Sony's original Tablet S receives 'a big system update' in the UK.

   This morning we woke up to find a big system update message sprawled across the screen of our original Sony Tablet S. Sony has had a relatively good track record of offering maintenance updates and bug fixes, but this particular update caught our eye because it 'is a big system update which offers all sorts of new features'.

   Upon checking Sony's website we realised this was the update US users received a while back and indeed there are lots of enhancements, but it is still Android 4.0.3 ICS. There's Guest mode, a set of new media apps, more 'small apps' and a host of other new features which are quoted below! One thing just to mention before the new features is that the update is 262MBs so please don't download the update by tethering to your phone unless you have unlimited data!

New Features:

• Adds Guest Mode

• Adds new media player applications (WALKMAN, Album and Movies)

• Adds new Small Apps (Timer and Voice Recorder) and supports widgets

• Adds Xperia Link application

• Adds macro functionality to Remote Control App and skin change *1

• Adds news widgets including Topics

• Adds Socialife (Updates Social Feed Reader Cloud to Socialife if you have already installed Social Feed Reader Cloud)

• Adds the following input languages: Japanese (Hand-writing), Korean, Arabic , Thai , Greek

• Enhances the clipboard function

• Adds the following applications: YouTube *2, Google Books [Play Books] *3, Google Videos [Play Movies] *3

• Supports the SDK (Software Development Kit) for IR Remote control and Small apps

• New Looks

• New icon design for applications developed by Sony

• The following apps are renamed: Personal Space becomes Play Memories Online *3, Select App becomes Sony Select

• Background color of application tray is changed from white to black.

Features removed:

• Removes Favorite application

• Removes DLNA application. You will still be able to access DLNA enabled devices within WALKMAN, Album and Movies

• Removes Throw feature within Gallery application. You can throw photo/video using Album application

• Removes current Video Player and Music Player's apps/widgets placed on Home screen. These are to be replaced by by Movies and Walkman

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Sony Tablet S gets a maintenance update. From Coolsmartphone.com

   

This morning when you woke up your much loved Sony Tablet S might have had a software update waiting for it. The update promises to bring stability fixes and optimizations, but unfortunately it's still Android ICS 4.0.3.

   The update is only 9mb but it seems to make quite a considerable difference, from what we can tell from our usage this morning. The whole interface is now noticably smoother, especially when you're scrolling through your app menu and they've nearly overcome the jitter when scrolling between your home screens. Although, there's not much change in the performance of any apps as far as we can tell.

   It's great to see Sony are still commited to their flagship tablet, all we need now is a confirmation that we'll be seeing Jelly Bean and we'll be really happy!

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31/07/2012

Sony planning a Tablet S refresh!

   Mobiflip has today outed a new Sony Xperia Tablet. The picture above shows that the device is essentially a Tablet S refresh; sporting exactly the same iconic wedge design of the Tablet S. 

Looks like Microsoft's Surface tablets has a bit of an influence too!

   This time, however, the tablet is set to be slimline and splashproof, complete with Tegra 3 and a 9.4-inch 1280 x 800 display. The new tablet will be 11.85mm at its thickest point according to mobiFlip‘s premature documentation. This would overall add up to a 42-percent trim down, Sony claims, and this one will be made of aluminum rather than plastic!

   On the camera front there's an 8-megapixel main camera which is paired with a 1-megapixel front facing camera, and there’s also a docking stand with three USB ports and an HDMI connection. Sony also throws in a clever Guest Mode, which allows for a separate interface – with limited access to apps and other data – for visitor use of the tablet, while keeping full Ice Cream Sandwich functionality locked away.

   Interestingly the presentation also includes projected pricing; $449.99 for the 16GB model, rising to $549.99 for the $32GB, and $649.99 for the 64GB. The carrying cover will be $59.99 ($20 more for the leather version) and the keyboard cover will be $99.99.

   As for docks, the Dock Speaker will be $119.99, the Docking Stand $99.99, and the Cradle $39.99. A Simple Stand – propping the tablet up at a choice of three angles – will be $24.99. The HDMI cable will be $29.99 and the USB Host cable $19.99.

   When this device launches we'll see if it's possible to get a review to compare with the Tablet S and see if it's a worthy successor!

Sony's update saga.

   Sony, Sony, Sony... What're we going to do with you eyy? 

