Sony Australia will launch their new S1 and S2 Android tablets in the last quarter of 2011 in Australia with the Company set to invest heavily in retail point of sale and advertising in an effort to differentiate their tablet offering from others currently on sale in retail stores.
In recent weeks the Company has approached carriers in Australia in an effort to get them to range their new tablet offerings alongside other tablets.
Different from what is on offer from most Android tablet vendors the 9.4-inch Sony S1 tablet adds a wedge to the back of the device, for easy viewing and typing when laid flat.
The dual 5.5-inch touchscreen S2 has a flip down lid similar to the Nintendo DS and is Playstation Game compatible.
Originally Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer said that the devices would launch midyear.
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| Image from Engadget |
In the USA, AT&T has been given exclusive access to the foldable S2 tablet. In Australia Telstra is believed to have been offered a similar deal to the 3G enabled device which also has Wi-Fi built in.
At a function yesterday Sony announced a collaboration with Adobe to preinstall Adobe Flash on the tablets, and stage a contest to encourage the use of Adobe AIR technology to create apps optimised for the two devices’ native capabilities, including the devices’ cameras.
App developers will compete for $200,000 in cash prizes, and winning apps will be promoted on the Sony devices.
During a Q&A session, Sony Electronics president/COO Phil Molyneux reiterated that Sony “remains committed to active-shutter” 3D technology because Full HD 3D requires the technology and “consumers see the difference.”
His comments came as Sony and Samsung take on LG’s passive 3D TV technology.
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Still coy about the specifications for their new tablets Sony has refused to talk about processor speed, video-capture resolution, or whether HDMI mirroring would be available.
They did admit that the S1’s infrared output would enable remote control of home entertainment products from multiple brands.
In addition, each tablet will be available with different levels of embedded memory, and both will come with expandable memory.
Kunimasa Suzuki, president of Sony’s Vaio and mobile business group, said that the Sony tablet offerings “are different.” He said that the S2 folds to fit in a sports-jacket pocket or purse, and each 5.5-inch touchscreen can be used as a combined single screen or used simultaneously for separate functions, such as playing video on one screen and showing control buttons on the other.
He said that when the S2 is held vertically like a book, each screen can display separate pages from a book downloaded from Sony’ e-book store.
He went on to say that the chassis of the S1, unlike other tablets, features a tapered depth so it can be held comfortably in one hand.
Sony executives said that the tablets’ other three differentiating factors are “swift and smooth” technologies, wireless access to Sony entertainment sources, and cross-device connectivity.
The Playstation certified device will also deliver access to Qriocity music and Sony video-streaming sites, Crackle, and Sony’s Reader Store.
The tablets will be the first to download PlayStation One game titles.
Cross-device connectivity features include DLNA sever capability to stream video, photos and music to other DLNA devices, plus an IR output that turns the S1 tablet into a universal remote.
