Sony Xperia Tablet S

Introduction
Sony's latest stab at an Android tablet sees it updating the moderately successful Sony Tablet S. It follows the same design principle of having one fat side and one thing side but it has been slimmed down.

Design
much as with the Xperia T, we're not particularly wowed by the design of the Xperia Tablet S as it looks and feels a bit plasticky. Also, despite relying on the thick end to house the tablet's guts, Sony hasn't managed to make the 'thin' edge eye-catchingly slim. But, we definitely applaud Sony's attempt to do something a bit different with its folded over book vibe, and it's by no means ugly.



Just as with the original, the thick side is nicely rounded and chunky so it fits more comfortably and securely in the hand than most slender tablets, something that is also helped by the tablet's low weight. The folded back 'page' on the back has shrunk to only cover about a third of the tablet, creating a convenient lip that lets you rest the tablet on various compatible stands and accessories, or whatever object you have lying around.



Features
Sony seems to have a thing at the moment for covering the ports on its devices with crummy plastic flaps and so it is here. Hidden here you'll find an SD card slot alongside a headphone port, and on the opposite side are the volume and power buttons.



One thing we definitely like is the presence of stereo speakers mounted on the bottom edge.



Sony hasn't upgraded the screen, sadly, though it's still a decent enough panel. It spans 9.4in and has a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, making it reasonably sharp, and viewing angles seemed good too.



What has been upgraded are the internals. You now get a quad-core Tegra3 chip, up from the dual-core of the original Tablet S. You only get 1GB of RAM, though, and no 3G option. Storage options are 16GB, 32GB an 64GB.

The tablet will ship with Android Ice Cream Sandwich, though Sony is at pains to point out a Jelly Bean upgrade will be coming soon.

Wrap Up
The Sony Xperia Tablet S is a competent if a little underwhelming 9.4in Android tablet. It's slimmer and lighter than its predecessor, and has a decent screen and processor upgrade. Ultimately its appeal will come down purely to how its priced.