Thread: opinions of Toshiba Thrive

Originally Posted by steve4810

OK, did some research and mts is a AVCHD format and used by a lot of HD camcorders and androids can't handle it as of yet. I had to find a converter for mts to mpeg4 that works fine. I will give a link to anyone who PMs me but won't post it because I don't want to suggest it is better than anyone else's converter. It costs 35 bucks, but there is a free demo you can try out on under 5 minute clips.

Too bad VLC player isn't available for Android yet...

And I'll be posting some stuff about this tablet when Woot decides to finally ship out the thing, and then I get to wait for the Smartpost shipping to arrive. So I'm aiming to have some first impressions out there before the end of Winter..

OK further research on .mts (AVCHD) and android devices. Turns out Windows Live Movie Maker, included with Windows 7, can read .mts files and if you elect to output the file in their "high resolution display" mode you have a 1920X1080 24000kbps .wmv that works on (at least) a 10" android 3.2 tablet and when compared looks exactly the same as the original viewed on my 15" laptop monitor. Of course if you want to show these files on a phone you can save a whole bunch of space my saving at 800X600 or even 640X480.

Next step is to view the raw footage streamed from the camcorder to a flat screen then view the .wmv streamed from the tablet to the same flat screen.

Well I just got mine for my wife in the mail. We immediately put it to use by hookng it up to the TV so our daughter could watch Sesame Street from netflix on it. It worked well overall, although there was some stuttering of video but nothing to detract from the overall experience.

Then I tried to update the firmware, only to find that for whatever reason it wouldn't update. Doing some research I found out that Toshiba installed a corrupt ROM That can't be updated OTA, and that you need to mail it to Toshiba for fixing, OR you can root the device and install a working ROM manually that way. I'm sure you can figure out which option I picked..

If not.. I picked the 2nd option. ;-) Working on it now instead of sleeping because I'm obsessed like that..

That is a common theme for the thrives that have been coming from woot. They were restored to a firmware version that won't update OTA.

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Considering getting a Thrive, mostly thanks to info posted here. However it seems to be disappearing, replaced with the newer Toshiba Excite. Any opinions on that model? Thanks

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Just make sure you're getting the new Excite 10 series and not the Excite 10 LE. The LE is a dual core that was just a stop gap effort Toshiba put out that was slimmer than the Thrive when people complained about the Thrive's thickness.

The main differences between the Excite 10 and Thrive being the Excite 10 is slimmer, comes with ICS, has a quad core Tegra 3 processor instead of dual core, micro hdmi instead of full size hdmi, no full size USB.

The Thrives have been getting cleared out as refurbs on Woot and ebay. If you look around you will find them for $299 down to $229. I bought 2 refurb 32gb Thrives for $259 off ebay and they looked brand new.

I like them and wouldn't have any problem going with an Excite, other than I am in a unique situation in that I have to have a full USB port in order to use a tablet for work. I think Toshiba priced the Excites too high though. A $100 cheaper would be in line with the Samsung tablets, which in my opinion is their competition, not Apple.

osu1991:

There's an adapter you can buy from Amazon and other places called an otg (on the go) adapter. Assuming your device supports host mode it will give you full USB functionality. I use it on my phone (Motorola photon) without any issues.

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Thanks
I'll check it out

The biggest take away from owning the Thrive is that Android 3.2 isn't nearly "ready for prime time" and the Thrive's processor is painfully slow compared with a Dell laptop. And Windows 7 is worth what it costs, and Android 3.2 is worth what it costs.

Android on my first two smart phones worked pretty well but on a 10" tablet like Thrive I wanted to do a lot of PC laptop type work and Android is like working with your hands tied behind your back and poking at the screen with your nose.

And Android 3.2 browsers are really sad compared with Firefox or even MS Internet Explorer.


I'm giving some thought to chucking the phone and tablet and going with an Iphone and Ipad but most likely won't unless Android 4 ICS disappoints. I never liked Apple's arrogance and high prices and thought Google's idea of a "peoples free operating system" was great.

There are credible statements from Toshiba that the Thrives will get ICS pretty soon. And it happens my phone is on the ICS list too so I'll wait and give Android another chance. But as 4.0 is a whole number change it implies a major step up (dare I say paradigm shift) so my expectations are quite high.