Toshiba Unveils The Thinnest Honeycomb Tablet Yet, The 7.7mm-thick AT200

Matt is currently working as a writer for CrunchGear. Matt Burns is a family man first and attempts to be a freelance writer second. Born and raised in the heart of the automotive world, only cars eclipse his love of gadgets. He previously wrote for Engadget and EngadgetHD before moving into the party house that is CrunchGear. He learned the... ? Learn More

Just like the rumor stated, Toshiba used IFA 2011 to announce its latest Android tablet and it’s just as tiny as it looked. The AT200 packs a 1.2GHz TI OMAP 4430 CPU, up to 64GB of memory, and most of the ports that made the Toshiba Thrive popular: micro-USB, microSD, and micro-HDMI. Toshiba claims that the battery is good for “eight hours of video consumption.”

The Samsung Galaxy Tab suddenly looks a bit thick. The new Toshiba AT200 measures in at just 7.7mm, which is nearly a full millimeter less than both the slender GalTab and the iPad 2. But unlike the Galaxy Tab, the AT200 shouldn’t be mistaken for an Apple tablet. From the port locations, to the rear camera location, to the entire backplate, the AT200 looks nothing like an iPad. In fact, the brushed aluminum back looks wonderful and full dispels any myth created by the fugly Thrive Android tablet that Toshiba doesn’t know how design beautiful products anymore.

Toshiba failed to include within the presser expected release date or price. That said, the Android 3.2 tablet will likely ship rather soon as Google is set to unveil the next incarnation of Android dubbed Ice Cream Sandwich within the coming months.

PRESS RELEASE Toshiba unveils its world-class, ultra-thin, ultra-light tablet

Toshiba AT200 tablet built to exceed expectations at only 7.7mm thin and 558g with full 10.1? screen

Neuss, Germany, 1st

September 2011 – Toshiba Europe GmbH unveiled an exciting new product today – the ultra-thin 25.7cm (10.1”) AT200 tablet. Despite measuring only 7.7mm from front to back, the Toshiba AT200 delivers a broad range of essential ports and interfaces. It offers an amazing wide-view display for comfortable content consumption plus full web browsing capabilities to meet the preferred usage for tablets. Every bit as powerful as it is stylish and robust, this tablet is built to exceed expectations. The Toshiba AT200 will be available in the fourth quarter of 2011 in Europe.

Ultra-thin, ultra-powerful

“The new ultra-thin 25.7cm (10.1?) tablet Toshiba AT200, featuring Android™ 3.2, Honeycomb, is the latest in a long line of Toshiba products that are masterfully engineered”, said Marco Perino, General Manager DS Digital Products Division. “With a thickness of only 7.7mm and a weight of just 558g, the elegant Toshiba AT200 is highly mobile yet extremely smart and powerful.”

All essentials on-board

To connect with other devices the ultra-slim tablet comes with all essential interfaces and ports onboard: amongst them micro-USB, micro-SD, Wi-Fi™ and Bluetooth®. The micro-HDMI ®-port allows streaming HD content to the large screen of a TV. Front and back HD cameras are ideal for video conferencing and augmented reality applications.

High-quality media consumption – no matter where you are

The Toshiba AT200 allows users to enjoy videos at home and while out and about. It features a brilliant 25.7cm (10.1?) high-definition screen that displays pictures with crisp colours and in full detail.

Despite being ultra-thin, it allows up to eight hours of video consumption.

Sound quality at its best

To complement the first-class video capabilities the new Toshiba tablet with stereo speakers allows for a high quality sound playback. The Adaptive Sound Device Enhancer’s sophisticated algorithm maximises sound quality to achieve a quality that normally only can be found with large speakers. Plus, a technology called Sound Masking Equalizer identifies and enhances sound that is being masked or distorted by surrounding noise. The result is a well- balanced, powerful playback of music and video sounds even under high ambient noise levels.

Endless usage possibilities

Toshiba’s new tablet also offers a rich web browsing experience including support of Adobe® Flash® Player, access to more than 250,000 apps on Android Market™ and Toshiba Places for endless possibilities.

