14 DAY TRIAL // Back in May Toshiba was revealed to be one of the first brand vendors to shake hands with Microsoft with their Windows 8.1 with Bing project.
This was Redmond's attempt at bringing its OS onboard of budget tablet products, that can appeal to the average Joes and Janes out there.
So, as we were saying, Toshiba pulled the veil off two Encore 2 Windows tablets a while ago, coming in 8-inch and 10-inch variations.
Sadly, when the company announced the prices for the devices, we saw they weren’t exactly that budget-friendly. The 8-inch Encore 2 with 1GB of memory and 32GB of internal storage was to be sold for $199 / €261, while the 10-inch Encore 2 with 1GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage was announced for $269 / €353.
Anyway, the tabs have been out for some time and Toshiba might have noticed some skittishness from behalf of consumers, who seem to be still unsure of whether they should be picking up the devices or not.
Well, as IFA 2014 kick started today in Berlin, Toshiba is taking the chance to announce a more affordable Windows 8.1 with Bing tablet.
It’s called the Encore Mini and it arrives with a 7-inch display. Actually, Microsoft was the first to talk about the upcoming device at Computex 2014 where it called it the Encore 7.
Since then Toshiba has applied a nomenclature makeover and will soon be marketing it under the Encore Mini moniker. It certainly seems like a cuter name.
The tiny tablet will be sold with a super affordable $119 / €90 price tag, but don’t expect anything too premium for this amount of money.
The device offers a meager 1024 x 600 resolution (16:9 ratio) and bundles an Intel quad-core Atom CPU fitted with just 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD card).
On top of that, customers will find that they can make use of two cameras, a micro USB 2.0 port and Wi-Fi 802.11n. As we told you, the specs are very disappointing, but who cares when it sells for so little money, right?
Currently, the Toshiba Encore Mini is about the most inexpensive Windows 8.1 tablet on the market coming from a brand vendor. Yesterday we saw that HP is also planning to launch a cheap tablet like this, but its price seems to revolve around the €199 / $199 margin (we have 1280 x 800 res here).
