Toshiba announced an Android 3.2 (“Honeycomb”) tablet that's just 0.3 inches thick, with a weight of 1.23 pounds. The AT200 has a 1.2GHz Texas Instruments OMAP4430 processor, a 10.1-inch display with 1280 x 800 pixel resolution, a GPS receiver, dual cameras, plus expansion that includes a microSD slot, micro-HDMI port, and a docking connector, according to the company.

Toshiba's first Honeycomb tablet — the Nvidia Tegra 2-equipped Thrive — began shipping in July. This device drew praise from some for its full-size SD slot and its standard HDMI and USB ports, but others — including eWEEK's Clint Boulton — couldn't abide the 1.6-pound weight and 0.62-inch thickness that resulted.

Toshiba's AT200 (top) is much slimmer than the Thrive (bottom)
Notebook Italia
(Click to enlarge)

In a quick riposte to such complaints, Toshiba introduced a slimmer sibling at the the IFA Berlin trade show Sept. 1. The AT200 is, in fact, one of the sveltest tablets around, with a claimed thickness of just 0.3 inches and weight of 1.23 pounds.

As the image above suggests, Toshiba's crash diet for the AT200 involved jettisoning the larger ports and slot. Fortunately, the tablet still has I/O, but it's now in the form of a microSD slot, a micro-HDMI port, and a micro-USB port.

Toshiba's AT200
(Click to enlarge)

Interestingly, Toshiba has also moved on from the Tegra 2 that's been so common on Honeycomb tablets. The AT200 combines its 1GB of RAM (and up to 64GB of flash storage) with a 1.2GHZ TI OMAP4430 processor, the company says.

Again featuring an ARM Cortex-A9 core, the OMAP4430 provides hardware-accelerated 2D and 3D graphics and 1080p HD video playback, according to TI. Toshiba naturally confirms these capabilities for the AT200, further citing stereo speakers whose playback is enhanced by "sound masking equalizer" technology.

Though Toshiba's release didn't say so, the AT200 is apparently like the Thrive in that no customized user interface has been overlaid on top of Honeycomb. The company says its tablet supports the Adobe Flash Player and also provides access to two app stores: Android Market and Toshiba Places.

The AT200's 10.1-inch display provides capacitive touch, a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, and LED backlighting. Along with the usual accelerometer and light sensor capabilities, the device also includes dual cameras (five megapixel at the rear, two megapixel at the front) a gyrometer, an electronic compass, and a GPS receiver, according to the company.

Finally, Toshiba claims the AT200 provides eight hours of battery life. This holds true whether the tablet is being used for 100 percent video playback (presumably without Wi-Fi), or in a regimen consisting of 65 percent web browsing via Wi-Fi, ten percent video playback, and 25 percent standby, according to the company.

Specifications listed by Toshiba for the AT200 include:

• Processor — Texas Instruments OMAP4430 clocked at 1.2GHz
• Memory — 1GB of RAM and "up to" 64GB of flash storage
• Display — 10.1-inch screen with capacitive touch, 1280 x 800 pixel resolution
• Cameras — 5 megapixel (rear) and 2 megapixel (front)
• Expansion — microSD slot
• Networking:
• WLAN — 802.11b/g/n
• PAN — Bluetooth
• Other I/O:
  • micro-USB
  • micro-HDMI
  • docking connector
• Battery — size n/s, but provides 8 hours of operation
• Dimensions — 10.07 x 6.92 x 0.3 inches (256 x 176 x 7.7mm)
• Weight — 1.23 pounds (558g)

Availability

Toshiba did not mention pricing for the AT200, but said the device will be available in Europe during the fourth quarter of this year. We'd hope to see U.S. sales begin around the same time.

Jonathan Angel can be reached at [email protected] and followed at www.twitter.com/gadgetsense.

This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.