Toshiba announces AT200, the ‘world’s thinnest, lightest’ tablet

Just as the rumors predicted, Toshiba has officially announced its next-generation Android tablet, the AT200, which the company boasts is the “world’s thinnest, lightest” tablet PC.

The AT200, which will purportedly be called the Excite in the US, was unveiled today the IFA conference in Berlin, Germany. And from what we’ve seen so far, this impressive-looking device could stand as the next major competitor in the Android tablet arena.

Loaded with Android 3.2 (Honeycomb), the AT200 measures a mere 7.7mm thick. Compare that to the 8.8mm thickness of the iPad 2, or even the 8.6mm of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, and those devices look downright bulky. It’s also light, weighing in at only 1.23 pounds (558g), which is just slightly lighter than the iPad 2’s 1.33-pound (601g) weight.

Other external details include a 10.1-inch screen, with 1280×800 resolution. The back is brushed aluminum, which gives it a clean, industrial design look. The edges are squared off, and also covered in aluminum, similar to the look of the iPhone 4.

Inside, the AT200 packs a 1.2GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4430 processor, which might sound slower than the 1.4GHz CPUs in other tablets. But without an actual speed test, it’s impossible to say. The AT200 comes with 1GB of RAM and up to 64GB of storage. It also includes a front-facing camera for video chat, and a 5MP rear-facing camera. Toshiba even managed to pack a microSD, micro-USB and micro-HDMI ports into the thin profile of the AT200 — something Toshiba tells us is a main priority in designing their tablets.

“While extremely thin, the AT200 will feature a range of ports – a testament to Toshiba’s focus on usability in all of our tablet designs, an important element the category overall needs,” a Toshiba spokesperson said in an email. “Although consumers are telling us they want thin and light tablets, we also are hearing they do not want to sacrifice usability to get there.”

From what we can tell at this point, the AT200 looks like another solid tablet offering from Toshiba. Their previous tablet, the Thrive, was anything but thin. In fact, it’s thickness was one of the only major complaints critics had of the device.

According to the Toshiba spokesperson, the AT200 “is currently on the U.S. product roadmap,” but the company has not yet revealed pricing details or a US release date, though they have confirmed that it will hit the European market in the fourth quarter of this year.

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