Toshiba Folio - gone missing!

Richard Fieldhouse (21/11/10)

A deluge of tablets was promised to attract the potential gadget lover and their family this Christmas. Of course, we have all been salivating over the iPad since spring, but this month it was joined by the Samsung Galaxy Tab which, like many other pretenders to the iPad's thrown, runs on Google's Android platform.

Next to make a physical appearance in UK high street shop looked like being Toshiba's Folio 100, but only days after it appeared, it was pulled from the shelves by PC World citing a "high level of returns". Toshiba have not queried that some real issues exist with the machine and have postponed at least one other pre-Christmas launch.

There has also been some discussion as to the broad areas of complaint with the product: lack of access to Google's Android Market, a loose-fitting battery cover, and – perhaps most importantly intermittent slow running especially when playing video. Despite being sold ostensibly with the latest version of Android (2.2), the Folio was missing access to the Flash media player. This last was one of Android 2.2's major selling points and one where an Android device could better the iPad. The Folio's fairly innovative hardware (based on the NVidia Tegra 2 chipset) might have caused some of the problems – but it is quite a long list.

Having considered all these issues, though, there is still another concern. Why is it taking so long for any of these devices to appear in a normal retail environment? I bought my first Android tablet (an Archos 5) over the internet a year ago now. Yes, there have been a few teething problems, but to be honest, they are not much different from the issues that arise with a normal machine running Microsoft Windows. Does PC World have trouble selling the new concept? I think this has to be the conclusion. Perhaps it's a matter of training.

Perhaps, in part, it's a concern that Android tablets might soon cannibalise the market for netbooks and smaller laptops. Maybe PC World has a little too much monopoly power on the high street. Conspiracy theorists will no doubt point the finger at Microsoft and Intel both of whom have a great deal to lose from the emergence of cheap, accessible tablet computers. But, despite apparent lack of training, PC World also have a direct interest in another tablet coming to market this month. Few examples of this Advent Vega have been sighted on the high street yet, but it is remarkably similar in many ways to the withdrawn Toshiba Folio. Perhaps the staff will have had some practice in explaining what the customer should expect from an Android tablet by the time this own-brand model arrives in larger numbers.

Whatever the cause, the momentum required behind a new platform like Android to gain six foot of shelf space on a British high street dominated by Windows PCs is awesome. According to one count, there are around 75 different Android tablet designs that have been in development over the past six months or so. The investment made by some of these companies like Samsung and Toshiba must have been eye-watering. All in all, the current market seems to be favouring the incumbents a little too much.