Following Fujitsu, another Japanese electronics maker is ready to sell color e-book readers: Toshiba announced [JP] the so-called BookPlace DB50 today, a 7-Inch device that comes with direct access to big T’s BookPlace store (which currently offers around 43,000 different Japanese e-books and magazines).

Toshiba says they plan to expand the range of available titles to 100,000 by March this year, the largest in its home market. The store has been available in America since 2010.

The device runs on special versions of Linux (Toshiba hasn’t revealed details yet) and Android 2.3.4 (heavily modified).

It has the following specs:

• 7-inch color TFT LCD with 600×1,024 resolution and LED backlight (touchscreen)
• Freescale i.MX535 CPU (1.0GHz)
• 8GB memory
• 1GM RAM
• IEEE 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi
• 5 buttons: HOME, MENU, BACK, CONTINUE, VOLUME
• Bluetooth 2.1
• micro USB 2.0 slot, microSD slot
• mono speaker (for MP3 playback)
• 7.5 hours battery life
• size: 190×120×11mm, weight: 330g

Toshiba is planning to sell the Bookplace DB50 on the Japanese market on February 10. The price will be US$284 (every buyer will get a US$64 coupon for use in the company’s e-book store).

So much excitement. This is my first CES and while MG may be correct to think that some of my fellow tech bloggers find this trip a tad tedious, I’m pink with barely controlled glee just from being here. But I’ve been excited about CES for a few weeks now, ever since I went to meet with Toshiba and get a sneak peek at their latest tablet.

The Excite X10 is now the world’s thinnest 10-inch tablet, measuring in at just .3 inches thick and weighing just 1.2 lbs. But don’t forget that the iPad 3 is presumably just around the corner (along with quite a few Android slates this week), so anything can change. A brushed magnesium alloy finish graces its backside, with Corning Gorilla glass up front to prevent any scratching. It’s really a beauty.

Under the hood you’ll find a TI OMAP 4420 1.2GHz dual-core processor along with 1GB of RAM. As far as the OS goes, however, Toshiba was a bit iffy. The tablet will either ship in mid Q1 with Android 3.2 Honeycomb, or a bit later with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather wait a bit longer for Ice Cream Sandwich.

The 10-inch screen boasts a resolution of 1280×800, and is built with a special direct bonding technology that allows for such a thin profile. A 2-megapixel front-facing shooter is present and accounted for if you’re into video chat, and a 5-megapixel shooter can be found on the backside of the tab.

Toshiba’s all about the ports, and has been with each tablet offering it’s brought to market. With the Excite X10, you’ll have access to a micro USB, mini HDMI out, and micro SD card slot. Obviously full-sized ports are more accessible, but fitting these smaller connectivity points onto such a thin tablet is commendable nonetheless.

Toshiba is also rather good at leaving Android alone, and has thus implemented very little of its own software. That includes its own media player featuring DNLA compatibility (which has been revamped from previous versions and looks much cleaner), Toshiba’s File Manager, Netflix, and QuickOffice. Toshiba’s also added an app to let you screen grab which has been sorely missing in Android for longer than I care to think about.

Android tablets have been quite the flop in the past year (with the exception of the Kindle Fire, sort of), but I have a good feeling about 2012 Android slates if this is the type of stuff we’re going to see.

Pricing is still unclear for this guy, but with its premium status I’d assume it’ll face off against the iPad more so than the Kindle Fire.

(Note on images: Regza is the tablet’s Asian name, and won’t appear on U.S. units)

TransferJet is having a hard time going mainstream, but Toshiba hasn’t given up on the close proximity wireless transfer technology yet: after taking the wraps off a small TransferJet LSI back in September last year, the company now announced it’s ready to begin shipping the first samples to electronics manufacturers.

Visitors of the CES 2012 (which kicks off on January 10 in Las Vegas) will be able to see the LSI in action at the Toshiba booth.

Sized at just 4.0×4.0× 0.5mm, the chip is designed to enable stable, quick wireless data transfer between mobile devices in particular, i.e. smartphones, tablets, or digital cameras. (TransferJet boasts a theoretically transfer speed of 560 Mbps.)

