Toshiba tells us “smaller is where it’s at” as it introduces its small Encore tablet at IFA today. Developed in “close collaboration” with Microsoft, the 8-inch tablet is one of the first to use Intel’s new Bay Trail Atom processor alongside the Windows 8.1 update. Bay Trail promises to deliver better performance alongside great battery life. This hardware and software combination should be promising for Windows, but is Toshiba’s new 8-inch tablet a match for the competition?
A little too chubby for this form factor
While the only other 8-inch Windows 8 tablet, Acer’s Iconia W3, has a shockingly bad display, Toshiba has opted for an IPS panel running at 1280 x 800 resolution. The display has better viewing angles than the W3, but they’re still not that great. Even though the iPad mini runs at a lower resolution, side-by-side it’s clear that Apple’s display still beats the Windows competition. At 479 grams and a thickness of 10.68mm it’s also bigger than the iPad mini, but you don’t notice the weight too much thankfully. However, the bulkiness is obvious, and when you place it alongside the iPad mini it’s even more clear. Like the W3 before it, Toshiba’s Encore is a little too chubby for this type of form factor.
While Bay Trail promises better performance for Atom processors, on the model I got to use the device was less than usable. Toshiba assures me that the unit isn’t final and that driver optimizations and even slight hardware tweaks will be made before it ships. It certainly needs these as the usual speed of Windows 8 animations was noticeably slow. It was hard to tell whether this was down to the Bay Trail CPU or the GPU, but I suspect the lack of optimized graphics drivers was to blame.
Read also:
The Toshiba Encore: A budget 8-inch tablet packing full-fat Windows 8 (CNET)
Toshiba shows off an 8-inch tablet running full-fat Windows 8.1 (Wired.co.uk)
Intel's Bay Trail benchmarked, makes first appearance in Toshiba 8-inch … (ExtremeTech)
Explore: 72 additional articles.
From Our Sponsor
