Toshiba reveals quad-core AT330 tablet beast

Before Toshiba revealed its kitbag of goodies at Mobile World Congress, the Japanese company teased us with a 13.3in tablet concept that would be powered by Nvidia’s quad-core Tegra 3 chip if it ever saw the light of day.

Fast forward a month and that concept has turned into a veritable beast of a machine – a 13.3in tablet dubbed the AT330 – and the largest tablet to date.

At first glance you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a gadget straight out of the ’90s thanks to that eyesore of an antenna. But it’s actually one of the main attractions on Toshiba’s tablet efforts, paving the way for a built-in TV tuner, to differentiate it from the rest of the tablet crowd.

There’s no denying it looks a little flimsy in the hands-on shots, and if portable TVs of the past are anything to go by, we’re not expecting a particularly strong signal.

Revealed at Toshiba World in Germany, Toshiba’s gargantuan slate also offers quad-core processing power – courtesy of Nvidia’s Tegra 3 chip – a 5MP rear shooter, 1.3MP cam round the front and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The icing atop this 13.3in cake is its connectivity options – HDMI-out, micro USB port, SD card and SIM slots.

Not only is this the recipe for a powerful machine, but it looks like Toshiba is intent on making its mark on the tablet arena – succeeding where so many Android tablets have failed.

Apart from the aforementioned specs from the folks over at The Verge and Techfokus, there’s very little else we know about Toshiba’s AT330. A Bluetooth keyboard accessory probably wouldn’t go amiss, though. Rest assured as soon as we know more, so will you.

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