introduced with the 3.2 update, including optimizations for more tablet types, compatibility zoom for apps that are fixed size, media sync from SD card support, and an extended API for managing screen size (including 720p televisions and similar devices).
The details are all at the Android Developer site, and the updates can be downloaded from within the SDK. Google seems to be stepping up for Honeycomb development, and we're sure more great apps will follow.
In a world where Android tablet manufacturers have had to scramble on the hardware side to differentiate themselves, there are two trains of thought. One is to go light and sleek, the other is to cram as much functionality into the device as possible while allowing for a little bit of girth.
Lenovo has gone the latter route with its ThinkPad Android tablet, but it's done so, at least from a design standpoint, with the sort of style and usability you'd expect from one of the business world's predominant laptop makers.
If you have a Honeycomb tablet, I know you're aware of just how great some of the apps can look and feel. It looks like Mozilla is aware as well, and are hard at work building a tablet specific version of Firefox Mobile. Based on the same core code as the existing Firefox Mobile browser, the user interface looks to be receiving some very nice changes for the extra screen real estate that a tablet provides. All the familiar features are there, including the awesomebar, and so far the biggest change looks to be the way tabs are shown and navigated. In portrait mode, you'll have a button near the address bar that opens a menu of your running tabs, and in landscape, you'll have a persistent scrollable bar on the left with previews of each running tab. We are pretty excited to see what the folks at Mozilla cook up next, as there's a space for the "perfect" web browser on a tablet that's still wide open. You can see a few more pictures at the source link.
Can you really get a decent Android tablet for less than $300?
It seems like every week we see a new Android device from a company we either haven't heard of, or one that's not known for portable computers. More often than not, these devices end up at a discount store or on a television shopping channel at 3 a.m. on a Tuesday. The Vizio tablet has a couple advantages that most of those devices don't -- a little bit of experience with bright, colorful LCD screens and a distribution channel that's pretty darn good. They've also hit a very interesting price point, if you shop around you can pick up a Vizio tablet for under $275. That only leaves one big question -- has Vizio succeeded where others have tried and failed, and delivered something that's actually worth the $300? Hit the break and see what I think, and hopefully it can help you decide.
Download Waze (m.waze.com) or via the Android Marketplace (we've got an easy link after the break)
Make sure you’re a registered user with an email on file (Waze needs your contact info to tell you you’ve won – check ‘Settings’ to ensure that you’re registered.)
Munch (drive over) as many robot road goodies as you can
Have fun building out a social mapping tool on you way to work or around town, and have a chance to win a new Android device at the same time. Sounds like a win-win situation to me!
Sony's first effort at a Honeycomb tablet may soon be breaking cover, in Canada at least. According to this invitation from Sony themselves; "The new Sony Tablet is about to arrive in Canada. As a valued customer we would like YOU to see it first!"
The event is supposed to be happening on September 14 or 15 at their offices in Toronto. No other details are provided such as price or availability but if this is a device you're waiting for, that wait might be drawing to a conclusion.
Starting today (Aug. 29), Waze and Android Central will be giving away an Android phone or tablet each day to a lucky winner. Entering is fun and easy -- download Waze from the Android Market (link after the break) or Waze's website, register a user profile so Waze knows how to get in touch with you, then find the "Road Goodies" that appear on your map and drive over them to collect. Entrants who collect the most each day will be eligible for a daily drawing to win an awesome new Android device. Which devices? We're glad you asked!
It gets even cooler -- each of the phones on the list will also include a car dock and charger, making it the ultimate traffic survival kit. The contest begins now and runs through midnight Sept. 4. The winners will be announced Wednesday, Sept. 7. Full rules and details are after the break.
Just what is Waze? It's a free social mapping tool: you can get directions, find out where the traffic is, ping other users, and generally find your way around while helping other Waze users get better location and traffic information. Check out the full details on the Waze Blog.
Well, how about that. What you see in the video above apparently is CyanogenMod 7 booting onto an HP TouchPad. Of course, booting is just the first step in a long line of things that have to happen before we get a working port. Notably, the touchscreen doesn't yet work. That's kind of a big one. But booting CM7 is a big step, no doubt. The plan now, apparently, is to work up a sort of dual-boot system. So you'll have webOS, Android and who knows what else running within the existing sandbox.
As always, don't bother asking about when we'll have a usable port. "Coming soon" ain't in the vocabulary for a project like this. It'll be ready when it's ready, which should give aspiring tinkerers a little more time to track down a TouchPad.
The Toshiba Thrive may not be the tablet for you, but Toshiba doesn't appear to be stopping its Android development any time soon. In fact, the above image is that of a purported tablet Toshiba is expected to announce at IFA. The details on this one have been kept rather slim for the sake of not wanting to ruin the announcement, but the images tell us a few things. Brushed metal design, powered by Android Honeycomb -- packed with a microUSB, a microHDMI and a microSD memory card reader. That's all we get for now but we're guessing more details will pop up before IFA takes place. One more shot can be found past the break.
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