Toshiba plans to offer an Android tablet with a 13.3 inch display in June, which could make the Toshiba Excite 13 the largest Android tablet on the market this summer.
Competitor Samsung is taking a sort of shotgun approach to Android tablet screen sizes by offering tablets with 7, 7.7, 8.9, and 10.1 inch screens, not to mention phones and media players with screens between 2.8 and 5.3 inches. While Toshiba is gambling big with the Excite 13, the company is only focusing on three screen sizes this year: 7.7 inches, 10.1 inches and 13.3 inches.
The Toshiba Excite 13 will have a high resolution 1600 x 900 pixel display, 1GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor.
Toshiba will offer the tablet with 32GB or 64GB of storage. The base model will have a starting price of $649.99, while the 64GB version will run $749.99.
The company envisions customers using the larger-than-average tablet for sharing photos or videos with friends or family, engaging in video chat, or giving business presentations — all activities where bigger could be better.
Of course, the extra size adds extra weight. While the tablet is pretty slim, measuring 0.4 inches thick, it weighs 2.2 pounds. That makes it one of the heaviest Android tablets around.
But Toshiba will include a tablet stand in the box for the Excite 13.3. It has two positions, allowing you to prop up the tablet for reading or viewing, or to set it back at a comfortable angle for typing with the on-screen keyboard.
Like the Toshiba Excite 10, the 13 inch tablet will have a full-sized SD card slot as well as micro HDMI and USB ports.
In some countries Toshiba will offer the Excite 13 with mobile broadband options or an optional TV tuner, but neither of those options will be available for the US model.
As a musician I look forward to a tablet that will display a full page of music in a readable size. I already use a Freehand tablet that is specifically designed for sheet music and allows page turning by touch or using foot pedals, but unfortunately no longer being made or sold. This might be the replacement I am looking for, for the futureÂ