“We’ve been doing tablets since 1992,” says Graeme Simons, Toshiba UK business manager, when asked why the company has plumped for a 10.1-inch tablet, rather than a 7-incher similar to rival manufacturers‘ devices also revealed at IFA, Berlin. “And it’s an area of the market that’s been opened already [by the iPad]”.

But his own philosophy is far simpler: “As long as it’s not too heavy, the bigger the better”, he exclusively tells Pocket-lint, citing video playback as a main driver for the multimedia tablet market, throwing in a slight dig at the competition, “if you’ve got this, why watch video on a phone”. 

Certainly, the Folio 100 is a beefy beast, albeit one that only weighs 765g. And as its screen is 16:9 (1024 x 600) it already has an advantage over that Apple product when used as a movie playback device. 

Perhaps its biggest draw, though, comes with its connectivity… As well as 1080p-capable HDMI out, this particular slab of tech has a USB input - something the iPad and Galaxy Tab do not. Plus, there’s an SD card slot to increase the on board storage capacity of 16GB by a further 32GB. 

Unlike the Tab, though, it doesn’t have a rear-mounted camera, but then it would be a touch unwieldy as a camcorder. It does, however, sport a front-facing webcam for video chat and all manner of tomfoolery. 

The Android 2.2 OS is, sadly, far from the finished product at present, and few of the tablets functions are working, so it’s hard to judge fully. However, Toshiba is so proud of its efforts so far, it is already planning a 3G version in the near future (the first release, at £329, will be Wi-Fi only).

And as Simons tells us, there’s more to come: “We want to offer multiple platforms," he said.

This is only the beginning.