Tablet for boredom: preview of the Sony Tablet S

Screen

The tablet is equipped with a 9.4-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1280x800 pixels and an aspect ratio of 16:9. The screen is protected by tempered glass, so it is not easy to scratch. The display diagonal of the Sony Tablet S is quite a bit inferior to the top models of its competitors, but subjectively the difference is almost invisible.

The image displayed by the Tablet S is distinguished by high viewing angles, which is primarily characteristic of IPS technology. In principle, we have a standard high-quality display that is no different from other products in the same price category. The picture is bright enough, the colors are saturated - there’s nothing to complain about.

As for cameras, in this regard the tablet from Sony also has nothing special to brag about. It seems that installing a 5-megapixel main and 0.3-megapixel front camera in such devices has become an unspoken rule. As is the case with other tablets, the Tablet S lacks stars in the sky, although in good lighting it takes good pictures. In any case, taking photographs with a tablet is somehow strange; it looks especially funny from the outside.

Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet

Specifications Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet

Advantages and problems of Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet

Advantages:

1. performance.
2. thin and light.
3. The touchscreen response is lightning fast.
4. Holds charge for a long time.
5. Great sound from external speakers.
6. sound quality in headphones.

Flaws:

1. high price.
2. The back side gets hot.

Video review of Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet

Hardware platform, autonomy

Like all current Android flagships, the Tablet S is built on NVIDIA Tegra 2 with a dual-core gigahertz chip. Other characteristics include 1 GB of RAM, 16 or 32 GB storage depending on the version, and a Bluetooth module.

Interestingly, the tablet has an infrared port, through which you can control home appliances. Let's pay tribute to Sony - equipment not only from this company is supported, but also from other manufacturers. If necessary, you can independently program Tablet S to control any TV and not just TV. You can pair your tablet with almost any household appliance that can be controlled from a remote control. It would be naive to think that this is any significant innovation. It was also possible to control household appliances from a Windows Mobile-based PDA, but this option is not popular. Why? Probably because the remote control is still more familiar, even if a dozen remote controls for various devices accumulate at home.

I would like to note the high performance of the tablet when working with any applications. It’s comfortable to watch movies on the Tablet S, and games run without problems, including those ported from the first generation PlayStation.

Sony Tablet S is equipped with a 5000 mAh battery. This is the average for Android models. One charge lasts for less than five hours of video viewing. In a more gentle mode, closer to everyday use, the tablet will last a working day, that is, about 8 hours.

Sony Tablet S Review

Until recently, Sony did not participate in the race of companies trying to interest buyers who decided to purchase a “non-Apple” tablet. Perhaps the Japanese were simply biding their time, watching as almost all their famous rivals suffered defeat, unable to offer a device that could somehow compete with the Apple device. After all, to be successful in today’s market, it is not enough to simply throw an iPad analogue on the shelf - the successful manufacturer will be the one that can offer its own ecosystem, including a convenient app store, content and related accessories.

From this point of view, the newly released Sony Tablet S - a ten-inch Android tablet - looks quite competitive. A place has already been reserved for it among the company’s “four screens” - products from the VAIO (laptops and PC), Bravia (TVs) and Xperia (smartphones) lines, and Sony’s rich media library will help in the fight for the user.

The technical characteristics of the new product look typical for modern tablet computers.

• Processor: dual-core ARM Cortex A9 1 GHz; Nvidia Tegra 2 platform
• Memory: 1 GB RAM; 16/32 GB for user data; support for SD, SDHC memory cards
• Operating system: Android version 3.2
• Display: 9.4-inch LED-backlit with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels; capacitive sensor; Sony TruBlack technology
• Camera: front with VGA resolution; main – 5 megapixels
• Communications: 3.5 mm headset jack; USB 2.0 (Micro-USB Host); Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n; 3G (in some models); Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR; GPS; accelerometer, gyrosensor, digital compass, light sensor; IR port; DLNA
• Battery: non-removable Li-Ion; 5000 mAh
• Internet browsing time via Wi-Fi: up to 6.2 hours
• Standby time: up to 430 h
• Music playback time: up to 31 hours
• Operating time in video playback mode: up to 6 hours
• Battery charging time: 5 h
• Dimensions: 174.3 x 241.2 x 10.1 mm
• Weight: 598 g

Outwardly, the newcomer looks a lot like a folded magazine - an interesting solution, although not completely original; Notion Ink Adam has similar features. The body is wedge-shaped, with a shifted center of gravity and a smooth transition from the surface of the screen to the glossy panel of the back cover, covered with a texture with many volumetric dots - apparently to prevent accidental falls from hands.

