IFA 2011: Sony P and S, Android Tablets With a Difference?

In the run up to the IFA 2011 consumer tech show, several manufacturers have already held preliminary press conferences and presented products, including Sony. The Japanese manufacturer yesterday presented two new Android Honeycomb tablets—the Sony S and Sony P—that have been in the pipeline for a while. After the presentation we managed to have a quick go with Sony's new tablets—pictures and first impressions below.


Sony CEO, Sir Howard Stringer (pictured below), turned the talk straight to the firm's Android tablets at yesterday's event, declaring that 'it's not about who makes them first, but who makes them better'. And that's exactly what Sony plans to do with the Sony S and Sony P, which mark the firm's somewhat late arrival into the touchscreen tablet market.


As a firm that's already present in so many other sectors (TV, cinema, music, VOD, PlayStation), Sony has decided to move things up a gear with greater product convergence and cross-sector integration. As a result, many of Sony's upcoming products will be designed to operate and interact with a new Sony ecosystem, largely based on a huge catalogue of digital content, accessible remotely on Sony products like the S & P tablets.

Both of Sony's new tablets are equipped with Nvidia Tegra 2 processors (dual-core, 1 GHz). The S has a 9.4-inch screen and an 'asymmetric design', which means the tablet is slightly inclined when placed on a table or resting on your knees. Above all though, this lop-sided design transfers the tablet's weight to the hand that's holding the tablet when you use it vertically. This, in theory, makes it more comfortable to use, so you shouldn't feel like you're constantly fighting the laws of gravity when holding your tablet.

In practice, we found that this worked really quite well. However, we also noticed that although the tablet is clearly well finished, the plastics feel just a bit too plastic and they tend to pick up fingerprints too.

The Sony P, on the other hand, is a more intriguing product with two 5.5-inch touchscreens and folding design. The tablet opens up like a kind of Android Honeycomb book (or an oversized Nintendo DS). As it stands, the P is so very different form any other tablet we've seen so far that it's hard to imagine what the advantages of this distinct design could be. In fact, the P looks like it'll be a real black sheep in the tablet market, hovering somewhere in-between the smartphone, traditional tablet and notebook computer.
 

The way the Sony P handles makes it instinctively feel like a tablet that's designed for games, films and other forms of digital entertainment. Once it's closed though, it's not exactly the most portable of products.

However, the Reader e-book application really brings out the best in the Sony P's design, as when you hold it vertically it's just like reading a real physical book.
 

 

Both of these tablets are the most responsive we've seen yet with Android Honeycomb. Plus, Sony has added a stylish custom interface to liven up the raw Android OS, bringing a touch of Sony's style to the product, and taking a first step towards creating the kind of product ecosystem the firm is keen to develop. 

PlayStation Certified

Note that both tablets are due to launch with version 3.1 of Android, with an update to 3.2 following soon after that. Otherwise, the S and P both have infrared emitters, which basically means they can be used as luxury touchscreen remotes, compatible not only with Bravia products, but also with most other brands of audio-visual equipment. Simply enter the brand and model of your device and the tablet brings up a control panel with a whole load of different options to choose from.


Sony has simplified content transfer via DLNA with a new custom platform named Throw. As the name suggests, you simply select and slide a file with your finger and 'throw' it onto a compatible TV all the way across the room.

Finally, although plenty of games will be available via Google's Android Market, Sony's tablets will offer users access a huge catalogue of PlayStation games (PS1, PSP and some PS2 games). In fact, these tablets are the first in a long line of 'PlayStation Certified' products that the brand intends to develop. All the buttons of the trademark PlayStation controller are displayed onscreen and gaming is smooth and seamless.

The Sony S is due for release on 1 October 2011 in a 16 GB Wi-Fi version for £399 and a 32 GB Wi-Fi version for £479. There'll also be a 16 GB Wi-Fi/3G Sony S selling for £499.
The Sony P will have a 4 GB memory and will be available in November with Wi-Fi and 3G for £499.

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