  Today we've been told not to rule out Jelly Bean updates coming to any of their current devices. This news has come after they said their 2011 line up, which includes the Arc S and Mini Pro, would not be getting the update! Apparently we shouldn't rule out the possibility of these devices getting Jelly Bean just yet; the company said;

“We are actively investigating Android OS upgrades for all devices, but in the meantime, our Ice Cream Sandwich rollout for Xperia S and 2011 Xperia smartphones continues as planned.”

   So there we have it. Don't give up hope just yet! The only thing we know for certain at the moment is that Sony don't know what they're doing just yet! The company is still in the midst of their ICS rollout so you can't blame them for not being entirely sure yet! We do expect their most recent crop of NXT devices will be getting updates, but probably early next year!

In other news:

• Nintendo needed their 3DS XL to do a good job on the sales front. Initial tips look good with the device reportedly shipping 200,000 units in the first 24 hours after it's launch!
• RIM are reportedly cutting 3000 jobs on August 13th, sorry guys, the company just can't stop the rot.
• Microsoft has integrated Facebook tagging into Bing search results.
• Samsung is reportedly working on a new 11.8″ 2560×1600 tablet.
• Samsung‘s product lead has lashed out at Apple‘s design patent case, describing the jury trial as “fighting over rectangles” and "defying common sense" and to be honest we have to agree!

And finally, Microsoft has launched Outlook.com as a Gmail competitor! It looks eerily familiar!

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Will there be an all in one device?

   So if you're a proper techie you probably have at least three of the following; a MP3 player, a GPS, a digital camera, a mobile, a tablet, a laptop, a desktop or a home server.

   But, how many of these do you actually need? I was thinking about this because on the train this weekend I saw tablets, lots of tablets, well more specifically lots of iPad's. You know them business types with their iPad's who obviously aren't working, but are playing Temple Run, while speaking to their boss on the phone. I felt a bit out of place with my Tablet S, but I did see the guy opposite puzzling over my device because he didn't know what it was.

   I listened to music through my tablet, as did the guy opposite. One guy, to my left, was watching a film on his tablet and there was a few people listening to music through their phones, mainly iPhones. So I got thinking, are MP3 players dead? I didn't see a single soul with an iPod touch or a Sony Walkman, it was just phones, tablets and one guy with his laptop for the long journey.

   I can see the draw of Tablets for the journey; you can game, watch a movie, listen to music or browse the internet whilst on the train (you could also work too!), so whatever you need to do the tablets have got you covered, but you can't really properly work and word process on them and you also need to have your phone sitting next to you. I felt a bit silly because I had my tablet, phone and a magazine sitting on a limited space in front of me, yes I was using all three at once (texting, music and reading). Then I was thinking 'why can't I do all of this from one device?'.

   There must be a way to incorporate text messaging into a tablet so that while I'm sitting down I can leave my phone in my pocket and the messages come through on my tablet instead. There might be a way to do this already because I know Pre's and Touchpad's can do this already, but I'm an Android guy!

   I just think it would be good for Android to incorporate this sort of cross-device support. It's just useful and if WebOS saw this ages ago there's no reason why the world's most popular mobile OS can't do this! So come on Google whip out tablet-to-phone support, even if you don't make a Galaxy Note-esque Phablet!!!! I just want to be able to do everything from one device at one time so we don't have to look like a silly show-off! This is the best we can hope for at the moment I think, connected devices are great!

   One day I think there will be an all-in-one device, but that's the future and that's something I covered here, it will happen, one day!

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Sony Tablet S review

Sony Tablet S review:

   Alright so the Tablet S is getting towards a year old now; it's still repping the Tegra 2, it's only got a normal resolution screen, it's 1280x800, which is about 161 ppi, so no Retina Display here. But it's also going a bit cheaper at the moment, selling for about £300 for the 16GB version in the UK. So, is it worth it? Or should you pony up the extra cash for the Asus Transformer Prime or the new iPad? (£500 and £400 for the 32 and 16GB versions, respectively).