Toshiba has priced the samples at US$5 per unit and plans to produce one million chips monthly starting in Q2 of 2012.

Short Version

While the 7-inch Toshiba Thrive is much more comfortable in the hand than its 10-inch counterpart, many of the best features in big brother never migrated over to the 7-incher. That said, this still may be the slate for you if gaming and web-surfing take precedence over e-reading. Otherwise, I’d point you to the Amazon Kindle Fire.

Features:

• 7-inch 1280×800 resolution display
• 1GHz Tegra 2 dual-core processor
• Android 3.2 Honeycomb
• 5MP rear camera (720p video capture, LED flash)
• 2MP front-facing shooter
• MSRP: $379.99 (16GB), $429.99 (32GB)

Pros:

• Great size/comfortable in the hand
• Brilliant screen with high pixel density
• Very responsive

Cons:

• Lost all of its full-sized ports
• No more removable back cover and interchangeable batteries
• Tough price point, especially for 32GB of internal memory

Long Version

Hardware:

Despite less connectivity than big brother, I actually enjoy the 7-inch Thrive much more in the hand. It’s rather thin compared to the 10-inch model, with rounded corners and slightly angled edges. The charging port is placed squarely on the bottom of the slate, which makes it annoying to play around with in landscape while charging.

A 3.5mm headphone jack sits up top, with a power button, volume rocker and auto-rotate lock all along the top left side. Below that you’ll find a plastic cover protecting a microUSB, miniHDMI, and microSD card slot. If you can dig back into the corners of your memory, you’ll recognize that the 10-inch Thrive came will full-sized USB and HDMI and SD card ports.

The 10-incher also had a removable back cover and interchangeable battery, which isn’t the case on the Thrive 7″. The same rubberized, textured finish along the back panel is still present, though, and makes the tablet even more manageable. I actually let this thing sit on one leg for most of the time I used it, and it automatically gripped my pants so that it never slipped once. (Look, Mom! No hands!)

When stressed, the Thrive 7″ crackles and pops quite a bit. But I didn’t find anything so suspect that would lead me to believe this isn’t a solid build.

Display:

I’d say the Thrive’s best feature would be its display. A 1280×800 pixel resolution on a 7-inch display is pretty beautiful, and Toshiba has of course layered its Adaptive Display and Resolution+ technologies on there, as well. The display doesn’t take prints as much as some other slates I’ve dabbled with (talking to you, Sony Tablet S), but of course, there’s no such thing as an entirely print-free display.

As far as input goes, the display is super responsive. It was able to follow my finger in scrolling, even while I flicked it back and forth as fast as possible. Most Android tabs have a bit of a lag on that front, but the Thrive 7″ kept up with my pace.

Software:

The Toshiba Thrive family is special in that it runs pure Android 3.2 Honeycomb. No annoying overlays. No unfamiliar UIs. Just Honeycomb, the way you know how to use it. Toshiba did include its media player, along with a handful of other pre-loaded apps like Netflix, NFS Shift, File Manager, and Quickoffice HD, but on the whole this is a very vanilla experience.

Of course, access to Google’s apps such as Google Maps, Google Talk, and the Android Market is included.

I did have a little trouble with the Thrive’s 5-megapixel rear-facing camera. The shutter is frustratingly slow, though I was surprised to find that in camcorder mode the camera actually adjusts well between low-light and well-lit settings.

Performance:

I tried to do all my work on the Thrive one day (which in retrospect was a bad choice on a 7-inch tablet), from 8am to 6pm. It made it to around 3pm before giving out, which includes the usual breaks for bathroom, food, and an occasional mission on Grand Theft Auto III for iPhone.

The good news is that it charges quickly. I was able to go from dead to 85 percent power in less than half an hour.

Conclusion

When it comes down to it, the 7-inch Thrive is a solid, albeit hefty, little Android tablet. Even without the full-sized ports, there’s still quite a bit of connectivity there and we saw perfectly acceptable performance the whole time. However, the price tag puts this little guy in a tough spot.

For just a couple hundred more, you can nab yourself an iPad, and anyone shopping for something a little lower on the pricing totem pole has plenty of options. Most notably, the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus is just $249 from T-Mobile, though that requires a two-year agreement.

