Android tablets are available aplenty but when Sony announced their offerings in the form of Tablet S and Tablet P, we were intrigued by their unique form factor. And since Sony released the Tablet S in India, we had a thorough look to see if its worth compared to other competitive devices.
Design:
One thing that stands out from other tablets is that Tablet S comes with a unique design. Most tablets available in the market these days feature a normal rectangular block design but in case of Tablet S, it comes with a wedge design. This design serves two purposes — one to resemble the tablet like a folded magazine page and other is to alleviate the screen to give a nice viewing angle.
As for other design features, Tablet S features power and volume +/- physical keys, a memory card slot, microUSB port and proprietary port for charging and data transfer on the sides. There are two cameras — one on the front and other at the back and speakers on the side that boast dynamic xLOUD technology.
All in all, Tablet S sports a very unique design but in retrospect, the tablet is more comfortable to use in portrait mode rather than landscape.
Display:
Unlike most other tablets that feature a 10.1-inch display, Sony goes with a tad smaller screen — 9.4-inch. Sony has however, kept the resolution at 1280×800 pixels which results in sharper and crisp text.
The colors are rich and boasts deeper black levels, thanks to the TruBlack technology.
Performance & Software:
Tablet S runs Android 3.2 Honeycomb OS and despite having Honeycomb’s default home screen, Sony has customized the user interface to give its own touch. As evident from the image above, the App drawer has been modified to give it a cleaner look. The keyboard has also got some customizations, which features a numpad on the side (handy!). Other modifications includes the addition of a film strip in the camera menu bottom so as to give a quick access to recently clicked pictures and a revamped music player.
The tablet is powered by Nvidia’s Tegra 2 1GHz dual-core processor and though most other Android tablets boast the same processor, we felt Tablet S to be more responsive and optimized. Check out couple of screenshots below where we benchmarked the tablet with Antutu and Vellamo (for web browser).
To spruce things further, Sony integrated few apps that were exclusive to their tablet only. For instance, you’d find apps like Video Chaska, BIG Flix HD, Social Feed Reader, universal remote control, PlayStation Games (more on PlayStation in a bit).
Surprisingly, Sony hasn’t followed the suit of launching an App Store like other Android manufacturers. Instead, Sony has bookmarked a page in the web browser that redirects to the web-based store highlighting some of the tablet-optimized and exclusive apps.
PlayStation:
Sony Tablet S is the world’s first Android tablet to be PlayStation-certified. This means users will be able to enjoy original PlayStation games on the tablet. Our unit came loaded with Crash Bandicoot and though the graphics are not at par with the current-generation Android games, the overall experience was satisfying. Users can even adjust the location of the virtual keys.
Unfortunately, India does not have access to a PlayStation Store where users can buy games but Sony confirmed to us that they’ll roll out the store in the coming months.
Universal Remote Control:
I suppose this not require any explanation. Although the remote control needs to be configured, this handy feature works as intended. The remote control gives options to control TVs, DVD players and other devices, including other brands. I was able to control a Samsung TV without any issue.
Camera:
Tablet S sports dual-cameras – a VGA camera on the front for video calling and a 5MP camera with an Exmor lens and HD vide recording support. We would say images and videos taken from Tablet S turn out to be decent but then again, how many of you would whip out a tablet in the crowd to take a picture?
Conclusion:
This is Sony’s first attempt at Android tablets and frankly, they’ve done a good job. They’ve broken the mould of conventional-looking Android tablets and offer a great piece of hardware along with exclusive software. With Android 4.0 due in coming months, Tablet S will be enhanced to a whole new level.
Sony currently sells only the Wi-Fi version in India for Rs. 26,990.
Rating: 
Pros: Unique Design, PlayStation support
Cons: No PlayStation store for Indian market
Some more updates here. The Tablet 3G version is also out now, and Tablet P is also available now. Also the price for Tablet S wi-fi has dropped, checked all three of them last week and Sony center Janpath. Its UI is supersmooth and efficient. good that you have added pics, it helps in putting things in perspective.