Toshiba’s 7 inch AT270 reviewed: sure to impress

For the most part, the Toshiba AT270 is one big win in a very small package. The tablet comes together quite nicely, with speed, battery power, and a feeling that makes it very pleasant to carry around with you.

But it’s not perfect, and there were a few things that gnawed at us.

The on-screen keyboard is one of them, with the Swype software on offer providing us with less than impressive responsivity. The gesture-based form of writing on offer from Swype here – where you draw a path to spell, such as from the letter “h” to “a” to “t” to write “hat” – seems to be the only solid way of writing messages from the stock keyboard.

If you opt to just use the keyboard by laying the tablet down on a surface and typing with both hands, hunting and picking the virtual keys with several fingers, the Swype software gets in the way and causes a mess of mistakes. Type with one finger and this won’t happen, but the moment more than one finger is thrown in, the virtual keyboard fails big time.

We’d suggest finding another on-screen keyboard on Google’s Play Store quickly.

We’re still not huge fans of Toshiba’s proprietary charge port, a long and flat connector that, while you’re not likely to confuse it with anything else out there, you’re also not going to be able to find a replacement in a pinch, especially if you need to recharge and you didn’t bring the cable with you.

The price also isn’t amazing, especially with Google’s own 7 inch tablet on the way for around two hundred dollars less. While the Asus-made Google tablet won’t have the same metal chassis like the Toshiba AT270, we’re not sure that the much higher pricing of Toshiba’s tablet is validated here, especially when the specs are close to being the same.

Conclusion

Toshiba has a beautifully designed winner here, coming back from the mediocre seven incher we saw earlier this year. It’s thin, light, and bloody responsive, but the one thing it lacks is a competitive price.

If you’re after an excellent handheld tablet, the AT270 is sure to impress, but the price could certainly do with some fixing.

Overall
Features
Value for money
Performance
Design
Reader Rating0 Votes
Very thin; Lovely metal chassis with textured rear; Performs very well; Excellent battery life;
Massive proprietary charge port; Overpriced, especially in comparison to Google's own 7 inch tablet; Swype keyboard isn't very good as the stock keyboard;
3.9