   Let me start off by saying I love the Tablet S. It is strange and a bit plasticky, but it's great. From a design point of view, the wedge shape constantly keeps me engaged; puzzling at why it's not flat like I feel it should be.  The premise is that the tablet is meant to look like a folded over magazine and it does, so much so that one of my uni mates glossed over it because he thought it was a book, if you look to the right you can see what he means. But I can't take my eyes off it, it's strange but it needs to be held and twisted and deciphered. The 'fold' helps when you hold the tablet in portrait because it puts all the weight on the thicker side and makes it comfortable to hold, which is a plus, especially if you're one of them book readery types. The thin end, conversely, is decidedly uncomfortable to hold in any orientation so you will always resort to holding it either on the sides or on the thick end. The design does lend itself to portrait use though, which is something I'm yet to get used to. The plastic casing of the device only really helps to keep the weight down, which is a bit disappointing because it feels a bit hollow when you give it a tap, it's nice to hold but it's no aluminium unibody shell.

   One thing I must add though is that I have owned a 10.1" tablet and  had extensive time with a 7" tablet before and this 9.4" size is my favourite. First I was concerned it was too small but it's just comfortable; thinking back my old tablet was unwieldy and I couldn't hold it up for very long, I always had to rest it on something. This just seems to be comfortable and I think the design definitely helps on this front.

   One of the main questions about last years hardware is; does that Tegra 2 keep up with the modern apps? Well in my experience 100% yes. I haven't had much, if any, slow down at all, the scrolling is always smooth through menus, everything opens up easily as quick as it does on my Galaxy S2 and the processor keeps everything ticking over without any issues. Honeycomb is well known for being a bit more demanding on the processor but Sony have done a great job optimising the software here.  The version of Honeycomb on show here is the 3.2 variety, which is almost as good as it gets and Sony have promised an update to ICS is coming, but we'll have to wait and see when that materialises! Sony being an Android OEM, weren't content with stock Honeycomb and have chosen to add a few things; the first of which is a static bar on the top left of the screen, which has 4 customisable launch icons on it, for those apps you use frequently, which is a useful addition, although the buttons are quite hard to hit so simply adding the shortcut to the homescreen does the same job. The second 'enhancement' is a redesigned app tray which is white and in my opinion rather ugly and seems to be a complete departure from the rest of Sony's design. The stock home screen image is black to show off the tablets Bravia capabilities so I don't fully understand why they've chosen to do this. You can see what it looks like above.

   The only issues I have experienced with the software are infrequent crashes of the browser; both the stock one and Dolphin HD and there isn't any rhyme or reason that I can pinpoint for these mishaps. The second is a tad more annoying, which is that certain apps still aren't available for Tegra 2 devices; there were a few games which flat out refused to play and SkyGo is not supported, which is my biggest disappointment because it would be great on the tablet. The last issue is that for some reason my device doesn't like shutting down; I click shut down, it brings up the shutting down message and freezes, which means I have to power it off by holding down the off button for a while and then it makes a concerning clunk. I don't know if that's just my particular tablet or a software issue or what, about 75% of the time it doesn't shut down normally. When it it does this and i catch it in the act it kills off the battery like anything so it's a bit of an annoyance.

   Which leads me on beautifully to the battery; basically it's alright. The screen itself isn't hugely bright, it only becomes 'bright' at about 75%+ and this really affects the battery, this really isn't in the same league as an IPS+ or Retina display. I think if you browse the web, play a game here and there you can get through 2 days alright. However, if you really go to town, watching HD YouTube videos and a movie you might be pushed to get through the day.

   You might notice that all of the activities above are 'fun'. The device is pegged to be an entertainment hub, which is why it has remote functionality for controlling your tv and skybox via its infrared connection, which is a very welcome addition. Entertaining is something this device achieves, but productivity it doesn't really; there is no HDMI out, there is no dock connector in the same way Asus' Transformer line has and there is no need for you to take this into your office, it's not the device for that. If you try to use it for work, it will come up short.

   So what do I really think the Tablet S is good for and can it compete in 2012?
The Tablet S is a great tablet and if you love Android and you like ebook reading and home entertainment, give this serious consideration, but for everyone else there's the iPad2 which is £30 more. Because although I love this device unless you have spent a lot of money on the Market Google Play it seems hard to choose this over the iPad 2. That is the only reason I chose this over an iPad, I like customisation and freedom and widgets, maybe it's just a way of thinking. I don't mind tweaking until things work how I want and that is still the Android way. Unfortunately this review has boiled down to Android Vs iOS again and that is the deciding factor on whether this tablet is for you or not. I'll be keeping my Tablet S because it's fun and quirky and it stands out from the iCrowd and that's why I love it.

 

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