Toshiba Announces the Regza AT300 Android Powered Tablet

Toshiba has finally announced its Regza AT300 tablet, an Android 3.0 powered device and the first tablet released by the manufacturer.  Many fans have been patiently waiting for the release of the Regza since it was first announced at CES 2011.

The Regza has a beautiful rubberized design, with a rippled gunmetal-grey layer on the back and black accents surrounding its 10.1″ LCD display. Toshiba boasts that the screen has an “Adaptive Display” for better contrast under sunlight (1,280×800 resolution). It carries a 5MP rear camera and a 2MP front-facing camera.

Its internal specs are excellent as well, making it a serious Motorola Xoom competitor in the near future. It will run Android 3.0 Honeycomb, an OS designed by Google especially for tablets, and feature a powerful Tegra 2 (1GHz) CPU and 1GB of RAM.

The device will pack 16GB internal memory, 7 hours of battery life, and a feature called “REGZA Apps Connect” function. This feature allows for speedy integration with other Regza devices by Toshiba, creating an ecosystem similar to what RIM is trying to do with the PlayBook tab. The interfaces include HDMI, SD, miniUSB and USB, and connections are 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Toshiba plans to start shipping the Regza tablet in Japan in June for about $730. At CES in January, the company said the tablet will hit the US in the first half of this year. At $730, the tablet seems a bit overpriced despite an excellent spec sheet and beautiful hardware, but keep in mind that Japan always gets the newest hi-tech devices at the highest prices first.

For this tablet to really compete in the U.S, it will need to be priced in such a way that it can compete with RIM’s BlackBerry Playbook, the iPad 2 and the Motorola Xoom.

Looking for more of the latest tablet news and reviews? You’ll want to check out Dell Announces Android Tablet and RIM’s PlayBook Tablet.

Via: CrunchGear