Sony Xperia Tablet S

SONY XPERIA TABLET S REVIEW

The splash-proof Sony Xperia Tablet S was first launched a few months ago, but had to be pulled from sale because of problems with its waterproof seal. It’s now back on sale, and watertight, but has the delay sunk it, with numerous competitors breaking the surface since its original launch. The Sony Xperia Tablet S is an exceptionally built device that's about the size and weight of an iPad, making it a pleasure to hold. It has many excellent features and apps, and its Android 4.0 operating system makes it intuitive to use, and doesn't lag. The only issues are that its display is a little smaller than similar Android tablets and it doesn't allow for internet access via mobile broadband, so if you're in an area without Wi-Fi, you'll have no access to the internet. The Sony Xperia Tablet S sports quite a few features that are a mix of practical and really cool. The practical features are commonly included with Android 4.0, such as a desktop-like experience, tabbed browsing, video chat, Google Talk and more. Plus, the Xperia Tablet S doubles as a superb universal remote control, so you can control your TV, disc player and more. You can access even more apps from the Android Market. As a bonus, the Xperia Tablet S is a Sony PlayStation Certified unit – the first tablet to achieve –this certification – so you can play games like the above-mentioned "Crash Bandicoot," along with "Pinball Heroes" and other classic titles online. The Sony Xperia Tablet S is a sturdy, well-built and lightweight unit, powered by the NVIDIA Tegra 3.0 processor. It offers a nice memory option of 16GB expanding up to 64GB. It's worth the extra cash to get more space for music, videos, photos and more. The price doesn't make it a true competitor among other Android tablets or the iPad, but it is a nicely built unit. There is 1GB of internal memory, which helps with the speed. You can easily connect to the internet via Wi-Fi, which is 802.11 a/b/g/n, so you have the latest wireless technology, along with Bluetooth 3.0. However, there is no way to connect to a cellular network for 3G or 4G internet, which is a little unusual. Some people may see this as a problem, while others may prefer to save money by not having a mobile contract. This tablet's measures 9.5 inches long, 6.8 inches wide and a thin 0.3 inches deep. It weighs in at 1.3 pounds which is pretty typical of devices in this category. Overall, it's nice to hold for extended periods of time and easy to carry around. I/O ports (inputs and outputs) include a headphone jack, a Micro USB port and a USB card reader. You can easily transfer data to and from an SD card in the slot, thanks to a special app. The display on the Sony Xperia Tablet S reproduces color, video and photos nicely, but even at the highest level of brightness, it appears just a little bit dimmer compared to similar tablets. This tablet uses Sony's TruBlack technology – found in the company's popular Bravia line – in the display, giving the Tablet S an extra edge in image quality. The resolution is 1280 x 800 pixels, so you're getting a little better than 720p high definition (HD) resolution. The display is 9.4 inches tall, which is only marginally smaller than the unit's height, so you won't feel like you're losing any display real estate. If you’re looking for a great stand-alone Android tablet, this isn’t it – it wasn’t made to be the one perfect stand-alone tablet and it doesn’t pretend to be that piece of equipment. Instead you’ve got the best Sony has to offer in a tablet form-factor, and with a quad-core processor from NVIDIA to back it up, it’s perfectly capable as a Sony companion for the rest of your Sony devices.

SPECIFICATION & FEATURES