[hugh]

First announced in April as the Tablet S1, the S Honeycomb tablet features 9.4-inch touchscreen display with 1280 x 800 pixel resolution, NVIDIA Tegra 2 CPU processor, 1GB of RAM, and front and rear facing cameras.

Sony will offer a 16GB and 32GB version for $500 and $600 respectively

 

[TKG26]

I love that its not square. But common... What's with the price?

 

[Tikker]

i don't think sony realizes they don't get to charge a premium just for the sony badge these days


that being said, I'm curious about the clamshell version


it might be pretty slick

 

[asif9t9]

Unless I'm missing something, they really just delivered another random Android pad. The clamshell version at least looks like something new.

 

[derek_in_ottawa]

The Infra Red (IR) blaster built in is interesting for home media in the S1...

 

[grog]

IMO these companies are wasting their time (and money) putting out these Android tablets at basically the same price point as the iPad right now. I think eventually Android will catch up but it's going to come from the low end. Vizio has their new tablets coming out in the $300 range and I expect the rumoured Amazon tablet will also be around the same price point. These tablets won't be quite as good as the iPad but they will be close and certainly "good enough" for a lot of people (and way better than the low end junk that's available now).

Once there are millions of these lower priced Android tablets hitting the market the app developers will jump on board and they will close the gap with Apple. Eventually you'll see most apps (at least the ones most people want) will be available for both platforms. At that time (which my guess is 1-2 years away) there will be much more of a market for the higher end Android tablets and hardware specs will start to matter.

 

[hugh]

grog, that's for another thread. Lets keep this thread focused on the Sony Tablet.

 

[Barry N]

They are coming to the dance too late. Apple is already on their second iteration. Sorry Sony not interested.

 

[frosty vibe]

It looks like an interesting product although a moot point. The biggest gripe I have with this product is the crippled SD slot that only be used for media exchange.

The price point is awkward. Well-played (and well priced ) on Apple's $519 iPad.

 

[BGY11]

Played around with one of these today at a Sony Store, and my initial impressions were positive. I really liked the wedge design myself, and didn't have any complaints about durability. I wouldn't recommend dropping it, but then again, I wouldn't recommend dropping any tablet.

The IR sensor will be nice as long as you aren't limited to Sony TVs and equipment. Make it programmable like a Harmony and it could be a very useful feature.

While some have mentioned that Sony (and all other Android tablet manufacturers) are behind the ball when it comes to tablets, I actually like the fact that there's variety. With the hardware pretty much the same in all tablets, it seems manufacturers are targeting different people with their tablet. The ASUS eeePad Transformer, Galaxy Tab, Toshiba Thrive, and now the Sony tablet has their own unique characteristics that give consumers choice. I personally like this approach.

 

[Alan Bealby]

I pre-ordered the Sony Tablet S and got word yesterday afternoon that I could pick it up.

Got it home and booted it up and did a bit of experimenting with it. I was interested in what it could with with the IR emitter and Remote Control app. The Remote Control app is very elementary as far as I have can tell.

The app does have codes sets for a seemingly large number of devices but I just experimented with trying to control my Motorola DCT6416 PVR from Shaw. The program offered 4 code sets and the first worked. This code set was offered on a grid of buttons spread over two pages. I could relearn codes for a programmed button or add new buttons and learn the code for them from the original remote using a learning mode. I used this to activate greyed out buttons for Volume UP and Down from my AVR.
This worked.

This limited experimentation leads me to conclude that the Tablet S can be used in a very limited manner as an IR universal remote. There is no mention of macros or setting up buttons and codes set to control an activity like the Harmony One does. Off course this gives no way of automatically turning equipment on and off and adjusting inputs and settings when activities are changed. The hardware is there but software is inadequate as far as I can tell.

I have been able to find little documentation on the few apps I have tried out so far and the help guide available from Sony is very scanty, especially for some of the apps. Hopefully, I have just not been able to find it yet and it available somewhere.

 

[Alan Bealby]

Just noticed a posting on the Sony forum about the Remote Control App asking about macro capability and functionality like the Harmony Activity function. The reply was no macro capability and no functionality like the Harmony Activity.

A suggested work around was to set up a device from scratch and have it manually learn the codes from the appropriate remotes. A step further than my experiment to modify the code set for controlling my cable box by adding manually learned codes for the audio control of my receiver. But not very attractive to consider when it still won't control start-ups and device changes automatically.

As I said, a very primitive app that I feel is not worth investing any more time on unless it is radically overhauled to add sufficient functionality in a simple enough setup.

 

[Tikker]

it's just software tho, right?

it should be possibly to hack together your own little utility to have it play harmoniously with the rest of your AVR gear

 

[hugh]

Alan Bealby, don't know if you're tinkering or have a real need but you could also considering getting a RedEye remote would can be controlled by the RedEye Android app.

 

[kumanzc]

Harmony Link comes out mid-October in the U.S. I'm hoping android gets ported over to my Touchpad sometime before Christmas and then I'll go this route. My wife has an Ipad and it works for that as well but she wouldn't take kindly to hijacking hers for the house remote.

 

[Alan Bealby]

Hugh

I have a RedEye that is linked to an iPad. It has the basic functionality that I want but I find its App interface difficult to use to do the initial setup. In the end I prefer my Harmony One better. The attraction of the Sony Tablet, if it had a more functional App, is that it doesn't need the extra hardware. I continue to tinker to find my "ideal remote" but I am pretty I will never find it. In the interim I keep buying what ends up as new toys to play with.