Toshiba gen-three tablet set for IFA intro

Third time lucky with Excite?

Third time lucky for Toshiba? Its Folio 100 Android tablet was a failure and its second attempt, the Thrive, didn't make it across the Atlantic to the UK and suffered sleep problems. So it's having another go, with a thinner model said to be shown at the IFA show later this week.

The Folio 100 was an Nvidia Tegra 2-based machine with Android 2.2 Gingerbread. Thrive, released this past July, touted a sleeker look and Android 3.0 Honeycomb.

But it was still pretty chunky, so it seems the third model, reported by Italian-language site Netbook Italia, is a much thinner job, along the lines of the Apple iPad 2 and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Separately, Android Police spotted that Tosh has registered the word "Excite" as a tablet computer trademark, so it's likely that's what the new model will be called - over there, if not here.

Skinniness is essential for tablet success these days - though, as HP found, selling one for next to nothing is a good idea too. ®