Toshiba Excite 7

Toshiba's Excite 7 ($169.99 direct) tries to compete with other low-end Android tablets like the Dell Venue 7 and Hisense Sero 7 Pro, but doesn't deliver in terms of performance for the price.

The Excite 7 is a thick slice of tablet. It measures 7.8 by 4.6 by 0.43 inches (HWD) and weighs 12.2 ounces. The 7-inch display is less than ideal. It has a 1024-by-600 resolution at 169 pixels per inch.

On top of the Excite 7 are the micro USB port, microSD slot, volume rocker, and headphone jack. The microSD slot doesn't have a protective cover, but the card doesn't protrude when inserted. The Power button is on the right. Stereo speakers sit on the bottom corners.

In our video playback test, the Toshiba Excite 7 lasted 5 hours and 20 minutes, much shorter than the Sero 7 Pro's 9 hours and 17 minutes.

The Rockchip 1.6GHz quad-core CPU and 1GB RAM give the Excite 7 adequate processing power. Unfortunately, it isn't enough to best cheaper tablets like the Sero 7 Pro or the Venue 7.

The Excite 7's 3-megapixel rear camera, like many tablet cameras, is deplorable. Shots take at least a second to take and process. Moving at any point in the process creates a completely useless and blurry image.