Sony has to be different. It is a strategy which has seen the company both rise and fall, but it doggedly refuses to change its ways. So there's little surprise Sony's long awaited iPad rival shows all the benefits and drawbacks this approach brings.
The Sony Tablet S is different straight out of the box. It adopts the same wedge design as the company's Vaio laptops and places the home button on the right side. This approach means the S sits at a pleasing reading and typing angle when on flat surfaces. On the downside it adds visual bulk which won't appeal to fans of the tablet sector's ongoing thinnest battle and it makes the S feel lopsided when held in a portrait position. Typical Sony -- win some, lose some, be different.
It is a similar story on the spec sheet. The 1GHz dual core processor (using Nvidia's Tegra 2 chipset), 1GB of RAM, 16GB/32GB of native storage, Wi-Fi/Wi-Fi + 3G options, GPS and microUSB port are standard fare these days. Then Sony takes a sharp diversion from the norm with the choice of a 9.4-inch display. It sports a native resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, making the screen wonderfully sharp, but it is smaller than most rivals with the Tablet S weighing 598g there is no saving compared to the 10.1-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (595g) or 9.7-inch iPad 2 (601g). Furthermore while text is sharp and black levels good, colours are less vivid than its two main rivals.
There is more evidence of Sony being Sony too with the choice of a proprietary charger, SD rather than microSD card slot and the omission of HDMI. The first of these allows Sony to use an Apple-esque magnetic charge point that will disconnect should the cord be pulled, but you'll have to marry that against the inconvenience of carrying it everywhere for more power along with its unwelcome 105g, 90 x 26 x 25 mm power brick. Meanwhile the choice of an SD card offers greater storage options and simple connection with content taken on cameras and video recorders but, unlike other tablets, the SD card can only be used to store media rather than expand the tablet's main memory.
Then again Sony swings the odds once more in its favour by calling on its camera experience to fit the Tablet S with a five-megapixel camera that is the best in its class. Pictures are noticeably more vibrant than those on the Tab 10.1, BlackBerry PlayBook and vastly superior to the woeful camera on the iPad 2. Furthermore Sony brings flexibility with manual exposure adjustments, dual macro and a number of preset scene modes.
All of which means the Tablet S is likely to attract or alienate before it is even switched on. It is vital not to prejudge however since the key to the Tablet S is Sony's software.
Like its rivals Sony has been unable to resist the temptation to heavily customise the underlying Android 3.2 platform, but unlike its rivals Sony has done it with a good deal of consideration and style. Superficially Sony has tied the look of Honeycomb to that of the PlayStation 3 and PSP, a trick it has already pulled with Android 2.x for the Xperia Play. The result is a swath of black, blue and purple hues, revamped icons and far smoother scrolling and animations than experienced in the stock Honeycomb build. It looks altogether more (for want of a better term) "grown up" than Samsung's TouchWiz UI and less bloated and cartoonish than HTC's Sense on the Flyer. Better still the skin is well coded and the Tablet S operates smoothly and quickly though complex web pages do cause the occasional stutter.
Where the benefits of Sony's love/hate approach to electronics truly shines though is the added content and functionality the company is able to bring to its unique flavour of Android. Most obvious are two apps loaded onto the homescreen by default: "Music Unlimited" and "Video Unlimited". Both are part of Sony's Qriocity service and each is customised for the Tablet S to bring media download and streaming services. In effect this works as an exclusive Sony online store and while content is extremely limited at present (a mere five movies in Video Unlimited, while Music Unlimited is "arriving soon") it will provide Tablet S owners with a powerful differentiator -- especially if Sony fully harnesses its immense Sony Music and Sony Pictures libraries. Gamers aren't left out either. The Tablet S is PlayStation certified meaning it can match the Xperia Play and run existing PS One and PSP titles available in Android Marketplace. Crash Bandicoot and Pinball Heroes come preinstalled.
The Sony Tablet S is different straight out of the box. It adopts the same wedge design as the company's Vaio laptops and places the home button on the right side. This approach means the S sits at a pleasing reading and typing angle when on flat surfaces. On the downside it adds visual bulk which won't appeal to fans of the tablet sector's ongoing thinnest battle and it makes the S feel lopsided when held in a portrait position. Typical Sony -- win some, lose some, be different.
It is a similar story on the spec sheet. The 1GHz dual core processor (using Nvidia's Tegra 2 chipset), 1GB of RAM, 16GB/32GB of native storage, Wi-Fi/Wi-Fi + 3G options, GPS and microUSB port are standard fare these days. Then Sony takes a sharp diversion from the norm with the choice of a 9.4-inch display. It sports a native resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, making the screen wonderfully sharp, but it is smaller than most rivals with the Tablet S weighing 598g there is no saving compared to the 10.1-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (595g) or 9.7-inch iPad 2 (601g). Furthermore while text is sharp and black levels good, colours are less vivid than its two main rivals.
There is more evidence of Sony being Sony too with the choice of a proprietary charger, SD rather than microSD card slot and the omission of HDMI. The first of these allows Sony to use an Apple-esque magnetic charge point that will disconnect should the cord be pulled, but you'll have to marry that against the inconvenience of carrying it everywhere for more power along with its unwelcome 105g, 90 x 26 x 25 mm power brick. Meanwhile the choice of an SD card offers greater storage options and simple connection with content taken on cameras and video recorders but, unlike other tablets, the SD card can only be used to store media rather than expand the tablet's main memory.
Then again Sony swings the odds once more in its favour by calling on its camera experience to fit the Tablet S with a five-megapixel camera that is the best in its class. Pictures are noticeably more vibrant than those on the Tab 10.1, BlackBerry PlayBook and vastly superior to the woeful camera on the iPad 2. Furthermore Sony brings flexibility with manual exposure adjustments, dual macro and a number of preset scene modes.
All of which means the Tablet S is likely to attract or alienate before it is even switched on. It is vital not to prejudge however since the key to the Tablet S is Sony's software.
Like its rivals Sony has been unable to resist the temptation to heavily customise the underlying Android 3.2 platform, but unlike its rivals Sony has done it with a good deal of consideration and style. Superficially Sony has tied the look of Honeycomb to that of the PlayStation 3 and PSP, a trick it has already pulled with Android 2.x for the Xperia Play. The result is a swath of black, blue and purple hues, revamped icons and far smoother scrolling and animations than experienced in the stock Honeycomb build. It looks altogether more (for want of a better term) "grown up" than Samsung's TouchWiz UI and less bloated and cartoonish than HTC's Sense on the Flyer. Better still the skin is well coded and the Tablet S operates smoothly and quickly though complex web pages do cause the occasional stutter.
Where the benefits of Sony's love/hate approach to electronics truly shines though is the added content and functionality the company is able to bring to its unique flavour of Android. Most obvious are two apps loaded onto the homescreen by default: "Music Unlimited" and "Video Unlimited". Both are part of Sony's Qriocity service and each is customised for the Tablet S to bring media download and streaming services. In effect this works as an exclusive Sony online store and while content is extremely limited at present (a mere five movies in Video Unlimited, while Music Unlimited is "arriving soon") it will provide Tablet S owners with a powerful differentiator -- especially if Sony fully harnesses its immense Sony Music and Sony Pictures libraries. Gamers aren't left out either. The Tablet S is PlayStation certified meaning it can match the Xperia Play and run existing PS One and PSP titles available in Android Marketplace. Crash Bandicoot and Pinball Heroes come preinstalled.
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