TOSHIBA EXCITE WRITE

The Toshiba Excite Write is a 10.1-inch Android based tablet at the higher end range of the spectrum. Packing a 2.8GHz quad-core CPU, 32GB storage and a 2,560 x 1,600 display, it certainly has the specs to impress, and like the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet it comes with a pressure sensitive stylus.

At 10.3 x 7 x 0.4 inches and 1.4 lbs., the Toshiba Excite Write is the exact same size and weight as Samsung's Galaxy Note 10.1. However, it's shorter, thicker and heavier than the 10.47 x 6.77 x 0.27-inch 1.1-lb. Sony Xperia Tablet Z.

Its Wacom digitizer and included stylus mean this tablet can go toe to toe with the Note 10.1; both have the same screen size and 1,024 degrees of pressure sensitivity. But where Samsung's outsized Note skimped on the HD resolution, Toshiba's gone the opposite direction. Boasting a 2,560 x 1,600 display, a Wacom digitizer, a Tegra 4 heart, 2GB of RAM and Harman Kardon speakers, the Write is a welcome chord change in an otherwise uneventful 10-inch Android fugue.

Toshiba has years of experience with digitized pens and tablets from its years of working with Windows, so we had high expectations for the company’s Android effort. And from a hardware perspective, the Excite Write and its companion TruPen are top notch.

I could easily forgive the Toshiba Excite Write for failing to breach much new ground in the stylus tablet department, but its $600 price is the ultimate deal breaker. There just isn't enough offered here -- whether in performance or features -- to justify that price.