It is completely plastic - this reduces the overall weight of the tablet, allowing you to hold it with one hand, but, unfortunately, contributes to the appearance of unnecessary scratches. A branded case or folder will save the owner from them.

Another useful accessory is a docking station, which turns the tablet into a kind of photo frame or laptop - with a connected keyboard, mouse and USB drive. However, you can type on the on-screen keyboard without it - the designers placed small rubberized protrusions on the lid of the device that help increase the angle and avoid slipping. So on any flat surface this action becomes more comfortable than with similar devices.

To be honest, for 2011 the Tablet S looks a little overweight - the dimensions declared by the manufacturer clearly do not take into account the thickening of the case, and when inevitably compared with the market leaders - iPad 2 (8.8 mm) and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (8.6 mm) - you understand , that for active use of the tablet outside the home, the advantage in thickness is more important than the ease of grip with one hand. It's good that Sony engineers were able to keep the weight of the device at a level similar to its competitors - 598 grams.

Despite its rather impressive dimensions, the tablet is not rich in useful connectors. Under the flap on the left side you can find a card reader with support for SDHC cards, Micro-USB Host and a standard 3.5 mm port that can be used to connect a headset. On the right are three narrow buttons – power on and volume control, as well as an inconspicuous hole marked “Reset” – for resetting the operating system.

Closer to the bottom edge there are stereo speakers that produce good sound for a portable device - thanks to a separate chip for processing music. The last connector, used for charging or attaching the tablet to the docking station, is placed by the designers at the end.

By the way, about charging. The built-in battery will help you stay away from the outlet for up to 430 hours, depending on the scenario of use of the device - the manufacturer, for example, talks about 6 hours of Wi-Fi surfing. Alas, this is a very average figure, which differs significantly from that of competitors, because the same iPad 2 is able to offer 10 full hours of wireless Internet. Another not entirely successful decision by Sony is to make the charging connector original, since the inability to use Micro-USB for this purpose forces the owner to carry a rather heavy power supply with him.

The display of the new product has a 9.4-inch diagonal with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels and LED backlighting. The screen is capacitive and displays images quite well thanks to high brightness and excellent viewing angles while maintaining good color rendition. Much of the credit for this goes to Sony's proprietary TruBlack technology, which enhances contrast and black levels using a layer of a special polymer that allows you to control the refraction of light between the glass and the matrix.

Above the screen there is a front camera peephole for video calls with VGA resolution. At the back there is a more serious five-megapixel camera - surprisingly not too noisy in low light, even though it does without any flash.

The performance of the second-generation dual-core Nvidia Tegra processor is more than enough for comfortable operation of Android 3.2 OS and applications. A gigahertz “pebble” and a gigabyte of RAM allow you to easily watch 1080p video in .mp4, .m4v and .wmv formats, and music files can be of any fairly common type - from AAC and MP3 to FLAC and OGG. Music in the player is displayed as a scattering of CD covers, with the ability to freely drag them across the surface. It looks great and to some extent returns the appearance of my dad’s record collection to an initially intangible figure.

In general, scenarios for using a tablet, according to Sony, should not be limited to just working with texts and the Internet. The ability to use the Tablet S as a TV remote control (using the built-in infrared port) or DLNA connection to compatible devices - all this adds something new to the range of home appliances already available in the owner's home. A good idea, because the tablet becomes not just a toy purchased in an attempt to follow a fashion trend, but a full-fledged participant in the multimedia space.

Another interesting feature of the device is support for games for PlayStation and PSP - the emulator is controlled by an on-screen gamepad, which is quite convenient, despite its virtuality. You can change the location and size of the buttons or move them completely outside the image for the player’s convenience.

