Soft sell
Put to the test, the AT300 demonstrates commendable performance. All the benchmark numbers are where you want them: the AnTuTu app returning a score just shy of 11,000 and the Sunspider browser test coming in at a solid 1,700. All the graphically intense games and 1080p videos files I threw at the AT300 ran perfectly.
AnTuTu and Sunspider results
There’s nothing wrong with the rest of the fixtures and fittings either. The 5Mp and 2Mp cameras perform well and the two speakers at the bottom of the device produce a reasonable amount of volume, even if the sound quality is not quite up to the standard of recent Acer tablets.
Swype keyboard and ThinkFree WP app
On the software front, Toshiba provides attractive and competent DLNA-connected media player, nicely laid out file manager, full instals of ThinkFree’s Mobile office suite and SplashTop Remote HD along with a slightly tweaked version of the Swype keyboard. All welcome stuff. Toshiba is keeping mum on the size of the AT300’s battery but my usual 720p video-loop test ran to the 7 hours and 40 minutes mark before the lights went out which is par for the course.
Toshiba's file manager appears more refined than most
The official RRP for the the AT300 is £299 but it’s easily available for £285, which makes it quite the bargain and cheaper than my previous best-buy recommendation for a 10in Android tablet: the heavier, thicker and less powerful Acer A510.
Good performer and a reasonable price
Verdict
The latest Toshiba tablet may not set the world on fire but the mid-range Tegra 3 chip and SD card slot make it a powerful and useful bit of kit. Available for under £300, it’s a pretty good deal and is now the obvious choice if you are after a 10in 720p Android tablet. ®
More Tablet Reviews |
||||
 Archos
101 XS |
 Samsung
Galaxy Note 10.1 |
 Android 4.1
Jelly Bean |
 Acer
Iconia Tab A510 |
 Asus
Transformer Pad Infinity |
Toshiba AT300 10in Android tablet review
COMMENTS
Not a bad review, except this bit...
"Most of my videos are encoded at 720p and I doubt I’m alone in that. So while I like the idea of 1080p tablet displays, I'll be damned if I'm paying extra for the privilege."
So the only thing you're using a tablet for is playing video? That's a bit like giving the iphone 5 a really high mark because it can show more phone numbers on screen than the old one. There's a massive amount of really cool stuff you can use a tablet for, and most of it benefits hugely from a nice high-res screen.
The whole point of a high DPI screen is that it's so much better for everything else - particularly anything involving text, like web browsing, ebooks and so on! The benefit for video is actually quite minimal I'd say.
Re: Dammit
More tellingly, I've owned a stack of Toshiba kit on and off for 15 years, and I've *never needed* support from them.
Dammit
USB slot & non-proprietary connectors/chargers, HDMI port and vanilla Android with no 'helpful' tweaking from the manufacturer at £300? Wish this had been out a few months back, I would probably have snagged this over the Galaxy Tab.
Well done, Toshiba!
Now that's more like it.
A reasonable 10" tablet by a well-known maker at less than three hundred notes. And an SD card expansion slot too.
I don't happen to have £300 spare at the moment, but if I did, I'd be looking at this with considerable interest.
