Five tablets that beat the new iPad

Five tablets that beat the new iPad | iPad Atlas – CNET Reviews

The Toshiba Thrive is kind of the anti-iPad, with features that would be much more appropriate on a laptop than a tablet, while retaining a tablet’s touchscreen convenience. It’s a honking behemoth of a monster though, measuring a thickness nearly twice that as the iPad 2. As for those laptop-y features? How does a full USB port, full SD card memory expansion, and a full HDMI port strike you? Not good enough? Alright, well the removable (and replaceable) battery should destroy your last remnants of resistance.
While the Thrive ships with Honeycomb, Toshiba says to expect an Ice Cream Sandwich update by the “end of spring”, 2012. Still, while at its current $400 price, it could stand a discount, the Thrive can easily claim a feature set the new iPad can’t.

In case you don’t read the actual CNET article, Eric Franklin, the author, does state that he intends to purchase the new iPad. However, he says that each tablet discussed in the article beats the new iPad in different ways. (And he talks about the THRiVE first.)