Sony Xperia Tablet S
With the new Tablet S, Sony brings its Android tablets under the Xperia brand. The new tablet is lightweight and slim, with a tapered design that Sony says is comfortable to hold. The WiFi-only tablet runs Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" and costs $399.99 for 16GB (32GB and 64GB capacities are available, too).
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Sony dipped its toe in the tablet market last year with a couple of Android models that brought to the table some interesting design choices. Now Sony's ready for generation two, bringing the line under its Xperia brand, the same as its smartphones.
Just like we heard, the new tablet is called the Xperia Tablet S, and it has the same tapered design of the original Tablet S, which Sony maintains is easier to hold, since the weight is concentrated on one side. The new version is slimmer and lighter, though, and Sony says it's more lightweight than the iPad. The screen measures 9.4 inches diagonal.
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Sony worked to make the Xperia Tablet S a useful "second screen" for watching TV. First, it's enhanced the remote control app, adding a macro ability, so you can program a sequence of commands. You can create up to six macros with custom labels.
There's also an app called Watch Now, which is kind of a supercharged program guide. It's a visual guide, letting you browse via cover art (a la Netflix), pulling in info from Gracenote (which Sony owns). It can also give you recommendations, and pulls in information from Facebook, Twitter and GetGlue to suss out your preferences and monitor what's trending. We're not sure if it'll be as good as IntoNow, but points to Sony for trying.
Finally, the tablet includes a "guest mode" that parents may like because it'll let them restrict access to certain apps if the tablet is shared among family members.
The Xperia Tablet S continues a trend we're seeing in Android tablets of bringing in true multitasking, letting users run two apps at the same time -- with both on the screen. Sony does this by having one of the apps run as a "small app" in a window on top of the other. Only a few apps -- including the browser, remote control and calculator -- can do it, though.
All this tablet goodness is powered by a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor. It runs Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" and comes in three varieties: 16GB ($399.99), 32GB ($499.99) and 64GB ($599.00). All are Wi-Fi only.
Sony also says the tablet is "splash proof." While you can't immerse it in water, Sony maintains you can spill 10 litres of water per minute on the Xperia Tablet S for 5 minutes, and it will survive.
As you might expect, Sony offers a ton of accessories for the Xperia Tablet S: a cover ($99.99), docking stand ($99.99), simple stand ($24.99), carrying cover ($50.99 - $79.99), charging cradle ($39.99) and speaker dock ($129.99, coming in November).
Our first impressions: The Xperia Tablet S strikes us as a bit pricey as Android tablets go, but at least with Sony you're getting something quite different from what's out there.
What's your take on the Sony Xperia Tablet S? Share your thoughts in the comments.
This story originally published on Mashable here.
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