7 ms·

Toshiba to make quad-core Android 4.0 tablets in 7, 10, and 13 inch sizes

28 points by iProject 15y ago

makmanalp 15y ago
To me, this seems akin to Gillette's ads. "Now with 20 blades!!!" 1 core is good enough for most and 2 cores is good enough for anyone with a tablet. Maybe later, after all the usability and product design issues are solved and mobile software can properly make use of multiple cores, this change would be justified. Edit: This points towards a more global trend I keep seeing with product companies (with apple as the poster child) focusing on a single product with minor variations in the product line and iterating that, versus hardware companies coming up with 6 new tablets every year with model names like tsb-vtbl-32blk. Guess which one generates more of a user following.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- maggit 15y ago
  The point of cramming lots of cores into mobile devices is apparently to reduce battery drain, not to gain processing power. This might or might not be new to you, but to me, short battery life is still an inconvenience :) (Random corroborating source: http://www.tested.com/news/news/articles/1483-more-cores-mean-more-battery-for-your-next-smart-phone/2/ http://www.tested.com/news/news/articles/1483-more-cores-mea... )
  - AnIrishDuck 15y ago
    This makes no sense to me. More cores means more processing throughput. Design advances lead to reduced power consumption. Both are happening at the same time, which is the only reason there might be any correlation.
    - moonchrome 15y ago
      More cores means specialized design (aka. nvidia one low power core and 4 high performance cores), and selective activation according to requirements. Software taking advantage of cores is still an issue tough, but for games and multimedia it's definitely not hard.
    - MaysonL 15y ago
      Well - when you can turn all but one of the cores off (or down to extremely low power consumption), and/or when you have asymmetric cores where the one core that runs alone most of the time (when the device is sitting there, waiting for user input) is an extreme low power one, then yes, more cores mean stingy power use.
    - maggit 15y ago
      Well, the thing is two cores running at, say, 800MHz burns less battery than one core running at 1.6GHz. So you get the similar (but not quite the same) processing power for less battery power. You also get less heat dissipation. Great clock rates on handheld devices are currently out of the question because they would overheat, and handset designers are reluctant to make the device big enough to fit a heatsink. Random corroborating source (with annoying popup): http://www.wirelessweek.com/articles/2011/07/devices-multi-core-app-processors-smartphones/ http://www.wirelessweek.com/articles/2011/07/devices-multi-c...
dreadsword 15y ago
Its shocking how effectively Apple is able to move the eight-ball on companies like Toshiba. "We have lots of cores!" "Available in any screen size!" Hey Toshiba: no one cares about those specs right now - Apple shifted the conversation for the majority of the tablet market to screen res, where they have an essentially unassailable competitive advantage for quite some time. And, Toshiba missed the boat, which makes their claims for cores and screen sizes seem flat and mis-timed. Note: I have an awesome toshiba laptop that I carted around the world for me in 2008, which is still going strong. Added a hybrid ssd/platter drive to perk up win7 performance, and its still my daily driver. Toshiba makes great products, they're just eating Apple's dust, like everyone else.
- listic 15y ago
  Care to elaborate what's your particular hybrid drive model? I thought the fashion for hybrid drives faded away.
  - dreadsword 15y ago
    Sure - Seagate Momentus XT, 750GB model; 16GB SSD. The OS boots at SSD speeds, and the ~7 applications that I use frequently do too. But, I have the storage of a traditional drive, and the whole deal cost $170. Hybrids aren't for eveyone - gamers, pro photogs, heavy developers, etc. I think would overwhelm the hybrid's ability to offer any advantage. But I knew my usage patterns (a limited retinue of light weight applications) were ideally suited for it. The laptop is a U200, has a first gen Core Duo, and 2GB of RAM. Bought in 2008 ($800!), upgraded the RAM too, obviously. Boots Win7 to password screen in ~15 seconds.
- huggyface 15y ago
  * "We have lots of cores!" "Available in any screen size!" Hey Toshiba: no one cares about those specs right now* We're talking about the Apple that is trialing a 7" tablet, right? The one that talked up "4 cores" at the 3rd generation unveiling? Same Apple? There are millions and millions of non-Apple tablets being sold. This seems like a laughably tiny number compared to the incredible success Apple has yielded, but in consumer electronics it is substantial. It is bloody sad, however, that every time someone tries to make a product this whole clucking "nah nah Apple is better" nonsense gets carted out. Keep on keeping on Toshiba, and samsung, and LG, and...
noonespecial 15y ago
These guys can't make a "better" tablet than the iPad no matter how many cores they put in it. Take a hint from the HP touchpad sellout. We don't need another me-too ipad. We don't need 4 cores. We need capacitive multi-touch tablets that don't completely suck for less than $200. If they're not planning on delivering that, they should just save their research dollars until they can. I need another not quite as good as iPad for the same price as iPad choice like a broken leg.
nl 15y ago
7" is a great form factor. I have a cheap 7" Android tablet (along with a 10.1" Transformer, and iPad2, a Galaxy S, and iPhone 4 and and iPod Touch..), and I love the size. It's slightly heavy for me to use comfortably as an ebook, though. I've tried the Samsung 7", and that thing seems fantastic - roughly as light as my ebook reader, but so thin. Toshiba as a tablet manufacture.. meh. I'm not impressed with what I've seen so far, but I guess they might get there. I'm not sure about 13", but I'm sure for the I'm a basketball coach with big hands and 10" is too small for me market it will be a big hit.
JVIDEL 15y ago
"the Excite 7.7 will start at $499.99" Wasn't Asus going to launch a 7 inch tablet with Tegra3 for $250? If that's the case Toshiba is borked, big time.
- noarchy 15y ago
  Borked in a big way. You can't sell an inferior tablet for the same price as an iPad. The ones who are succeeding against Apple (like Amazon) are effectively competing on price.

