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A new toy, sort-of
Just got a new "toy" recently ^^



This is Sony Tablet S, the 16GB Wi-fi only model to be exact. Got this through a special deal from an IT store recently. The specs are be found on other website (CNet for example) so I'll skip all the technical details here. Upgrading it to Ice Cream Sandwich was one of the first things I did when I got it, so even though its initial operating system is Android 3.0 Honeycomb, I didn't really get to experience it as how most video reviews showed it to be in the past. Not that I miss it anyway. ^^

As with all tablets and smartphones, it's a very powerful tool and can enhance your productivity and communication with the world, but I called it a "toy" nonetheless because I'm still in the process of finding ways to achieve the first objective - the one about productivity with this Android device. ^^; The greatest function about it in relation to production that I used so far is just reading and replying emails on weekend mornings when I don't feel like turning on my computer. ^^;

The truth is, emailing isn't the greatest function of this tablet. I'm sure all Android devices that can connect to the Internet would fair just as well for that matter. Convenience is the key here. ^^ I'm still using K800i from Sony Ericsson, which is obviously not in the smartphone category. ^^; This tablet is truly my first device that allows me to connect to the Internet in the most convenient manner. My laptop used to be a pretty good candidate for that task, but it isn't the lightest and easiest device to be carried around, or turned on as soon as you need it. ^^;

On the subject of convenience, Tablet S has a very ergonomic design which I really like. It feels a lot more comfortable to hold as compared to Galaxy Tab from Samsung or iPad from Apple, both which have about the same size as this Tablet S. I had a bit of experience with the two tablets mentioned above, so I could tell the differences pretty quickly. ^^


The design is based on a folded book obviously. ^^ The rounded top edge fits between the thumb and palm area very nicely. It really feels like holding a folded book in that portrait position. ^^ In landscape position, the benefit of such wedge design can be experienced best when the tablet is placed flat on a surface. It feels much nicer for typing as compared to Galaxy Tab. ^^

A look at a few apps on the tablet:


[Browser]


[Youtube]


[Gallery] Once the email is synced to my Gmail account, the Gallery started downloading all images from my Blogger account. All these images are used in the old days for my old blog.
Ideally, I don't really want to populate my Gallery with these images, but the loads of images also allows me to experience just how smooth it is swiping the display between pages. ^^


[Music Player]



[Video Player] I find that Sony's own video player is best for MP4s. For other formats, additional apps you can download for free would do better. ^^ MX Player is an app I would recommend for that purpose. ^^


[Gaming] There are certainly many interesting free games you can download from Google Play, but for me, the one featuring gameplay that is both easy to control just by swiping your finger (no "s" ^^) over the screen and is extremely well done in graphic is Blood & Glory ^^
By the way, I do realize that there are apps that allow you to take screenshots of the interface, but that's not really the point of the images above. ^^ I'm showing you how those apps looks like on this tablet, not how their interfaces look like.

Photos taken using the tablet's 5.0 megapixel camera:







So far I really enjoyed using Tablet S. ^^ I really like the wedge design and the convenience of web browsing and emailing through it. The music player and audio quality is superb, ^^ which is really to be expected since it's from Sony. ^^ The camera quality is much better than my phone, even though I still prefer the latter for its size and convenience. ^^

I'm not going to do a really formal review on this tablet since I'm still learning its full capabilities at this stage. ^^; If you're interested in more formal reviews on Sony Tablet S, please have a look at these articles:

- Sony Tablet S: Finally, An Android Tablet That Isn’t Just Another iPad Clone [Review] (from Cult of Android)
- Sony Tablet S Review (from Technorati)
- Sony Tablet S Android Slate Review (from Hot Hardware)
- Sony Tablet S Review (from Phone Arena Dotcom)
- Sony Tablet S review (from Techradar)