The Galaxy Tab from Samsung is the best value for money tablet and is called as the direct iPad competitor however Toshiba has brought their own product in the Tablet section named the Toshiba Thrive which is one of the cheapest Android HoneyComb tablets out there.
We have also compared the Samsung Galaxy Tab with some other HoneyComb Tablets tooDo check out Acer Iconia Tab A500 Vs Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Tablet Comparison, Motorola XOOM Vs Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Tablet Comparison and Galaxy Tab 10.1v P7100 vs iPad 2 WiFi+3G Comparison and if you’re a Toshiba fan basically, you might also want to read Acer Iconia Tab A500 Vs Toshiba Thrive Tablet Comparison and Samsung Galaxy Tab Vs Toshiba Thrive Tablet Comparison make your pick. Also, check out Android 3.0 Honeycomb Tablets.
Table of Contents:
- Form Factor Comparison
- Display Comparison
- Camera Comparison
- Operating System and User Interface Comparison
- Connectivity Comparison
- Memory Comparison
- Processor and Battery Comparison
Form Factor:
The Samsung Galaxy Tab is really thin, at 256.7 x 175.3 x 8.6 mm while the Toshiba Thrive is 272 x 175 x 15 mm. The Samsung Galaxy Tab weights just 560 grams, with a weight of 771g on the Toshiba Thrive, making it quite higher in weight compared to the Galaxy Tab.
The Galaxy Tab is one of the slimmest tablets in the world, and comes with a sleek and appealing design and here are 9 Reasons Why the Galaxy Tab 750 is the Best Tablet .
Winner: Galaxy Tab 10.1
When it comes to the display, the Toshiba Thrive has a 10.1 inch screen with having a pixel density of approximately 149ppi and a maximum resolution of 1280 x 768 while the Samsung Galaxy Tab has a 10.1 inch screen, which supports upto 16M colors and a maximum screen resolution of 1280×800. The Samsung Galaxy Tab has a proximity sensor, gyroscope sensor and an accelerometer while the Toshiba Thrive has the same sensors on it except the Proximity sensor.
Both the displays are capacitive screens and support multi touch input on them. Note that the Toshiba Thrive has a resolution of 1280×768 and not 1280×800, which is a standard on all the Android tablets.
Winner: Toshiba Thrive
Camera:
Both the tablets come with cameras and the Galaxy Tab’s camera has a smaller camera unit, compared to other tablets in this category, with a 3.2MP camera and a maximum resolution of 2048×1536 pixels. On the other hand, the Toshiba Thrive also has a 5 mega pixel camera at the back and can shoot photos upto a resolution of 2592 x 1944 pixels. The Galaxy Tab’s camera samples show that it retains natural coloring almost while the Thrive from Toshiba adds a bit of yellow tint to it, which makes the photo good nevertheless but originality is lost.
Both the tablets come with auto focus and LED flash, pictures are a bit more vibrant on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 though, due to the color tone of the camera.
Coming to the video recording capabilities, the both the devices record HD video at 720p at 30 frames per second.
Both the Toshiba tablet and Samsung Galaxy Tab have a secondary front facing camera, a 2MP on the Toshiba Thrive and a 1.2MP on the Galaxy Tab one and is used for video calling and by various apps on the Android platform such as Skype, Fring etc.
Winner: Toshiba Thrive
Operating System and User Interface:
The Samsung Galaxy Tab runs on Honeycomb 3.1 while the Toshiba Thrive comes with HoneyComb 3.1. There are a list of nice features like resizeable widgets, a new host mode, and Google’s new Movies app on HoneyComb 3.1 however, the latest version of HoneyComb is 3.2 is already available to the Galaxy Tab users but no word on availability of 3.2 for the Thrive from Toshiba yet, so it might or might not be coming soon.
Applications are aplenty and all apps on Android smartphones will run on tablets too, enlarged. Also, there are a lot of native apps on HoneyComb pre installed in the device and tablet specific apps are only about 200 in the Android Market currently and you can check out the Best Apps for Honeycomb Tablets and Best Games for HoneyComb Tablets also.
Though they run on the same operating system, there is a slight change in the User Interface. The Galaxy Tab runs TouchWiz 4.0 (which is also seen on its high end smartphones like the Galaxy SII) top of Honeycomb, which adds its own small tweaks and gesture improvements throughout the software while the Thrive runs on Toshiba’s own UI, which actually is more or less similar to stock HoneyComb itself. Not many changes out there on the Thrive, in general.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy Tab
Connectivity:
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 GSM bands on 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 and HSDPA on 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 on 3G and comes with a standard SIM Card slot, if you are going for the 3G Model. While the Toshiba Thrive does not have a 3G version at all, which means that connectivity is limited on the move, unless you tether internet from a MiFi device or your Android smartphone using portable hotspot.
Both the tablets have Wifi 802.11 a/b/g/n and both of them have WiFi Hotspot capabalities, thanks to Android HoneyComb which has made it a standard features across all devices right from the most basic Android smartphones. To know how to use your Android HoneyComb Tablet as a WiFi Hotspot ad tether its internet connection, read How to Tether Android HoneyComb Tablets as WiFi Hotspot .
A-GPS support for locaion and navigation are also present and both devices have Bluetooth 2.1 and USB 2.0 connectivity, along with a HDMI port on the Galaxy Tab and Toshiba Thrive making it a true entertainer on the move. The HDMI port allows you to connect your tablet to a large screen and enjoy your HD Videos or games.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy Tab
Memory:
The Samsung Galaxy Tab comes with 16, 32 or 64 GB of memory but there’s no slot for further expansion on it while the Toshiba Thrive comes with 8/16/32 GB of internal memory and supports a maximum of 32 GB of storage on microSD as well.
Winner: Toshiba Thrive
Processor and Battery:
The Toshiba Thrive has a similar 1 GHz Dual-core NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 processor with 1GB of DDR2 RAM while the Galaxy Tab 10.1 has a similar Dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor, with 1GB of DDR2 RAM.
If you’re a hardcore gamer or like to use some graphic hungry apps, you won’t be disappointed as the Galaxy Tab has a Tegra 2 T20 chipset with ULP GeForce™ GPU for enhanced Web Browsing and HD Gaming.
The Galaxy Tab from Samsung comes with a 7000mAh battery while the Thrive Tablet from Toshiba comes with a 2,030 mAh battery which gives approximately 6.5 hrs of battery life. Continuous usage and entertainment on the Galaxy Tab gives over 10 hours of battery life and Toshiba claims a maximum of upto 9 hours of multimedia and internet usage on a single full charge.
Winner: Samsung Galaxy Tab
Conclusion:
The Galaxy Tab from Samsung is worth the money you would be investing on a tablet, because it is one of the most user friendly tablets and has good value for money. However, the the Toshiba Thrive is a cheap tablet which offers almost the similar power and is a little heavier. If you’re the power user who would use a tablet for multiple purposes, other than entertainment, go ahead and get the Galaxy Tab but if you travel a lot and want a portable tablet in your bag for just social networking, multimedia and other day-to-day purposes, you can go for the Toshiba Thrive, it’s a neat performer.
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