Hands on: Toshiba's concept internet tablets review

Toshiba may have been making waves at CES 2009 with the launch of the likes of Cell TV and the new Regza line up, but many of the crowd were drawn towards its range of portable internet viewers, even though most are likely to never see the light of day.

Basically a glorified Archos Internet Media Tablet or iPhone, each device is a slate of touchscreen beauty, allowing the user to watch video or browse the internet via simple swipes or by wirelessly connecting a keyboard.

The most interesting were the Wide LCD with Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Internet Viewer, which is essentially a methanol-powered laptop that can be broken into pieces, and the underwater viewer, which allows you to... erm, view the internet and media underwater.

Wi-Fish

To be honest, we struggled to see the point of this one, even though the cabinet for it was pretty cool. Perhaps you could attempt to access the internet to find out what kind of shark is about to eat you. If you're lucky.

Check out the pictures of the other devices to see what Toshiba thinks is going to be the future of wireless internet viewing. The Network Stationary is a diluted version of the concepts, and is apparently set to be announced at CES next year by the Toshiba-Town, so get ready for another touchscreen device to add to the pile.

Gareth Beavis
Formerly Global Editor in Chief

Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.