Are you a home theater enthusiast building the ultimate man cave? Sony's Tablet S is the strongest Android-based contender offering unique features for that specific segment. With DLNA compliance and IR remote control apps, it deserves special attention.
Do you want to win a Sony Tablet S of your own? We're giving away two of these tablets along, with a Jambox and $25 gift card for our first-place winner. Special thanks to the TegraZone team for providing the prizes!
Read through our review and, on the last page, follow the link to fill out our entry form on SurveyGizmo. Good luck, Tom's Hardware readers!
Airfoil. That was the first thought that popped into my head when I saw the Tablet S.
For good reason, Sony's first expedition into the tablet market defies the conventional wisdom that dictates "thinner is better." Instead, the company opted to design a tablet with more of a wedge shape. As a result, the Tablet S looks a lot like an aircraft's wing. But then I saw this commercial:
At least according to whichever marketing firm created that minute-long ad, the Tablet S' inspiration comes from a folded piece of paper. Though that's not necessarily any sexier than Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 or Apple's iPad 2, it doesn't need to be. In an increasingly expansive sea of tablet choices, Sony isn't trying to impress us based on good looks. Instead, the company is trying to uniquely cater to entertainment mavens.
Based on a cursory glance at a feature checklist, the Tablet S doesn't really seem well-suited to address that market. It's closely comparable to the Galaxy Tab 10.1, but it cannot output to HDMI. Reading data from USB-based drives is possible. But, like the solution from Samsung, you need an adapter.
Once you read beyond the most common tablet-oriented features, though, you see the Tablet S is DLNA-certified, which means it should interact very naturally with other DNLA-enabled devices like TVs, PCs, and speaker systems. The fact that this product is born into an existing ecosystem, rather than forced to co-exist with dissimilar devices, could give it a marked advantage in the tablet space. As an added bonus, the Tablet S is able to operate as a universal IR remote control, giving it functionality much like a Logitech Harmony remote in a tablet form factor.
| Native Feature Checklist | Acer Iconia A500 | Asus Eee Pad Transformer | Motorola Xoom | Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 | Sony Tablet S | Toshiba Thrive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full-Sized USB Port | X | - | - | - | - | X |
| Front Camera | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| Rear Camera | X | X | X | X | X | X |
| SD Card Reader | - | - | - | - | X | X |
| HDMI Output | X | X | X | - | - | X |
| microSD Card Reader | X | X | X | - | - | - |
Both of those differentiators certainly help make Sony's Tablet S the most unique tablet offering we've seen. However, they're not going to be must-haves for every potential tablet buyer. Again, this product is distinctly aimed at media enthusiasts.
- DLNA Certification And A Remote Control Catch Our Eyes
- Meet Sony's Tablet S (SGPT111US/S And SGPT112US/S)
- Tablet S: The Layout
- Sony's Android Skin: An Aesthetically-Clean Design
- Tablet S: A Keyboard With A Number Pad
- Multimedia Applications
- The Universal Remote Control
- DLNA (UPnP) And "Throwing" Media
- Sony's On-Demand Services: Music Unlimited And Video Unlimited
- PlayStation Store: Unimpressive Tablet Games
- Graphics Performance: Tegra 2
- Display Quality: Color Gamut
- Display Quality: Black And White Uniformity
- Camera Quality: Shooting Indoors And Outdoors
- Benchmark Results: Real-World
- Battery Life And Recharge Time
- Wireless Performance
- Sony's Tablet S: The Multimedia Enthusiast's Best Bet

Yeah, admittedly the name isn't catchy or memorable.
Cheers,
Andrew Ku
TomsHardware.com
I think SONY should have included an HDMI port, but wireless works too. HDMI has a limited life anyway as the video industry is moving to CAT6 instead. Its cheaper and can be far LONGER cable than HDMI.
There are both good and bad things about the SONY, its problems are rooted in Android in general and reminds me WHY I'm glad we went with an iPad(1), even compared to todays modern designs.
- Connectivity. The USB is for debug mode? How easy it is to share your data between a desktop and the tablet? My Samsung Android experience in this area is just as crappy today as it was a year ago. I doubt I'll ever buy another Samsung phone ever again, much less another Android. I'm looking to MS's WP8 next year.
- Performance: All these new tablets (I'm eying the Lenovo ThinkPad tablet - why they didn't name it ThinkTab? or Simply ThinkPad) have the same low Nvidia Tegra2 performance compared to the OLD iPad2. Same shorter battery life. Why would a typical person pay $500 when the iPad2 does it faster?
- Love the shape and remote control aspect of the SONY. Looks comfortable. When I went to Android (from a basic phone) I had a choice between the Samsung Galaxy and Sony's Android. Sony still had some quality issues to work out. Samsung had the better OMLED display and a cover for the USB port - rather than a stupid rubber cover to fight. Sony had a much nicer weight and feel. But considering that both phones hit the market at the same time - SONY using Android 1.6 vs. Samsung's 2.1 made me nervous about SONY's ability to upgrade. And then I experience Samsung & at&t failure for a proper Froyo update. Ice Cream has lots of improvements... but still buggy.
Its crap like that, that make me NOT want to buy another Android device. iOS 5 is a very nice update, it was far less painful than getting Froyo onto my Phone! (I had to use an old XP computer to do it) - but Apple pisses me off with their anti-competitive legal games they play against Android. And I have my issues with Microsoft.
Okay, they are ALL EVIL! So I'll go with the easiest and best thing at the time of my purchase.
With Amazon & RIM selling tablets at $200 now, the game will be different next spring when the iPad 3 comes out as well as Windows Mobile 8. Hopefully MS will just call mobile devices "Metro 8".
The IR blaster was the one feature that made me consider keeping it. It works VERY well.
The Transformer Prime is going to be the same price and is better in every way, other than not having an IR blaster. Who would buy this instead? You'd either REALLY have to want that IR blaster or be a Sony fanboy.
Bad ergonomics
Cheap plastic build
Expensive
Terrible battery life
Sony bloat on it
I played with one in store and found it to feel and look like a cheap toy compared to some of the other Android tablets.
good price good options.
However on your graph cart.
Higher is better or lower is better?
Hi Andy,
Which chart?
Cheers,
Andrew Ku
TomsHardware.com
I don't understand why more vendors don't include that. Having a universal remote seems like a no brainer to me.
If only we could get a Tegra 3 with an IR Blaster, a Wacom/Pressure Stylus Pen, micro usb/hdmi and an SDCard slot - that would be an artists go to tool.
I'll second that sentiment. All these features cost more money to implement, so it simply might not be cost effective. We'll have to see how things turn out with Transformer Prime.
Cheers,
Andrew Ku
TomsHardware.com
* For a device this thick it's really odd that there's no SD/microSD, HDMI, USB-A. It suggests to me that design and aesthetics were completely seperate until the end.
* I don't understand their choice of bright white background for a media control when there's a good chance you'll be using it in darkened rooms.
What do you mean by "control a PS3"? Do you mean replace the PS3 remote? Or are you talking about using it like a dualshock controller?
I'd say yes to the first question and no to the second.
Cheers,
Andrew Ku
TomsHardware.com