TOSHIBA EXCITE 7.7

The tiniest of the Thrive-topping trio is the Tegra 3-toting Excite 7.7, a close competitor to the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7. It's portable, sports a gorgeous AMOLED display and packs plenty of processing power.

Compared with Toshiba's older Thrive 7 ($379.99, 3 stars), the Excite 7.7 is a work of art. The slate measures 8.1 by 5.3 by 0.31 inches (HWD) and weighs 12.3 ounces, putting it on par with the svelte Galaxy Tab 7.7, which measures 7.74 by 5.24 by 0.31 inches and weighs 12 ounces.

Let's talk about my favorite thing on this device: the display. Oh. My. Gosh. The 7.7" AMOLED display (the same one used in the Galaxy Tab 7.7) is enough to make a grown man weep. It is, without a doubt, the most beautiful display that I've ever seen on an Android tablet.

The Excite 7.7 comes with Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) as its operating system. We’re secretly hoping that Toshiba upgrades the tablet to Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) so that it looks more like the Nexus 7 interface, but Android 4.0 isn’t bad. Its pop-up menu is awkwardly built and doesn’t serve smaller screens especially well, but you’ll get used to it quickly.

Even with its great display, most recent OS, and quad-core processor, you'll have to really ask yourself whether it's worth forking over $500 for a 7.7-inch device that has only 16GB of storage and no HDMI support. It may be more enticing if it cost about $150 less, but frankly, half a grand is just too high.