Japanese computer maker Toshiba has joined the tablet craze engulfing the industry, announcing on Thursday last week the entry of Thrive into the exploding new tech toy that gradually edges out the popular laptop.

In a statement accompanying the product launch, Toshiba said that its new gadget will hit the stores by July 10 and will be powered by Android's Honeycomb 3.1 and designed with maximum regard on portability with its 10.1 inch screen and battery that juice up some eight hours of on-the-go use.

The Thrive comes with dual high-resolution cameras (5MP back-facing and 2MP front-facing) that users will find handy during teleconferencing functions, with image and video renditions in HD fashion that will more than please the general mode of usage, and all packed in a casing that emits crispness and weighs only 1.6 pounds.

While the new Thrive is not the thinnest tablet around, its added heft paved the way for more connectivity with a host of ports such HDMI, USB, mini USB and SD card slot, which mean that file sharing and pleasurable viewing would be a breeze on the new Toshiba product.

Toshiba vice-president and general manager for digital products division Jeff Barney told CNET that the new Thrive is geared towards users who were planning to migrate from notebook to the now popular smart gadgets.

A review published by CNET on June 2 differentiated the device from the iPad, in which the Thrive allows connectivity to a personal computer, which is a feature absent on the bestselling Apple product, via its Log Me In app.

Toshiba also anticipated customer's propensity to personalize their gadget by issuing the Thrive to come with a removable back plate, allowing users to inter-change the battery cover with available colors such as green, orange, purple, blue, pink, silver and black.

And yes the battery can be changed, which Toshiba said would be one of the things that set the product apart from other tablets, which the company said can be had staring at $429 at 8GB capacity, $479 at 16GB and $579 at 32GB.

Toshiba's bet on its new product lies on name recall as Barney told CNET that people tend to jump from one gadget into another but not necessarily ditching the brand that served them well, in the same manner that "people want brands they're used to with computing."