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Toshiba Outs Monstrous 55″ 4K, Glasses-Free 3D TV With Facial Recognition

Devin Coldewey is a Seattle-based writer and photographer. He has written for the TechCrunch network since 2007. Some posts he’d like you to read: The Dangers of Externalizing Knowledge | Generation i | Surveillant Society | Choose Two | Frame Wars | The User’s Manifesto | Our Great Sin His personal website is coldewey.cc. ? Learn More

This TV is a beast. It’s called the ZL2, and to be honest it’s the only TV I actually have gadget envy for right now. The rest of the 3D TVs out there rely on end-of-life active shutter glasses or immature polarized 3D, but this monster is going straight to the lenticular lenslets. This technique involves a layer of tiny lenses that direct the light in the direction of the viewer, with a slightly offset to send a different image to each eye. No glasses required.

Oh, and did I mention that this TV has a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160? That’s “quad-HD,” twice the height and width of 1080p and four times the pixels.

The ZL2 can provide 3D for up to nine positions, adjusting its lenslets to send information in the right direction (it tracks faces with a built-in camera). There’s no saying how well it’ll actually work, but Toshiba seems pretty confident about it.

And as long as it’s tracking your face, it will adjust the TV to your personal preferences once it recognizes you. Favorite channels, shows, that kind of thing. And there’s an iPhone app! And it’ll record to and play from USB drives!

Honestly, I rarely get excited, or even slightly interested, in TVs. I don’t own a TV, I don’t particularly want one. But this one sounds just plain amazing. The only thing I’m worried about is the price. I don’t see this thing hitting for less than five grand. I guess we’ll find out what the damage is when December rolls around.

Update: Yes indeed, the price is enormous. €7999, or around $11,500.

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Toshiba Announces The First Ultrabook, The Portégé Z830

Devin Coldewey is a Seattle-based writer and photographer. He has written for the TechCrunch network since 2007. Some posts he’d like you to read: The Dangers of Externalizing Knowledge | Generation i | Surveillant Society | Choose Two | Frame Wars | The User’s Manifesto | Our Great Sin His personal website is coldewey.cc. ? Learn More

It’s taken long enough, but it seems that with Intel’s Ultrabook spec, PC laptop makers are actually starting to put together a few notebooks that are competitive with the svelte and successful MacBook Air. The first out of the gate were a bit pricey, but Toshiba has just announced a sub-$1000 unit that doesn’t compromise too much on power. And it’s sure thin enough.

Let’s just get the specs stated:

0.63? (15.9mm) thick13.3? LED-backlit display (1366×768)2.5 poundsIntel Core i3, i5, i7 processorsOnboard Intel HD 3000 graphics128GB SSDMagnesium alloy chassis with “honeycomb structure” for rigidityBacklit, spill-resistant keyboard2xUSB 2.0, 1x USB 3.0 (right side), HDMI and VGA out1.3-megapixel webcamFingerprint reader (optional, on B2B model)

RAM wasn’t specified. I asked Toshiba for clarification on specs and pricing, but “under $1000? was all they were willing to disclose. They also claim the sound system is enhanced, but compared to what is not clear. Small laptops like this one generally have pretty awful sound due simply to the limitations placed on the size, depth, and placement of the speaker drivers. Presumably Toshiba is proud to have approached those limitations as closely as possible, which is as much as anyone can do.

Whether it’s actually competitive depends on what you actually get for that low, low price. Could be a bargain, could be a hard bargain. We’ll have to wait for Toshiba to spill.

As for the design, it’s thin, angular, and efficient, but I wouldn’t say it sets itself apart much. You certainly can’t fault it on thickness or weight, though it lacks the unified single-shape design of the Air (I’m not sure how I feel about seeing through the sides there). Here’s a little gallery of the most representative shots:

As for availability, expect it in November. Hold onto your wallets, though. We expect similar submissions to the Ultrabook field from Asus, Acer (theirs leaked this morning), and others before year’s end, perhaps with a sweeter price or configuration.