28 points by iProject 15y ago

To me, this seems akin to Gillette's ads. "Now with 20 blades!!!" 1 core is good enough for most and 2 cores is good enough for anyone with a tablet. Maybe later, after all the usability and product design issues are solved and mobile software can properly make use of multiple cores, this change would be justified. Edit: This points towards a more global trend I keep seeing with product companies (with apple as the poster child) focusing on a single product with minor variations in the product line and iterating that, versus hardware companies coming up with 6 new tablets every year with model names like tsb-vtbl-32blk. Guess which one generates more of a user following.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
maggit 15y ago
The point of cramming lots of cores into mobile devices is apparently to reduce battery drain, not to gain processing power. This might or might not be new to you, but to me, short battery life is still an inconvenience :) (Random corroborating source: http://www.tested.com/news/news/articles/1483-more-cores-mean-more-battery-for-your-next-smart-phone/2/ http://www.tested.com/news/news/articles/1483-more-cores-mea... )
- AnIrishDuck 15y ago
  This makes no sense to me. More cores means more processing throughput. Design advances lead to reduced power consumption. Both are happening at the same time, which is the only reason there might be any correlation.
  - moonchrome 15y ago
    More cores means specialized design (aka. nvidia one low power core and 4 high performance cores), and selective activation according to requirements. Software taking advantage of cores is still an issue tough, but for games and multimedia it's definitely not hard.
  - MaysonL 15y ago
    Well - when you can turn all but one of the cores off (or down to extremely low power consumption), and/or when you have asymmetric cores where the one core that runs alone most of the time (when the device is sitting there, waiting for user input) is an extreme low power one, then yes, more cores mean stingy power use.
  - maggit 15y ago
    Well, the thing is two cores running at, say, 800MHz burns less battery than one core running at 1.6GHz. So you get the similar (but not quite the same) processing power for less battery power. You also get less heat dissipation. Great clock rates on handheld devices are currently out of the question because they would overheat, and handset designers are reluctant to make the device big enough to fit a heatsink. Random corroborating source (with annoying popup): http://www.wirelessweek.com/articles/2011/07/devices-multi-core-app-processors-smartphones/ http://www.wirelessweek.com/articles/2011/07/devices-multi-c...

dreadsword 15y ago

Its shocking how effectively Apple is able to move the eight-ball on companies like Toshiba. "We have lots of cores!" "Available in any screen size!" Hey Toshiba: no one cares about those specs right now - Apple shifted the conversation for the majority of the tablet market to screen res, where they have an essentially unassailable competitive advantage for quite some time. And, Toshiba missed the boat, which makes their claims for cores and screen sizes seem flat and mis-timed. Note: I have an awesome toshiba laptop that I carted around the world for me in 2008, which is still going strong. Added a hybrid ssd/platter drive to perk up win7 performance, and its still my daily driver. Toshiba makes great products, they're just eating Apple's dust, like everyone else.

listic 15y ago
Care to elaborate what's your particular hybrid drive model? I thought the fashion for hybrid drives faded away.
- dreadsword 15y ago
  Sure - Seagate Momentus XT, 750GB model; 16GB SSD. The OS boots at SSD speeds, and the ~7 applications that I use frequently do too. But, I have the storage of a traditional drive, and the whole deal cost $170. Hybrids aren't for eveyone - gamers, pro photogs, heavy developers, etc. I think would overwhelm the hybrid's ability to offer any advantage. But I knew my usage patterns (a limited retinue of light weight applications) were ideally suited for it. The laptop is a U200, has a first gen Core Duo, and 2GB of RAM. Bought in 2008 ($800!), upgraded the RAM too, obviously. Boots Win7 to password screen in ~15 seconds.
huggyface 15y ago
* "We have lots of cores!" "Available in any screen size!" Hey Toshiba: no one cares about those specs right now* We're talking about the Apple that is trialing a 7" tablet, right? The one that talked up "4 cores" at the 3rd generation unveiling? Same Apple? There are millions and millions of non-Apple tablets being sold. This seems like a laughably tiny number compared to the incredible success Apple has yielded, but in consumer electronics it is substantial. It is bloody sad, however, that every time someone tries to make a product this whole clucking "nah nah Apple is better" nonsense gets carted out. Keep on keeping on Toshiba, and samsung, and LG, and...

noonespecial 15y ago

These guys can't make a "better" tablet than the iPad no matter how many cores they put in it. Take a hint from the HP touchpad sellout. We don't need another me-too ipad. We don't need 4 cores. We need capacitive multi-touch tablets that don't completely suck for less than $200. If they're not planning on delivering that, they should just save their research dollars until they can. I need another not quite as good as iPad for the same price as iPad choice like a broken leg.

nl 15y ago

7" is a great form factor. I have a cheap 7" Android tablet (along with a 10.1" Transformer, and iPad2, a Galaxy S, and iPhone 4 and and iPod Touch..), and I love the size. It's slightly heavy for me to use comfortably as an ebook, though. I've tried the Samsung 7", and that thing seems fantastic - roughly as light as my ebook reader, but so thin. Toshiba as a tablet manufacture.. meh. I'm not impressed with what I've seen so far, but I guess they might get there. I'm not sure about 13", but I'm sure for the I'm a basketball coach with big hands and 10" is too small for me market it will be a big hit.

JVIDEL 15y ago

"the Excite 7.7 will start at $499.99" Wasn't Asus going to launch a 7 inch tablet with Tegra3 for $250? If that's the case Toshiba is borked, big time.

noarchy 15y ago
Borked in a big way. You can't sell an inferior tablet for the same price as an iPad. The ones who are succeeding against Apple (like Amazon) are effectively competing on price.