Can you kill an iPad?
An interesting question. Vampires avoid wooden stakes, werewolves steer clear of silver bullets but what does an iPad fear? If you listen to the those in the know then it’s an Android tablet. I’ve had my doubts in the past but finally I get to find out if my doubts have foundation as I have in my hands the Toshiba Folio 100, their first real stab at tablet dominance.
The bodywork
So what is it like? As a form factor its smaller and lighter than it’s Apple rival. But the way that it’s laid out it almost forces you to use it widthways opposed lengthways to which is a tad frustrating, it’s just too tall and too thin to use it any other way.
Responsiveness
Is it responsive. Damn straight. I’ve been incredibly impressed with the way it reacts. It’s smooth and it’s fast.
Customisation
Android as a whole isn’t as straightforward and iOS but its advantage is that it has a number of screens that are completely customisable with your fave apps and widgets, in a manneri you can do this with an iPad but it’s more a case of arranging icons to your taste. But you can stick a clock, weather widgets and social networking feeds with the Folio and this is something that really appeals to me.
Browsing
Now the web browsing experience on the iPad is second to none. It is surely the best browsing experience on the planet right now (if you can ignore the absence of Flash then you’re golden). Browsing on the Folio is OK. Fair enough because it has Android 2.2 it does support Flash but it’s missing pinch to zoom and it just doesn’t flow as smoothly as you’d want it to when your finger is the prodding device. Also as Android was never actually designed for tablets I don’t think that Toshiba have adapted it as much as say Samsung have with the Galaxy Tab to get away from that small screen feeling. For example if you want to type in a web address it fills the entire screen which just seems clunky to me.
Apps
Now tablets would be nowhere without apps. It’s what made them popular in the first place. Obviously on Android, you have the Marketplace to grab a wealth of time consuming media but I don’t think that Toshiba and Google were on speaking terms when this hardware was developed as there is no Android Marketplace whatsoever. There’s a Toshiba AppStore which I guess is there to make up for it but the fact that Google have’nt endorsed this enough to give them access to app paradise simply leaves me cold.
In Conclusion
After about a week of use this is fair attempt but also a massive miss. This could have been something amazing, especially considering the price point from some retailers but to be honest I would find that extra cash and get on down the the Apple Store and buy a real tablet.
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