Of course, we do have the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet, which certainly can’t compete with the Thrive in terms of performance or capabilities. Then again, that won’t matter to the novice user.

Japan seems to really like Windows 7-powered tablets: this time, it’s Toshiba, which has announced [JP] the so-called WT301/D for the local market. Just like so many Windows tablets, this model is specifically designed for use in enterprises.

These are the main specs:

• 10.1-inch TFT display with 1,366×768 resolution and LED back light
• Windows 7 Professional 32 bit as the OS
• Microsoft Home and Business 2010 pre-installed
• “next-generation” Atom processor
• 64GB SSD
• 2GB memory
• Bluetooth 3.0+HS
• Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11b/g/n
• USB slot, microHDMI interface
• 1.3MP cam, 0.3MP inner cam
• stereo speakers

Toshiba plans to launch the tablet on the Japanese market next month (the price hasn’t been fixed yet).

Do you remember that 55-inch monster of a naked-eye 3D TV Toshiba unveiled back in October? The company now announced [JP] a date (December 10) and confirmed the final price (US$11,700) for the device. But there’s a drawback: Toshiba has still to decide if they will release the TV outside Japan, too.

To recap, the TV features 3,840×2,160 pixels resolution in 2D mode (that’s four times the resolution of full HD) and a solid 1,280×720 resolution in 3D mode. Users are not required to use glasses, just with the smaller naked-eye 3D TVs Toshiba started selling in Japan late last year.

Other features include a 5,000:1 contrast ratio, LED backlight, the “REGZA Engine CEVO Duo” engine, a face-tracking function to enable high-quality 3D pictures for viewers, REGZA LINK, five digital tuners, support for video recording on external HDDs 10W×2ch+10W speakers, four HDMI ports, and two USB ports.

My guess is that Toshiba will only consider selling this TV outside Japan when it performs significantly better than its smaller predecessors.

The deal has been in the making for months, but today Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi made the mega merger official. The three companies signed definitive agreements with the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ) to integrate their small- and medium-sized display businesses.

Under the deal, semi-public INCJ will hold 70% of Japan Display, Inc., a new company that will run the operations. Sony, Toshiba, and Hitachi will control 10% each when Japan Display starts its business in spring 2012. Japan Display will issue US$2.6 billion in new shares to INCJ through a third-party allocation.

The new company will be led by Shuichi Otsuka, the COO of Elpida, a major Japanese maker of DRAM products.

In a separate announcement, Japan Display said it plans to acquire a plant that manufactures small- and medium-sized LCDs from Panasonic for an undisclosed sum. That plant, which is located in Mobara (near Tokyo), currently turns out 600,000 LCD TVs a month. Japan Display is expected to take it over in April next year.

If you thought the 4.5-Inch LCD screen with 720×1,280 pixels resolution Hitachi showed three weeks ago is cool, think again: Toshiba today took the wraps off a mobile LCD that’s even better. Sized at 6.1 inches, it boasts 2,560×1,600 pixels resolution and 498 pixels-per-inch density.

Needless to say, the direct-view-type screen is the first of its kind. It has a contrast ratio of 1,000:1, displays 16.7 million colors and offers a 176° viewing angle (horizontally and vertically).

Here’s how a set of Japanese characters looks like with different PPI:

Toshiba plans to showcase the LCD next week at the FPD International 2011 exhibition in Yokohama, Japan.

In August, the company announced it will merge its small LCD business unit with those of Sony and Hitachi.

Truth be told, I wasn’t very impressed with what electronics makers showed at the CEATEC 2011 tech exhibition – especially because a lot of the new products were “leaked” to the Japanese press before the event started.

However, here are a total of five of the coolest innovations Japanese companies showed at the CEATEC 2011 in video form, delivered from our friends at Diginfo TV (YouTube channel). All the videos were shot directly on location and are in English.

