Toshiba Excite 7.7 Pro Reviews

It's great to see manufacturers learn from the past, and Toshiba has certainly done just that with the Excite. It's a definite win over the first-gen Thrives in that it's thinner, lighter, more powerful and just plain better-looking, to boot. The slate will also be a good fit for mobile gaming junkies who don't want to lug around a 10-incher on the bus, train or any other form of travel. But with Tegra 3 comes a price: $500 for 16GB and $580 for 32GB may not appeal to most casual tableteurs. Overall, the Excite 7.7 may be worth the cost for a beautiful display in a portable form factor. The question is, does Toshiba have enough brand recognition in the US to best similarly priced tablets from Samsung, Acer and ASUS that offer comparable outputs in performance? Not yet, but at least it's on the right track with the Excite -- so long as it does something about that camera.

No longer regarded as a newcomer in the Android tablet scene, Toshiba is doing a great job in building up its reputation with its new line of Excite tablets. Just like its names, there’s a lot of excitement surrounding the diminutive Toshiba Excite 7.7, as it boasts top-notch hardware in a compact body. From its rigorous performing quad-core processor to its stunning “AutoBrite” AMOLED display, there are a lot of things that reels us into this tablet. However, we’re stopped dead in our tracks as we look upon the expensive $450 price point attached to this base 16GB Wi-Fi only version. At this level, it’s going to be a hard sell for most people, seeing that you can pick up things like the Asus Transformer Prime for $50 more – or on the other end of the spectrum, pay considerably less for something like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0. Nowadays, pricing is such an instrumental figure in making a device successful or not, but with this, we feel it’s doing more harm than good.

Toshiba's come a long way in the tablet world. The Thrive line was filled with huge, clunky devices, and the Excite 10 LE sacrificed everything (and I mean everything) to be as thin as possible. The new Excite tablets find a much better middle ground, combining great internals and solid performance with up-to-date software, all in a body that looks and feels good. The Excite 7.7 makes a pretty compelling case, at least on paper: its screen is fantastic, its performance solid, its body attractive. The price is the limiting factor here, and it's probably a deal-breaker. At $499, it's twice the price of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 and more than double the price of the Kindle Fire, easily the most popular 7-inch tablet out there right now. The Excite 7.7 has some distinct advantages over those devices, but I'm not sure it's twice as good to justify twice the outlay. If you're in the market for a premium 7-inch tablet, though, and were initially put off by the Verizon contract you'd have to sign to get the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7, look no further: the Excite 7.7 will serve you every bit as well and with none of the paperwork.

Toshiba's Excite 7.7 is a powerful and highly portable quad-core Android tablet with an impressive AMOLED screen, but it's too expensive.

Though it's up to the individual to decide what the ideal tablet screen size is for him or her, if you're in the market for something small, the Toshiba Excite 7.7 is a solid choice. Easy to handle and a breeze to navigate through due to its speedy CPU, its thin profile and light build makes it even more appealing. Its AMOLED screen gives it an edge over its 10- and 13-inch colleagues, and compared to the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 (which has a fantastic display in its own right), the Excite 7.7 gives off slightly better coloring and higher brightness. However, the pricing is undoubtedly steep. Even with its great display, most recent OS, and quad-core processor, you'll have to really ask yourself whether it's worth forking over $500 for a 7.7-inch device that has only 16GB of storage and no HDMI support. It may be more enticing if it cost about $150 less, but frankly, half a grand is just too high.

The Toshiba Excite 7.7 is one of the finest Android 4.0 tablets money can buy, but it's too expensive even given its high-end components.