Toshiba gives Nexus 7 some competition with 7-inch Encore slate

At Computex, Toshiba and Microsoft jointly introduced the first 7-inch consumer tablet to run Windows 8.1, making it the smallest size Windows slate to date. This follows on the heels of Toshiba's 8-inch Encore 2 tablet announcement.

In its blog, Microsoft states that the tablet is "co-developed by Microsoft and Toshiba and in close collaboration with Intel, Goodix and AMI;" the device should be coming at a competitive "value-driven price point" in the coming months. An exact release date was not given.

The 7-inch Encore will likely compete in the same space as Google's Nexus 7, a popular and compact 7-inch Android tablet that comes in at an affordable $200 price point. Given that Toshiba is already pricing its 8-inch Encore 2 at $200, the Encore 7 tablet may come in under $200.

Microsoft had announced at Build that it would remove Windows' licensing costs to devices with screen sizes under 9 inches. This would help facilitate the Encore 7's lower price point.

In addition to the 7-inch Encore, Panasonic is also working on a 7-inch rugged Touchpad FZ-M1 tablet that runs Windows. That device is aimed at the industrial market and was showcased at CES earlier this year.

Source: Microsoft

Chuong Nguyen

Chuong's passion for gadgets began with the humble PDA. Since then, he has covered a range of consumer and enterprise devices, raning from smartphones to tablets, laptops to desktops and everything in between for publications like Pocketnow, Digital Trends, Wareable, Paste Magazine, and TechRadar in the past before joining the awesome team at Windows Central. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, when not working, he likes exploring the diverse and eclectic food scene, taking short jaunts to wine country, soaking in the sun along California's coast, consuming news, and finding new hiking trails.