Table of Contents
Last Updated on March 29, 2020
Toshiba is not new to the tablet market. Unfortunately, their earlier Thrive tablets did not make the splash that Toshiba expected. Now they are back with a new line of tablets that started with the Excite 10 and now there’s the Excite 7.7.
The Look and Feel
Compared to the Thrive 7-inch, you will notice immediately the Excite is much, much thinner. It measures 8.1 x 5.3-inches and 0.31-inches thick.
Its starting weight is 0.77lbs/350g. Beyond the Gorilla Glass of the display, you will find a solid plastic band wrapping the tablet. The addition of the textured aluminum backing makes this tablet more durable as well as easier to hold.
Around the tablet you’ll find the array of buttons and ports. There is the power button, the volume rocker, and a multifunction toggle switch that can perform different functions depending on how you set it.
There’s the headphone jack, the microSD slot, Micro-USB port and dock connector. On the back you will find the 5-megapixel camera with the LED flash and a 2-megapixel one on the front. There are also two speakers for stereo sound.
As the name of the tablet suggests, the screen is a 7.7-inch AMOLED screen at a resolution of 1280 x 800.
What’s Inside
Toshiba Excite 7 comes with either a 16 or 32GB of internal storage depending on the model, and 1 GB of internal DDR2 RAM. Like many of today’s tablets, it’s powered by the1.3GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor.
Altogether, it has more than enough going on to power its operating system, Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich. In fact, gaming on this tablet is excellent.
There’s also built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The battery needed to power all of these goodies is surprisingly light, yet manages to give you nearly 10.5 hours of playtime.
Compared to the Toshiba Thrive 7
Hands down, the Excite is light years beyond the Thrive. After all, the Excite line is a direct upgrade to the Thrive.
The Excite is more powerful, better looking and has a longer battery life. Although the two tablets share many similar specs, there is no denying that the Excite is better in every way.
Compared to the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7
Since the Excite 7.7 is in direct competition with the Galaxy Tab 7.7, it only makes sense to compare the two. However, Toshiba Excite has the advantage of time over Samsung tablet. Because of that, the new Excite trounces all over the Galaxy Tab in many areas.
The Excite uses a Tegra 3 quad-core processor while the Galaxy Tab uses a Samsung Exynos dual core one. The Excite wins over the Galaxy Tab in most benchmark tests. Excite has latest Android OS 4.0 installed while the Galaxy Tab comes with Android 3, Honeycomb, out of the box. But by this time, there is likely an ICS update for it.
However, there is one area where the Galaxy Tab is the clear winner and that’s the battery life. While the Excite’s 10+ hours of life is good, the Galaxy Tab’s 12+ hours is still the best battery life you can get on a tablet.
Another difference is the Galaxy Tab’s LTE version. The Galaxy Tab was designed with phone features in mind, for those that would like to have their tablet on a mobile network.
Overall, Toshiba Excite 7.7 makes for an exciting 7.7-inch option. It is a welcome addition to a market space that does not have many options, especially considering that many people opt for the larger 10-inch tablets.
Although the Samsung has had 7-inch tablets for a while, the Toshiba Excite has plans to snatch a piece of that market.