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Sony Tablet S preview
Even back when it was just a sketch we were suitably intrigued by Sony's Tablet S. Then it was the "S1," a name that, indistinct as it was, still had more character and mystery than the unfortunately generic moniker it will ship with. Still, a dull name can't obscure the most distinctive design we've yet seen in an Android Honeycomb slate, an aerofoil-like shape inspired not by a flying machine, but a rather more pedestrian folded magazine. But, the result is a tablet that's considerably thicker than the current king of the Android hill, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 (not to mention the iPad 2), a chunky design that isn't always as hand-friendly as it looks. Is this the glossy, perfectly-paginated future of tablet design, or is it just a misshapen slate with a broken crease and shattered dreams? Read on to find out. Note: at this time Sony was able to provide a device with final hardware, not software. So keep in mind this preview covers only the hardware, and that discussions of software and performance are liable to change. %Gallery-132094%
Sony officially renames the S2 the Tablet P, opens up about the software (video)
Compared to the S1 tablet -- make that the Tablet S -- Sony's dual-screen tab remains something of an enigma. AT&T hasn't said how much it'll cost on contract, nor do we know when it'll finally go on sale. Still, the tablet just get one step closer to becoming a real, shipping product, with Sony renaming it the Tablet P, as rumored, and clarifying the full range of specs -- namely, that it weighs in at 0.82 pounds and runs a dual-core 1GHz Tegra 2 SoC with twin 5.5-inch (1024 x 800) displays, dual 5MP and VGA cameras, an HSPA+ radio, a 3,080mAh battery, a full-sized SD card slot, 4GB of internal memory, a micro-USB socket and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Those displays use the same TruBlack technology found in Sony's Bravia TVs, promising blacker blacks and whiter whites. What's more, Sony is opening up about the software, a topic it pointedly ignored when we first handled the hardware, then codenamed the S2. For starters, by the time it ships, it'll join the ranks of a growing number of tablets (most of them 7-inchers) running Android 3.2. And guess what? We recently sat down with the Tablet P a second time for a preview of how the outfit's optimized Honeycomb for those dual displays. Here's what to expect. %Gallery-132058%
