Toshiba's 7-inch Tablet Now on Sale Starting at $379

Toshiba finally launched the 7-inch version of its Thrive tablet, starting at $379.99 USD for the 16 GB model.

ZoomAs promised back in September, Toshiba has launched the 7-inch version of its Android 3.2-based Thrive tablet. It comes packed with Nvidia's dual-core 1 GHz Tegra 2 SoC, 1 GB of LPDDR2 RAM, a 7-inch AutoBrite multi-touch LED backlit widescreen display, a front-facing 2MP webcam, a rear-facing 5MP autofocus camera, a microSD card slot for expanding thedevice's storage capacity and a battery life promising up to six hours.

"This is a seven-inch tablet done right," said Carl Pinto, vice president of product development, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Digital Products Division. "The Thrive 7-inch Tablet is the first seven-inch tablet in the U.S. market to offer a true HD display that when combined with the selection of ports, premium audio, and a better, more robustAndroid experience make it a great choice for on-the-go consumers looking for a no-compromise tablet."

Weighing only 0.88 pounds and measuring just under half an inch thin (0.47-inches), the new 7-inch Thrive sports a resolution of 1280x800, Bluetooth 3.0, 802.11 b/g/n connectivity, stereo speakers tuned with sound enhancement technologies from Toshiba and SRS Labs, a built-in gyroscope, a mini-USB 2.0 port and a micro-HDMI port for cranking out HD content on an HDTV.

The tablet also comes packed with third-party software including Kaspersky Tablet Security, Quickoffice, a batch of games and Google's suite of apps. Toshiba has also included its own File Manager so that customers can easily sling files across a USB connection to a computer, or on the tablet itself.

Toshiba's 7-inch Thrive is now available in two capacities: $379.99 for 16 GB and $429.99 for the 32 GB model.