Video 1: Toshiba’s 55-inch, naked-eye 3D TV with facial recognition (our coverage)

Video 2: Sony’s “DEV-3″ binoculars that shoot videos in full HD and 3D

Video 3: Pioneer’s augmentend reality-based car navigation System (our coverage)

Video 4: NTT Docomo’s smartphone jackets that measure body fat, radiation, or alcohol (our coverage)

Video 5: NTT Docomo’s smartphone battery that fully charges in 10 minutes

Toshiba has announced today that three of their new Camileo camcorders will be hitting store shelves this month. There are a handful of features that all three cameras share: they all for example sport a swivelling 3-inch LCD touchscreen, on-screen video trimming, and the traditional barrel design.

Those aren’t the only similarities you’ll see here. The Camileo X400 and X416 are almost twins, as instanced by their near-identical bodies and spec sheets. They both pack a 23x optical zoom lens, electronic image stabilzation, and an external hotshoe for microphones. Oh, lest I forget, they also both shoot in 1080p. Really, the only thing that these don’t have in common are their storage options.

While both versions can take full-size SD cards, the X416 also comes with 16 GB of onboard storage. That’s about 3 hours of 1080p HD video, if you’re the type to keep track. The X400 will set you back $279, while the X416′s memory bump gives it a $319 pricetag.

The X200 is meant to be the wallet-friendly model here, and it shows. It also shoots in 1080p, but it sports a much smaller 12x optical zoom lens, and a smattering of artsy shooting modes. Want to shoot in black and white? No problem. Want to capture a flower blooming because it’s a metaphor for your life? Just fire up time-lapse mode. The wallet-friendly X200 will retail for $229.

If these new camcorders have somehow struck your fancy, they’re already up for sale on ToshibaDirect.com. Otherwise, feel free to wait until they hit store shelves on October 10.

You have an HDD/Blu-ray recorder connected to your TV but never enough space on it? Then Toshiba’s REGZA DBR-M190 might do the trick for you (if you live in Japan, at least). As with most devices at CEATEC 2011, the recorder was pre-announced [JP] by the company just ahead of the exhibition.

The DBR-M190 boasts no less than 5TB of storage: according to Toshiba, 4TB are reserved for the time-shift function, which allows users to simultaneously record up to six six terrestrial digital channels in SD for 15 days (the remaining terabyte can be used to store other programs).

I couldn’t check the quality of content compressed that radically at the Toshiba booth today, but buyers can opt for shorter recording times and better quality. All stored programs can be copied over to an external HDD.

The built-in REGZA Link Share function makes it possible to not only watch content on the TV but also to stream it to other devices, for example compatible Toshiba tablets or smartphones (which is why the DBR-M190 is actually being marketed as a “REGZA server”).

The device is compatible to 3D Blu-ray discs and will go on sale in Japan next month (price: US$2,600). A trimmed down version, the DBR-M180, with 2TB for time shift and 500GB regular storage space will set buyers back US$1,950.

If you thought Sharp’s 4K TV we’ve shown you last week is impressive, think again. Toshiba today unveiled a 55-inch LCD that boasts the same resolution (3,840×2,160 pixels, 4x full HD) but can also display pictures in 3D – no glasses required. The TV will be shown starting tomorrow during the CEATEC Japan 2011 exhibition near Tokyo.

Needless to say, the REGZA 55X3 [JP] is the first TV of its kind. Unfortunately, the resolution stands at “just” 1,280×720 in 3D mode.

The TV features 5,000:1 contrast ratio, LED backlight, a new processor called “REGZA Engine CEVO Duo”, a face-tracking function to enable high-quality 3D pictures for viewers, REGZA LINK, five digital tuners, 10W×2ch+10W speakers, four HDMI ports, and two USB ports.

Toshiba plans to start selling this beast in Japan in December (price: US$11,730).

Via AV Watch [JP]

Toshiba’s entrance into the Android tablet market was a pretty good one — Android 3.1 Honeycomb, a wide array of connectivity ports, and interchangeable batteries. But all those ports coupled with a 10-inch form factor made for quite the hefty slate. Personally, I tend to favor the 7 to 8-inch tablet category, which is why I was so pleased to get a peek at Toshiba’s latest tab: The Thrive 7″.

Unfortunately, some of the best parts of the 10-inch Thrive were scrapped to meet portability goals, like the full-sized SD card slot and that removable back cover. Instead, the Thrive 7″ has a micro SD card slot and a micro HDMI port along with a mini USB. But even with certain stand-out features missing on the 7-incher, it still has a few tricks up its sleeve.

