The Toshiba AT300 is a capable tablet
that’ll appease any gamers and app fans with its quad-core power and responsive
touch-screen. The display is a little bland but boosted by the Resolution+
setting
TOSHIBA’S last tablet, the excitingly-named
Toshiba AT200, had the honor of being the world’s thinnest tablet at just
7.7mm. With a rather insane number of tablets emerging every week, this
supermodel slimness helped get the AT200 noticed, even if it wasn’t quite as
impressive as the epic Asus Transformer Prime or Apple’s new iPad. Now we have
the Toshiba AT300, which isn’t as slender but packs a powerful quad-core
processor into the slightly chunkier body. But does that performance boost make
for a happy tablet?
The
Toshiba AT300
Deja-vu design
As soon as we pulled the AT300 from its
sizeable box, we got a striking sense of deja-vu. The AT300 may be larger than
its predecessor (10.1 inches compared to the 7.7-inch AT200), but the two
tablets are clearly from the same genetic tree. A black border surrounds the
screen, while flipping the tablet over reveals a silver brushed aluminum rear.
It’s a smart look, although the rim is
clearly plastic and if you prod the backplate or pull on the edges, the entire
tablet flexes. Not to a worrying degree, but we’d recommend grabbing a padded
wallet to keep the AT300 safe during transit.
The AT300 is light enough to hold for
extended periods without aching your biceps, and actually appears thinner than
the AT200 despite being 1.3mm thicker, thanks to its wider design. Still, if
you need a tablet to take on the road a lot, you might prefer a compact
seven-incher like the AT200 or the Nexus 7 by Asus, which fits into bags more
easily and is better to handle.
The edges are typically lined with ports,
including a docking port on the bottom (charging dock sold separately), SD card
slot to expand the 32GB of storage, a Micro USB port to swap files with your PC
and a Mini HDMI port to hook the AT300 up to your TV, so you can show off your
photo collection when the neighbors come around. A lock switch beside the power
button can either stop the screen from changing between landscape and portrait
mode when the tablet is rotated or mute the sound, depending on your
preference.
The
AT300 is light enough to hold for extended periods without aching your biceps,
and actually appears thinner than the AT200 despite being 1.3mm thicker, thanks
to its wider design
Interface
Ice Cream Sandwich Android is here in its
vanilla form, with no real tinkering from Toshiba. We’re happy with that as Ice
Cream Sandwich is a great mobile OS, giving you plenty of space for your
shortcuts and a huge selection of widgets (which you can now shrink and expand
to fit on your desktops). You get fast access to your recent apps, plus a handy
notifications tab that notifies you of emails and other important bits.
The 10.1-inch touch-screen is not only
spacious, it’s also perfectly sensitive. Skimming through websites is a smooth
experience, but that responsiveness really comes into play when messing around
with apps and games. We tested some of the fastest-paced games around,
requiring dextrous fingers and all manner of pinching and swiping to succeed,
and the AT300 steered us through in one piece.
Games and media
Gamers will also love the powerful
quad-core processor that’s tucked away inside. This handled everything we threw
at it with ease. Even the most complex 3D games loaded quickly and ran with a
perfectly smooth frame rate, so hardcore mobile gamers won’t need to upgrade to
a newer tablet for a couple of years at least. Of course, the Nexus 7 by Asus
also boasts a quad-core processor and costs almost half as much as the AT300,
so gamers on a budget may wish to look there instead.
The AT300 doesn’t have the brightest screen
around, and in direct sunlight it’s impossible to make out almost anything,
even on maximum power. However, keep away from the sun and you’ll find it a
pleasing panel, crisp enough for enjoying movies and TV shows on the daily
commute. Colors don’t fade when you tilt the display, and the glass is solid
enough to withstand pressure without distorting the image.
Toshiba also has a Resolution+ setting,
which adds vibrancy to your photos and movies. You’ll notice warmer skin tones
in family snaps, while outdoor pictures appear bright and clean, with deep blue
skies and dazzling oceans really shining in those glamorous holiday shots.
You’ll have plenty of space on the AT300 for all of your apps, games, movies
and photos thanks to the generous 32GB of storage, and there’s an SD memory
card slot if you want even more room.
Toshiba
also has a Resolution+ setting, which adds vibrancy to your photos and movies.
Camera
If you want to take snaps on your tablet,
the AT300 comes with a five-megapixel camera featuring an LED flash. Our shots
were a little fuzzy when viewed on a TV or monitor, but they work just fine as
simple mementos of a day out. You also get a front-facing two-megapixel camera
for Skype chats.
If you’re always on the move then battery
life will be an important issue. The AT300 can play around six hours of video
from a full charge, an average result for a 10.1-inch tablet, so you’re best
off taking the charger if you plan on using the tab all day.
The verdict
Toshiba’s AT300 arrives at a time when the
tablet market is heaving, but its quad-core processor and responsive 10.1-inch
touch-screen make it a good option for gamers and app fans. The screen isn’t as
bright or bold as competitors such as the Apple iPad, but the Resolution+
feature is a nice touch and you get tons of storage space for your media and
apps.
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The Toshiba
AT300 specs
·
Web: www.toshiba.co.uk
·
Price: From $526
·
Size: 261x179x9mm
·
Weight: 590g
·
Display: 10.1 inches
·
Resolution: 1280x800 pixels
·
Camera: 5 megapixels with LED flash
·
Front camera: 2 megapixels
·
Video: Yes
·
Processor: 1300MHz quad-core
·
RAM: 1GB
·
Storage: 32GB
·
Internet: Wi-Fi, HTML, HTML5
·
GPS: Yes
·
Browser: Android
·
Email: Yes, push
·
Music player: MP3/WAV/WMA/eAAC+
·
Video player: MP4/H.264/H.263/WMV
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