Here Sony, in my opinion, has found a promising direction of development - the growing power of mobile processors will undoubtedly make it possible in the future to replace game consoles with descendants of tablets. Already now, devices running iOS and Android are able to produce a picture comparable to what only their “big brothers” recently showed us - for example, Infinity Blade for iPhone and iPad on the serious Unreal Engine 3.

The rest of Sony's innovations in the standard Android interface come down to replacing the on-screen keyboard and minor changes like a more convenient list of installed applications. Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited services were additionally announced for foreign users, but in our country they will undoubtedly face licensing restrictions. The same can be said about the program for working with electronic books – Reader.

Alas, the only really useful thing in these conditions will be a torrent client that allows you to download movies directly to the tablet - after all, the Tablet S can hold 16 or 32 gigabytes of information, depending on the modification. After the process is completed, the video files go to the library and are immediately, without unnecessary conversions, ready for viewing.

Apparently, Sony's first experience in a new market for the company turned out to be more educational than successful. Users' expectations of something unusual from the famous electronic giant were only partly justified - even if you have a strong love for the brand, it is impossible to bring yourself to pay a price comparable to the price of an iPad 2 or Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 for a device that does not have the features of that thin and light “tablet” ”, which appears in the head of a person dreaming of a modern tablet. In my opinion, Sony's main mistake is completely ignoring those positive and negative aspects that the companies that were the first to reach the finish line discovered through trial and error. And this despite the fact that the Japanese, to put it mildly, were somewhat delayed in the tablet race.

But, on the other hand, the Tablet S came out no worse than other devices that are catching up with the market leaders. It is fast enough, has a really good screen and supports memory cards - the minimum hardware requirements are met. And the rest... You can’t blame him for the lack of conditions in Russia for the legal sale of media content, without which Sony’s new product loses most of its attractiveness for a potential owner.

Software

The tablet runs Android 3.2, which is much more stable and productive than the first editions of Honeycomb. Unlike smartphone versions of Android, this platform is perfectly optimized for large screens.

The operating system interface is already well known to Ferra's readers. Before us is the main desktop and four additional ones, on which you can place various widgets and application icons. You can change the content of the screens by clicking on the “+” in the upper right corner of the screen. Nearby there is a button to go to all installed programs.

The Google search engine is located at the top left of the screen. Sony has made changes to the design of this element, adding four keys next to the search for quick access to the browser, email client, menu with a remote control and an e-book reader. In the lower left corner there are virtual buttons “Back”, “Home” and a button for calling the last running programs. To the right, next to the clock, there is a notification panel and a menu with quick settings.

Sony has done a lot of work on the design of the user interface. The changes cannot be called global, but still they have significantly transformed the standard design. The company added new themes, redrawn shortcuts, and introduced an updated installed applications screen. The music player and video player have become much more impressive, the built-in browser and on-screen keyboard have been optimized.

Both in the design and in the set of applications from Sony, one can feel the company’s desire to demonstrate the gaming orientation of the device. The tablet is certified to run games from the first generation PlayStation and PSP. An emulator for these consoles is included. By the way, a very convenient thing. Of course, it cannot be compared with analog gamepads, but today it is the best that can be implemented on a touch screen. However, it is too early to talk about a single ecosystem that would unite Sony tablets, consoles and smartphones. Thematic design and several applications are not enough for this. One can only hope that the Japanese will not stop there and will continue to integrate multimedia services into different devices.

Competitors

Apple iPad 2 . Perhaps all manufacturers will have to get used to the idea that their most modern tablets will be compared primarily with the brainchild of Apple. In terms of such an important parameter as price, the Tablet S and iPad 2 are similar; identifying a technological leader is also not easy. Both devices are convenient to use - subjectively, the Sony tablet is not inferior in performance to the American device. On the iPad 2 side there are a larger number of commercially available versions - here you have just Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi with 3G, and memory from 16 to 64 GB. Tablet S is available in only two versions - with a 16 and 32 GB drive. This is a significant drawback that limits the scope of application of the device. Still, 3G support guarantees much greater mobility than Wi-Fi.

Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet

Specifications Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet

Advantages and problems of Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet

Advantages:

1. easy.
2. responsive.
3. fast and powerful.
4. good screen.
5. convenient case.

Flaws:

1. Problems with the screen - yellow spots.
2. poor location of the headphone output.

Video review of Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet