Sony has officially launched its new Tablet S here at IFA 2011.
The new 9.4-inch tab is powered by Nvidia’s Tegra 2 processor and features the Android Honeycomb operating system. It’s version 3.1 which will be upgradeable to 3.2.
The Sony Tablet S UK release date is September. A Wi-Fi/3G version of the Tablet S has a UK release date of November 2011 – this will ship with Android 3.2 from the off.
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It’s clear that the Tablet S is a slick implementation of Honeycomb – there are some rather un-Sony design points as we’ll explain, but overall this is is an impressive first stab at a tablet.
We’re not saying this is a world-beater – but it might be if Sony could undercut the £399 iPad 2. That scenario seems sadly unlikely, even with a slated $479 (£293) price point.
Sony was keen to talk up the tablet as an entertainment hub, interacting with your Bravia TV as well as being a PlayStation-certified tablet. Content can be shared between the devices (this may or may not be via DLNA), while there’s also a built-in universal remote.
The tablet is surprisingly lightweight and clocks in at 598g for the Wi-Fi version. That’s lighter than an iPad 2 – by three grams.
- Also check out Sony Tablet S: what you need to know
The most unfortunate element of the Tablet S design is this nasty rubberised flap for USB and SD card access. It’s horrid and really takes away from the overall design, which Sony calls asymmetric. The idea is that the screen gently slopes towards you when the tablet is flat.
Clearly the intention has been to hide nasty-looking ports away, but all it has served to do is to make the tablet look cheap.
Other external controls are classically Sony.
The front of the slate is attractive, even if you’d be hard-pushed to immediately distinguish the brand. There’s the familiar black bezel that Apple likes to claim as its own, with a front-facing camera.
The screen itself is impressive in terms of colour, but it’s extremely hard to tell under show lights, so you’ll have to wait for our full Tablet S review to hear our judgement on that. It’s a TruBlack display, designed to alleviate glare.
The back is a slightly odd-looking affair which carries on the curved design. Note the rear-facing camera. The square in the bottom right of the black plastic is a PlayStation certified logo.
We also spied the tablet inside this docking cradle. It’s a good dock, but expect to be able to buy cheaper peripherals from third parties – we suspect it will be expensive.
Sony has made some customisations to the Honeycomb interface and provided plenty of its own apps. Here are the Favorites and Apps menus.
This is what a PlayStation-certified game looks like:
And here’s a pic of Sony’s Reader Store – it’s the same store used on the Sony Reader.
Finally, here’s the docking station without the Tablet S as well as a nifty keyboard accessory.
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