Toshiba shows off Smart Pad tablet prototype, promises launch before October
By Donald Melanson 
posted July 20th 2010 4:06PM
posted July 20th 2010 4:06PM
It may not stand out from the pack quite as much as Toshiba's dual-screen Libretto W100, but it looks like the company will soon be expanding its tablet options a bit further. The latest addition was revealed in Australia by Toshiba's Mark Whittard, who showed off a prototype of a so-called "Smart Pad" tablet but unfortunately revealed few details about it. He did say that it would have both HDMI and USB connectivity, however, and that it could run either Android or Windows 7 -- Toshiba apparently hasn't decided which, though. There's no indication of a price either, but Whittard says Toshiba is looking to launch it "before October."
@d0mth0ma5 or even "thanks for playing". Good lord I need to get off here and sleep.
@d0mth0ma5 i was trying to sound douchey :) i thought that was the point of the comments section? sound as douchey as possible and then randomly interject something intelligent and thought-provoking every once and awhile to throw everyone off?
@SirNoDroin We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.
Credit to S. Hawking
What is a smart pad? where in the original article does it say Toshiba is coming out with a Smart pad. I've never heard the term smart pad before?
If they don't know if is going to be Android or W7 means that they haven't decided the hardware at all!! And they want to release before October??? Maybe October of 2011!!!
It will be killed when they say the price...
Please let me boot either android or windows 7. windows when i need something with access to more powerful programs and android for some couch browsing, some games, and controlling my media center.
@eb
remember back when laptops came with those terribly put together "Quickboot" linux OSes to play back music and such, and then if you wanted to do "real" computing you could boot into windows?
They stopped including them because no one ever shutdown there computer to go into music mode, in fact the idea of a "dual-boot" system is alienating and scary to many users (I've had many OSX friends petrified of putting on bootcamp).
Personally I'd rather they just go with one (I prefer win7, but android might work), and have perfectly written and optimized hardware drivers (especially in the power-management arena).
If its a compatible processor, you can put on Any OS you like, there is always a way. But I'd rather leave that to the enthusiast, for me, I would like a rock solid working device.
The picture needs a caption contest:
*please don't ask me to try turning it on*
Let the copy presses start!
Is that an iPad he's holding up?
why is that man holding an iPad in the air .. he wants to harm little fella :(
They are going to launch before October yet don't know if it will run Win 7 or Android.
Hoping for Win 7 as it will be an epic fail.
I'm waiting for the hp palmpad.
@toyotast165 i hope you will not end up in the corner with the hp slate and courier guys
I'm assuming Moorestown if it's running Windows?
I think the guy in the picture IS holding an iPad. They most likely don't have any pictures yet of this new Toshiba tablet, so they're showing us a stock photo of somebody with an iPad because it's related to the article. I don't think anybody is really talking about following Apple's differentiating aspect ratio. They all seem to think 16:9 is the form factor customers want.
@Citrus
Isn't this true? Why should you buy such a pad? To watch widescreen movies, youtube clips, ..., to browse websites optimized for widescreen displays, ... To play widescreen games, ...
You need an aspect ratio the iPad uses only if you can take notes with a pen on it, but because such mediocre pads don't support pen input, such a display aspect ratio is pretty useless.
@Crank
The movie itself is the exact same size on a 4:3 screen as it is on a 16:9 screen.
You'll get black bars when watching a movie on a 4:3 screen... but you'll gain more screen real estate when doing other things.
Take a look:
http://i.imgur.com/V5c9j.jpg
@Crank I personally prefer the shape of the iPad for browsing websites, although I don't own one and it's not ideal- though it's still good- for movies. I've used Archos tablets and one of the most bothersome features of those devices was the 16:9 aspect ratio. After using an iPad, I find 16:9 to be awkward. It just makes the tablet too wide and too hard to hold with one hand. I still prefer it, of course, for TVs, but it doesn't work for mobiles IMO.
@Michael Scrip
Your image is misleading because it assumes the 4:3 device has the same width as the 16:9 device but a different height.
When we assume the reverse:
http://imgur.com/bZCG4.jpg
@dabdan
True... but assuming your image on the right is the iPad... how big would the tablet on the left be? I estimate a tablet of that size and shape would be about 12.5" tall. That's JooJoo territory:
http://www.wired.com/reviews/embeddedImages/pr_joojoo_tablet_large_wide.jpg
I'm bet most of these upcoming tablets will have 10" screens... and will end up being roughly iPad-width.
If it can run either Windows 7 or Android then surely a half smart tech blogger could work out that it must run an Atom or a similar X86 chip since Windows 7 will not run on ARM.
Unless he meant Windows Phone 7 but then he would surely just be fucking with us.
iPad knockoff. KIRF. Ripoff. Oh and please run Windows 7. We don't need yet another useless Android device. We already have a bunch of G-phones err Garbage-phones. Please don't make a category for Garbage-tablets or G-tablets.
But why PAD? Didn't everyone make fun of the word "pad" as a slate?
I keep seeing PAD announcements.
Is Apple powerful enough to call their next product the iCrap and then everyone else starts selling eCrap, Smart Crap, Think Crap, etc.?
I wish other manufacturers would take the leap to give their product a name and not give a damn about what anyone else thinks of the name.
Hey, Engagdet "reporter", are you sure they don't mean it will be available running Windows or Android, your pick? It's probable one will reach market before the other. It's about these things start hitting.
I have said this before and I will say it again
That's nice and all but its not out right now and you're kinda late and mostly no one will care beside us geeks
I hope it's cheaper than the iPad
Wake me up when it ships.
The thing about the other manufacturers is that they're so cautious. Apple has risked its existence many times during the '00s. Bang! Intel. Bang! iPod. Bang! iPhone. Bang! iPad. Like 'em or not, they are decisive. This level of exec working for Toshiba is hyper cautious. His company is a television company. They don't want to innovate, they want to follow quickly behind, after the basic winner design is out there. I can't believe Windows 7 will have any power on this style of platform. Maybe Zune interfaces, with a mobile OS. That's the dumb idea that Microsoft has been touting for a year now. Everybody jumped ship. Android FTW.
why does it have to look like the ipad?
Jebus christ.
Well anything has got to be better than that ipad, single tasking POS device that fails in multiple venues.
Another day, another tablet showing no software, no (firm) release date and no price. I can barely contain my excitement.
In some ways I think it's too late. If someone was going to compete with the iPad it would've/should've happened already. Why is it taking so long to get a competitive device on the market? It's not like the iPad was a secret. Everyone knew it was coming months before they announced it and yet not one company has produced anything that would even remotely compete with it.
And once they release iOS4 for it the bar will be set even higher.
Yeah,yeah,, copy what u learnt from ipad is a short cut for Toshiba, but don't forget to thank apple
They should just call it the MaxiPad and be done with it. People can differentiate it between an iPad.