For one, the 7-inch tablet runs Android 3.2 Honeycomb instead of 3.1. A minor upgrade, but an upgrade nonetheless. Past that, the display resolution is pretty brilliant. Most 7-inch tablets on the market today sport a resolution of 1024×768, but the Thrive 7′ kept the same resolution as big brother: 1280×800. Since screen real estate was reduced to from 10 to 7 inches, the pixel density on this thing far surpasses that of the 10-inch model.

Under the hood, the Thrive 7″ has the same Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core 1GHz processor as the bigger version, and comes in 16GB and 32GB flavors. The original Thrive shipped with an 8GB version as well, but with the removal of a standard SD card slot on the little guy, Toshiba likely ditched the idea of an 8GB 7-incher. Just like in the original, the smaller model also comes with a 5-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. However, that rear camera now has dual-LED flash capabilities.

The Thrive 7″ weighs just under a pound (.88lbs) and is .47-inches thick. The slate also has the same Easy Grip textured rubber back panel as the original model, which doesn’t do so well with prints but does give it a more solid, durable feel.

The Thrive 7″ is a WiFI-only tablet, and won’t be available until early December. Toshiba says it should stay under the $400 mark. Full gallery below.

If ever there was an audience for a silver and neon green laptop, kids would be it (and also maybe people who like lime green a lot). That said, Toshiba has just launched its updated kid-friendly laptop: the Satellite L735D. Toshiba and Best Buy worked on this one together, and did quite a bit of research to make sure that the little ones were getting what they wanted. Which was a lot of silver and neon green.

The Satellite L735D is really just the L635 wrapped up in some kid-friendly design, packed full of kid-friendly software, with more aggressive pricing. It’s a full 13.3-inch laptop, with a 1.3GHz AMD E-series processor and a 320GB hard drive. The 13.3-inch screen has a 1300×708 resolution, and supports video playback in 720p. The L735D also has two USB 2.0 ports, a webcam for video chat, and a battery life of five and a half hours. Obviously, these aren’t specs to drool over, but they make sense considering the rather low price point this little guy is going for.

As far as kid-centric features go, the most obvious (aside from the color scheme) would be the “wipeable” keyboard. Toshiba was very careful to not use the term “spill resistant,” so don’t think you can send little Tommy over to his laptop with a full glass of soda pop. Once he’s finished, however, and made the keyboard sufficiently sticky, feel free to wipe it clean. The Satellite L735D also comes with LEGO Harry Potter: The Video Game pre-installed, as well as KidZui (a browser just for kids).

The Satellite L735D will be available exclusively from Best Buy in the beginning of October, with an MSRP of $497.99.

Close proximity technology TransferJet is evolving. Toshiba has developed an LSI (pictured) that supports TransferJet and is designed specifically for mobile devices. The LSI is sized at just 4.0×4.0× 0.5mm and the smallest of its kind, according to Toshiba.

The company says the LSI achieves a receiving sensitivity of -78dBm, outperforming the value of the TransferJet standard itself (-71dBm) and making data transfer between two TransferJet-equipped devices more stable (it actually boasts the industry’s highest sensitivity).

Toshiba also squeezed an RF switch and RF circuit for TransferJet into the chip. The company expects it to be used in tablets, smartphones, notebooks, digital cameras, and similar devices.

One use case is two people exchanging contact data with their phones more easily:

Toshiba says the new chip can also make it easier to receive content from digital whiteboards, digital signage displays etc.:

The company plans to start shipping the first samples in January 2012 and begin producing one million chips monthly in the second quarter of 2012.

Via Digikame Watch [JP]

At TechCrunch, we don’t just want you to survive, we want you to thrive. That’s why we’re offering one Toshiba Thrive tablet to one lucky commenter. What is a Thrive? It’s a 10-inch Honeycomber with plenty of gusto and it’s waiting to wing its way to your home, office, cloister, or dance hall. Here’s how to win.

