Some more details about the new Android tablets from Sony, known as S1 and S2, have come as reporters were allowed to play with the devices for some time.
S2 is a tablet with two screens which looks more like a gaming device, though the company says users can also convert it into a book. The devices can also connect with Sony televisions, PlayStation content and Blu-Ray players – a feat that will be difficult for Apple to repeat.
According to Bloomberg, Sony believes it can be number 2 behind Apple though the details about when the tablets would be released or pricing details have not been revealed by the company.
Phil Molyneux, Sony Electronics’ president and chief operating officer, believes the users are looking for a smaller and faster device which can fit into their pockets, and that’s where Sony tablets would come in. The S2 screen can be folded and will fit into the pockets nicely. “You can’t do that with other devices unless you have bigger pockets,” he said.
Sony is very good at building elegant devices, and Sony S1 and S2 tablets are no different. Sony S1 is a 9.4 inch touch screen device which has a textured finish at the back. It is a lightweight tablet, which seems durable at the same time. It comes with Headphone jack, USB sync port, power adapter, and buttons for power and volume. It has a favourites pane which shows the content recently viewed by the users.
While rendering web pages, Sony has a come with a trick which loads image first and javascript later, so to the users it seems the pages are loading faster, though they load at the same speed as other tablets. If the users prefer that the web pages should load just like other tablets, they can simply turn off the Quick View feature. With the new multi touch feature, Sony has made sure the tablets respond faster and smoothly to the users finger gestures.
The Sony S2 uses two hinged screens, which fold together to make a smaller unit, small enough to fit into the pocket. It is, however, difficult to make two screens work well together. So unless the device works well into the hands of the users, one can’t be sure about its performance till that time.
One benefit of S2’s dual screen is that users may be able to view the App contents such as a map on both the screens in one spread.