Despite such qualities, a few experts said the Excite 13 will still be seen as too big. "The problem with big tablets is that the bigger they are, the harder they fall," noted Ken Dulaney, an analyst at Gartner. "There's a direct correlation between size and the frequency of being dropped."

Toshiba said the three new tablets all have sturdy aluminum shells and scratch resistant Corning Gorilla Glass displays to make them durable, although the analysts noted that "durable" doesn't mean the devices are drop-resistant like some ruggedized tablets that cost hundreds of dollars more.

Dulaney said Toshiba is probably trying out different tablet sizes to see how well they do in the market, just as Samsung has done with a variety of tablet sizes, including the at 10.1-in., and the at 7-in. Still, Samsung has resisted building anything larger than 10.1-in., which makes the Excite 13 all the more curious.

Ultimately, Dulaney argued that tablet manufacturers "will conclude that the 10-inch tablet is the best size just like we have concluded that 8.5 x 11 is the best size for a sheet of paper."

Steven Buehler, an analyst at IDC, said the Excite 13 is "intriguing" but also called it "among the experiments that manufacturers are trying as they attempt to stay in front of the market."