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Sony, Hitachi And Toshiba Make Their LCD Business Merger Official

Dr. Serkan Toto currently works as the first and only Asia-based writer for the TechCrunch network, mainly covering Japan-related technology and web companies for TechCrunch, CrunchGear and MobileCrunch. Serkan also works full-time as an independent web and mobile industry consultant with a focus on the Japanese market. He is sept-lingual, holds an MBA and is a PhD in economics. Serkan... ? Learn More

Yesterday, we reported about Sony, Hitachi and Toshiba planning to establish a joint venture for small and mid-size LCD panels in Japan. And today, the three companies, plus major shareholder Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, made the plan official.

As reported, the semi-public organization will control 70% of the venture (to be set up by the end of the year), with the other partners holding a 10% stake each. Tentatively named “Japan Display”, the venture will launch with a cool US$2.6 billion investment and instantly control 21.5% of the world market for small and medium-sized LCDs.

According to Japanese business daily The Nikkei, Sharp will be the second-largest maker of this type of displays with a 20% market share. The same newspaper says the four companies involved in Japan Display are currently trying to figure out where to set up plants in order to start production as quickly as possible.

Apart from LCDs, Japan Display will also invest in OLED-related research and development.

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Sony, Hitachi And Toshiba To Merge Operations For Small And Mid-Sized LCDs

Dr. Serkan Toto currently works as the first and only Asia-based writer for the TechCrunch network, mainly covering Japan-related technology and web companies for TechCrunch, CrunchGear and MobileCrunch. Serkan also works full-time as an independent web and mobile industry consultant with a focus on the Japanese market. He is sept-lingual, holds an MBA and is a PhD in economics. Serkan... ? Learn More

Quite big news from Sony, Hitachi, and Toshiba today: according to Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun [JP], the three companies today decided to merge their LCD businesses, at least for smaller and mid-sized screens used in smartphones, handheld gaming devices and tablets.

If the report is to be believed, a joint venture will be set up by the end of the year. What’s interesting is that the so-called Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, a semi-public organization, will control a whopping 70% of the newly formed company. The organization is ready to invest a total of US$2.6 billion (and fend off competition from South Korea, Taiwan and other places).

Sony, Hitachi and Toshiba will hold 10% each of the yet to be named joint venture. It will control over 20% of the world’s market for smaller and mid-sized LCDs, making it the biggest company globally in this field.

We covered the first rumors about the merger back in June.

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Smarbo: Toshiba Announces Roomba Competitor

Dr. Serkan Toto currently works as the first and only Asia-based writer for the TechCrunch network, mainly covering Japan-related technology and web companies for TechCrunch, CrunchGear and MobileCrunch. Serkan also works full-time as an independent web and mobile industry consultant with a focus on the Japanese market. He is sept-lingual, holds an MBA and is a PhD in economics. Serkan... ? Learn More

The Roomba just got new competition from Japan: Toshiba has announced [JP] a new cleaning robot today, the so-called Smarbo (which is probably short for “Smart Robot”). Just like its US counterpart, the Toshiba robot is primarily intended for use in households.

Toshiba built quite a few features into the robot, for example two CPUs (details unknown), a camera, and a set of 38 sensors (gyro, acceleration, range detection etc.). The company says that the Smarbo cleans an area of 100sqm in about 90 minutes and that electricity costs stand at just 2 yen ($0.03) for a room of that size.

Just like the Roomba, the Smarbo circumvents objects in its vicinity and returns to its charging station automatically after it’s done. Buyers can program the Smarbo in certain ways. For example, if they want a small area within a room cleaned thoroughly, they can choose the “spot mode” to make the robot circle only in a 1.5×1.5m square and then return to the charging station (see below).

The Smarbo is sized at 355×355×93mm, weighs 3.7kg and works at 52dB.

Toshiba is planning to start selling it in Japan (where the Roomba is available, too, by the way) on October 1 for $1,175 (including a remote control and the charging station).

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