Sony unveils Honeycomb based S1, S2 Tablets

Sony has finally joined the tablet scene by unveiling two Android 3.0 Honeycomb based tablets codenamed S1 and S2 (dual screen). These two tablets would be PlayStation Certified so you can play PlayStation titles meant for Android platform. Users will also be able to stream music and videos through Sony's Qriocity multimedia content streaming service. Packing dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 SoC processor, these new tablets would be available later this year in Fall (late September). At this moment, both tablets don't bear any brand name and Sony's referring to them as - Sony tablet to extend its VAIO products family.

Finally, even Sony has joined the rich and heavily competitive tablet segment. Two months ago, we reported about the S1 PlayStation tablet and here we have it. Today that report has finally turned true and we have the Sony tablet codenamed S1. Its 9.4-inch touchscreen display is big enough to enjoy web browsing and multimedia content. As of now, it's too early to determine whether this screen would be LCD or OLED display.



The S1 has a unique 'wrap design' that looks as if a magazine has been folded and the press images clearly show it. In a way, that wrap will proved a bit of an elevation to keep the top part higher for ease of typing over the onscreen keyboard. Under the hood, S1 houses a dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 System on Chip processor which will power the Google Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system. Sony has customized the touch panel UI to be "quick and smooth" and the web browsing will be powered with "swift" web browser. S1 tablet has two cameras for video chat as well as imaging - front facing and back panel.

Users will be able to browse, download and read eBooks from the Reader Store eBook store of Sony. The S1 tablet also has an Infrared Port (yeah!) to make it act like a universal remote for broader range of DLNA certified electronics.

At first, the S2 tablet appears to be a stretched Nintendo DS in a clamshell form factor. The S2 tablet has dual touchscreen displays where each screen is 5.5-inch and 1024x480 pixel resolution. Even S2 is equipped with dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 SoC processor and it too has Android 3.0 Honeycomb running on it. What would be interesting is to use both panels independently for same or different purposes. For instance, if you are browsing on the top panel, then the bottom touchscreen panel will show on-screen keyboard for text input.

Sony has equipped both tablets with Wi-Fi and WAN (3G/4G) but there are several other details about the hardware that are missing. As of now, this is just an announcement and in due course of time, we'll get to see most important detail - the price of these Android 3.0 Honeycomb based tablets.

Samsung shows off 'thinnest tablets ever,' Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1

The tablets are just 8.6mm thin, slightly beating out the iPad 2 which sits at 8.8mm.

In regards to weight, the smaller tablet clocks in at 16.6 ounces and its larger brother is 20.9 ounces. The iPad weighs in at 21.28 ounces.

Each of the devices runs on the tablet-optimized Android 3.0 Honeycomb, and have Samsung's updated TouchWiz UI.

TouchWiz brings "live panels" which allow for content customization. The UI also adds an "app tray" with your most used applications. All widgets are resizable within TouchWiz, and the Wi-Fi app is improved, says Cnet.

At launch, however, the devices will have vanilla 3.0, as TouchWiz will be part of a later update.

Each of the tablets run on 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual core processors, have 3MP standard cameras, 2MP front-side cameras, 1280x800 resolution, and full 1080p playback. Flash 10.2 for tablets is coming soon, although the smartphone version works just fine.

In making sure the tablets are competitively priced, the 10.1 will start at $500 for the 16GB/Wi-Fi model and the 8.9 will start at $469 for the Wi-Fi/16GB model.

HSPA+, LTE and WiMax versions are all coming during the summer.