The Thrive 7"--yes, the 7" appears to be part of its official name for now--is the first truly 7-inch model announced with a high-resolution, 1280-by-800-pixel display, offering 225 pixels per inch. Samsung already announced at IFA that its would have the same resolution, but that model has a 7.7-inch display. For some perspective, consider that this is also the resolution currently available on the --but because the new Toshiba model packs the pixels into a smaller display, the pixels-per-inch figure is higher, which eliminates the dot-matrix effect that often plagues Android tablets.

Pixels clearly matter. When I tried a preproduction unit in advance of Toshiba's announcement, the 7-inch Thrive had the sharpest, cleanest text I've seen yet on an Android tablet. The text rendering--something I've frequently cited as a weakness of Android 3.x Honeycomb tablets--appeared smooth. Google's operating system may play some part in what I perceive as poor text rendering in other Android tablets, or maybe earlier tablet displays simply weren't of a sufficiently high pixel depth to achieve the smooth text I crave. (Yes, the 's crisp has spoiled me when it comes to anything that shows dots.) Like the before it, the 7-inch model uses Toshiba's Adaptive Display and Resolution+ technology, which is supposed to help boost image quality, as well.

I immediately noticed that the display on the preproduction 7-inch Thrive looked vastly improved compared with that of the original Thrive--the new model had bright, vibrant colors. Toshiba has dispatched the noticeably large air gap between the glass and the LCD beneath, reducing glare to a minimum and increasing the perceived viewing angle. Toshiba also says that it has placed a coating on the screen to help with glare, but the company declines to get any more specific than that.

The preproduction 7-incher felt surprisingly lightweight, as well. When I held the 0.47-inch-thick tablet in one hand, it reminded me of holding a first-generation Kindle e-reader: It was mostly comfortable, but it still had room to slim down further (as e-readers have done over the years). What struck me was how balanced the 7-inch Thrive seemed--it felt as if it weighed less than its listed 0.88 pound, and it felt lighter than the first-generation 7-inch Galaxy Tab, which weighed 0.86 pound. The upcoming Galaxy Tab 7.7 will weigh even less at 0.75 pound, though, so while the 7-inch Thrive is light, it isn't breaking any new ground in that respect.

What the new Thrive has that the Galaxy Tab 7.7 lacks is ports galore. You won't find full-size ports here, though (as you do on its larger Thrive sibling). Under a single, neat flap are Micro-USB and Micro HDMI ports, and a MicroSD card slot.