Comment below. Since this is the first weekend giveaway in a while, I’m going to limit this to US addresses only and don’t whine about Facebook comments, Mr. GNU License. Until we figure out a more capable way to pick a winner, this is how we’re going to do it. Comment once and only once and I’ll close the contest on Monday at Noon Eastern. Thanks for playing and have a thriving weekend.

Update – Congrats to Joey Ruhl, winner of the Thrive.

This TV is a beast. It’s called the ZL2, and to be honest it’s the only TV I actually have gadget envy for right now. The rest of the 3D TVs out there rely on end-of-life active shutter glasses or immature polarized 3D, but this monster is going straight to the lenticular lenslets. This technique involves a layer of tiny lenses that direct the light in the direction of the viewer, with a slightly offset to send a different image to each eye. No glasses required.

Oh, and did I mention that this TV has a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160? That’s “quad-HD,” twice the height and width of 1080p and four times the pixels.

The ZL2 can provide 3D for up to nine positions, adjusting its lenslets to send information in the right direction (it tracks faces with a built-in camera). There’s no saying how well it’ll actually work, but Toshiba seems pretty confident about it.

And as long as it’s tracking your face, it will adjust the TV to your personal preferences once it recognizes you. Favorite channels, shows, that kind of thing. And there’s an iPhone app! And it’ll record to and play from USB drives!

Honestly, I rarely get excited, or even slightly interested, in TVs. I don’t own a TV, I don’t particularly want one. But this one sounds just plain amazing. The only thing I’m worried about is the price. I don’t see this thing hitting for less than five grand. I guess we’ll find out what the damage is when December rolls around.

Update: Yes indeed, the price is enormous. €7999, or around $11,500.

Just like the rumor stated, Toshiba used IFA 2011 to announce its latest Android tablet and it’s just as tiny as it looked. The AT200 packs a 1.2GHz TI OMAP 4430 CPU, up to 64GB of memory, and most of the ports that made the Toshiba Thrive popular: micro-USB, microSD, and micro-HDMI. Toshiba claims that the battery is good for “eight hours of video consumption.”

The Samsung Galaxy Tab suddenly looks a bit thick. The new Toshiba AT200 measures in at just 7.7mm, which is nearly a full millimeter less than both the slender GalTab and the iPad 2. But unlike the Galaxy Tab, the AT200 shouldn’t be mistaken for an Apple tablet. From the port locations, to the rear camera location, to the entire backplate, the AT200 looks nothing like an iPad. In fact, the brushed aluminum back looks wonderful and full dispels any myth created by the fugly Thrive Android tablet that Toshiba doesn’t know how design beautiful products anymore.

Toshiba failed to include within the presser expected release date or price. That said, the Android 3.2 tablet will likely ship rather soon as Google is set to unveil the next incarnation of Android dubbed Ice Cream Sandwich within the coming months.

Yesterday, we reported about Sony, Hitachi and Toshiba planning to establish a joint venture for small and mid-size LCD panels in Japan. And today, the three companies, plus major shareholder Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, made the plan official.

As reported, the semi-public organization will control 70% of the venture (to be set up by the end of the year), with the other partners holding a 10% stake each. Tentatively named “Japan Display”, the venture will launch with a cool US$2.6 billion investment and instantly control 21.5% of the world market for small and medium-sized LCDs.

According to Japanese business daily The Nikkei, Sharp will be the second-largest maker of this type of displays with a 20% market share. The same newspaper says the four companies involved in Japan Display are currently trying to figure out where to set up plants in order to start production as quickly as possible.

Apart from LCDs, Japan Display will also invest in OLED-related research and development.

Quite big news from Sony, Hitachi, and Toshiba today: according to Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun [JP], the three companies today decided to merge their LCD businesses, at least for smaller and mid-sized screens used in smartphones, handheld gaming devices and tablets.

If the report is to be believed, a joint venture will be set up by the end of the year. What’s interesting is that the so-called Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, a semi-public organization, will control a whopping 70% of the newly formed company. The organization is ready to invest a total of US$2.6 billion (and fend off competition from South Korea, Taiwan and other places).

Sony, Hitachi and Toshiba will hold 10% each of the yet to be named joint venture. It will control over 20% of the world’s market for smaller and mid-sized LCDs, making it the biggest company globally in this field.

We covered the first rumors about the merger back in June.