Toshiba Excite 10

“The Extcite 10 comes in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB versions, starting at $450. That's the same price as the 32GB Acer Iconia Tab A510 and $70 more than the Asus Transformer Pad TF300 with 16GB. Releasing the Excite 10 at $450 with only 16GB of storage, clearly puts it at a price disadvantage compared to the other Tegra 3 tablets. While it sports overall sound design and fast performance that matches the aforementioned tablets, its one standout feature is the high, 128GB expandable storage option. If storage is important to you, the Excite 10 is one of the best (and one of the most portable) options out there, however, with 128GB SD cards starting at about $150, the costs will begin to pile up. You'll have to decide for yourself whether those costs are worth it. Whether having potentially monstrous levels of storage is worth the extra money is up to you.”

“The competition in this screen size is steep, thanks to solid offerings from Asus, Samsung, Acer and others. The Excite 10 is a nice option, but it doesn't offer anything that sets it apart. Its screen isn't great, and though its performance is solid it's equalled by devices like the Transformer Pad and Transformer Prime, both of which also offer the excellent keyboard dock. Of course, there's also the iPad, which continues to rule the tablet world thanks to an incredible screen and an unparalleled selection of great tablet apps. The Excite 10 is a nice device, certainly Toshiba's most compelling 10-inch tablet so far, but I'm left wanting more.”

“Despite its downsides, the Excite 10 is actually a very nice tablet. It has a premium look and feel, solid performance, and some pretty fantastic and useful software tweaks. Of course, it's a bit on the pricey side compared to the competition, and the amount of light bleed on my review unit is absolutely absurd. If this is an issue across all units, then Toshiba really needs to step up its quality control game, because this type of carelessness is unacceptable.”

“Toshiba hasn't exactly positioned the Excite 10 as a high-end tablet, and its $450 starting price is par for the course for a mid-range product. We'd choose the Excite 10 over the $530 Excite 10 LE in a heartbeat, as it offers much better performance and Ice Cream Sandwich in a package that's only slightly bulkier. And compared to Toshiba's earlier Thrive tablets, not to mention most other competitors, the Excite 10 has an attractive, streamlined design. As it becomes easier to find a good sub-$500 slate, it's also becoming more common to see quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processors on the spec list. That's all good news for you, dear readers, and the Toshiba Excite 10 has many of the makings of a great Android tablet. The thin and comfortable design, full-size SD card slot, clean build of Ice Cream Sandwich and Tegra 3 power all add up to a good user experience, but shortcomings like backlight bleeding and occasional performance glitches hold this tablet back from earning a glowing endorsement. While $450 is not chump change, the Excite 10 might be worth it if you have your heart set on a 10-incher running Android. However, for the same price, you can get Android tablets from Acer and ASUS that provide longer battery life and equal -- if not better -- performance.”