On February 29, Toshiba introduced the Excite 10 LE tablet to the public, which interestingly enough will be the thinnest tablet to date. Weighing in at only 1.18 pounds the 10″ Excite LE tablet will also feature a 1280×800 LED IPS touchscreen display and is a mere 7.7mm in diameter.

The Excite dimensions are quite a bit slimmer than Apple’s iPad tablets and any other tablet currently on the market for that matter. Just to provide a slight comparison, the Droid Razr smartphone is only 7.1mm in diameter.

The Excite 10 LE was formerly known as the Toshiba Excite X10, and before that the AT200. In that time, the Excite 10 LE has also seen some hardware changes from previous prototype models.

Toshiba Excite 10 LE Specifications

The Excite 10 LE is powered by a 1.2GHz TI OMAP 4430 processor combined with 1GB of DDR2 installed RAM, and will include Android OS version 3.2 (Honeycomb) pre-installed, with an OTA update to 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) set for a later release. The Excite also includes front and rear cameras (2MP and 5MP respectively), a microUSB port, an HDMI output, a microSD expansion slot, and of course a rated battery life of 8 hours during continuous use. More prominent Excite features include integrated Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 functionality, integrated GPS and accelerometer support, and SRS Labs enhanced stereo speakers. Also worth noting is that the 10″ display will be made with Corning Gorilla Glass, touted both as scratch proof and shatter free.

The Toshiba Excite 10 LE will be available in two separate models, a 16GB ($529.99) and a 32GB ($599.99) version. The device itself includes a glossy black bezel accented by chrome exterior edges; edges which are obviously very, very thin.

Toshiba Excite 10 LE Software

As it’s running the Google Android OS, the Excite 10 LE will include mainly Google software and will be pre-loaded with Google Music, Maps, YouTube, Gmail, Google Search, and of course the full Android Market. It’s also rumored that the Excite will include the Netflix app pre-installed for those serious movie streamers out there. It’s definitely good to know that Toshiba hasn’t locked the device down, forcing users to only use Toshiba branded software.

Of course, the Toshiba branded device will include Toshiba software pre-installed as well such as the Toshiba App Place, Toshiba Book Place, Toshiba Media Player and the Toshiba File Manager.

Toshiba Excite 10 LE Release Date

We won’t start seeing these sleek babes in the wild until March 6, the official US and UK release date. Apple is set to unveil the iPad 3 to the press on March 7, so obviously Toshiba is shooting for a head start with the release of the Toshiba Excite.

Toshiba has also made it clear their intentions to release Excite branded accessories with shared plans for a docking station, multiple exterior cases and multimedia equipment. If Toshiba works to provide continuous support for the device and truly does release a long line of branded accessories they may have a worthy iPad competitor. But as is always the case, only time will tell.

Meanwhile, if you are in the market for some great alternatives to the Apple iPad check out our feature on the best Android tablet alternatives. For more information on the Apple iPad 3 check out our feature on the iPad 3 specs and release date.