Five Major Ways the Toshiba Thrive Has the iPad 2 Beat

The Apple iPad and iPad 2 have been the go-to tablets since the resurgence of tablet technology, but while the iPad 2 is currently the bestselling tablet on the market, the Toshiba Thrive has a few features that could give the iPad 2 a run for its money.

Display

The touchscreen display of a tablet is the "main attraction" and where all the "magic" takes place and although it's only by a margin, the Toshiba Thrive has the iPad 2 beat in display size. The iPad 2 boasts a beautiful and vibrant 9.7 inch touchscreen display, but the Toshiba Thrive one-ups the iPad 2 with a 10.1 touchscreen display. A 0.4 inch difference doesn't seem like a big deal, but the larger sized Toshiba Thrive display makes for better movie viewing, web browsing, eBook reading, and lots of other features.

Camera

The iPad 2 added a front and back facing camera that weren't available on its predecessor, but although it boasted two new cameras, the front and rear-facing camera of the iPad 2 are the most complained features of this top-selling tablet. While the iPad 2 only boasts a 1.3 megapixel rear-facing camera and VGA quality front-facing camera, the Toshiba Thrive goes above and beyond and provides a 5 megapixel rear-facing camera and a 2 megapixel front facing camera.

Ports and Upgrades

The iPad 2 has one port, it's charging and docking port, that allows third-party port support, but the Toshiba Thrive gives fans what they're looking for with USB and SD card expansion slots. In addition to USB and SD card support, the Thrive tablet also allows room for a replacement battery and HDMI video output for HDTV support.

Adobe Flash Support

One of the most disappointing features of the original and new iPad 2 is that neither support Adobe's popular Flash media player. Adobe Flash is said to serve over 99.9% of web users and is used to design sites, play videos online, and even used for web applications, games, and animations '" and although the iPad 2 lacks Adobe Flash support, the Toshiba Thrive has no problem playing Flash content at all.

Price

Price is always an important factor to consider when buying a gadget, and with the iPad costing anywhere from $499-$829, it's fair to say that it can be a bit expensive. The Toshiba Thrive is aggressively priced at a $429-$580 price range and is a great incentive for consumers to choose the Toshiba Thrive over the Apple iPad 2.