These tablets, codenamed S1 and the S2, are why we need Sony – the Sony we love – in a world where almost every gadget of consequence is effectively a blank slate for software.
Sony S1, S2:
Price: TBD
Screen: 9.4-inch 1280×768, dual 5.5-inch 1024×480 LCD touchscreens
Processor: 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core SoC
Storage: TBD
Camera: Dual cameras, Rear-facing camera
Wireless: Wi-Fi and WAN (3G/4G) support, DLNA streaming support
The S1, dead on, looks like any (every?) other 10-inchish tablet. (Its 1280×768 screen measures 9.4 inches, for bean counters. It’s nice.) But then you catch the side. It’s curved, tapering to a sliver. Huh. And then you hold it. It’s exactly like a magazine where you’ve folded back the cover. (You know, if you’re a fan of magazines that weigh over a pound.) The centre of gravity is placed with intent. It feels right, if a couple of hundred grams weightier than I’d like. But unlike every other major Android 3.0 tablet out there, it’s actually designed to be used in portrait mode. Bless you, Sony.
I appreciate the problem Sony’s trying to solve with the S2: How do you shove a 10-inch tablet into your pocket? A fat glasses case that opens up to reveal a pair of 5.5-inch screens, the S2 may ultimately be a weird, silly thing. God knows, the other twin-screen Android thing we’ve used was a sad, sad device. It’ll require more software wizardry than hardware magic – and I’ve got something less than faith in Android or Sony delivering that. I very hope I’m terribly wrong. What I won’t be wrong about: That AT&T as the exclusive provider of 3G for this thing makes me sad.
Perhaps the only ugly thing about these: The current state of Android on tablets. More apps, please. And maybe the price.
Matt
Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 8:44 AMCrash Bandicoot FTW!
DK Son
Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 8:54 AMCrash Bandicoot!
glennc
Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 9:31 AMwho needs to carry a tablet around when you have a smart phone. the s2 will struggle to find a market.
Corteks
Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 11:09 AMPlenty of people feel the need to have tablets even though they have Smartphones, this has been throughly proven by the iPad and other tablets eh.
Nads
Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 1:07 PMhow many people are proven to want a tablet with a massive break half way down in their screen?
TSH
Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 9:49 AMWindows 8 would make these devices (esp. the dual-screen one) really sing.
Johnny P
Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 10:04 AMIt would be great for a DS emulator :)
von_wolf
Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 11:51 PMThe only problem that a DS itself would be cheaper but it still would be cool.
boc
Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 12:43 PMWhat about us lefties?
Osiris Fox
Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 1:50 PMBURN THEM!!!
Haha, I kid, we’re at least 200 years too late for that.
Err… wouldn’t lefties fold the magazine in the same way as righties? Which is clearly the intention of the design, unless of course you read upside down too…
Osiris Fox
Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 1:52 PMAlternatively, pretty sure they’ll use a sensor to adjust the screen accordingly depending on which way it’s held. Auto rotate kind of thing.
Des
Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 1:38 PMWhy does Matt Buchanan still do Android news? He can’t help but be overwhelmingly negative about anything Android related.
Alex K
Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 2:10 PMAs soon as they can incorporate fold-able OLEDs into something like the S2, I’m sold. But having that big black bar in the middle of my browsing experience would be far too distracting.
Chris
Friday, July 22, 2011 at 10:11 AMTwin screens FTW! (but only if Google can bake in a good interface similar to the way Windows 7 ‘just works’ with multiple screens.