Sony Confirms Launch Of Tablet S In Malaysia, We Go Hands On

Finally, months after announcing the Tablet S and months after launching it in the U.S., the Sony Tablet S is now finally coming to Malaysia. Set to be launched by the end of February this year, the Tablet S will come shipped with Android 3.2.1 (Honeycomb) and will be upgradable to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich).

Available in 16GB and 32GB version (Wi-Fi models only), the Tablet S packs a 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 Mobile Processor under its 9.4” touch screen display, slightly smaller than your regular 10.1” tablets from competitors.

What makes this tablet special, apart from its unique display size, is its physical design that is said to give a more comfortable grip when you hold it unlike typical flat design. Apart from that, the “folded” design also tilts the display at a comfortable angle for you to play with the tablet and even type on it without the need of an additional dock.

My favorite part of this Tablet S from Sony would be its Cross Device Connectivity. Hit the break to find out more.

Cross Device Connectivity

I’m sure you’ve heard and seen of devices that can keep your household appliances connected. Most of the time, this is only applicable to products of the same brand through a specific software/app. The cross-device connectivity from Sony
allows you to share and even control other devices of different brands. During the hands-on session, Sony demonstrated a “Media Remote” feature that allows you to control just about anything with an infrared controller be it your TV,
projector, Astro, and even your household fan. All you have to do is – if the device is not listed in Sony’s database – add the device and pair the remote with the Tablet S and you’re done. This means that the tablet alone truly be your universal remote control around the house; you don’t even need to by a new universal controller which are not cheap to begin with.

Additionally, if your TV is equipped with DLNA (it doesn’t even have to be Bravia), you can throw (stream) your videos, music and photos from the Tablet S to the TV using Sony’s “throw” feature. If you own a wireless speaker, you can directly stream your music from the tablet to the speakers.

Storage

Another thing you must know is it comes with a built-in SD card slot. I admit, I’m an iOS device user so it’s something I don’t get to enjoy but find extremely useful. Just slot in a SD card and you can do file transfers directly on the tablet;
you don’t even need to download and install other apps. You can transfer data into and out of the SD card, during the preview, I even manage to put in my SD card to transfer pictures taken with the rear 5MP camera. Preview available below, click for a larger version.

Network entertainment

Since it’s a Sony’s product, the Tablet S will come shipped with an exciting world of network entertainment and content services from the company.

“Sony Entertainment Network” services: “Video
Unlimited” will give you a wide range of movies and TV episodes available for download. A pre-open campaign for the Sony Tablet device will be offered at device launch with limited content and more content to be released over time.

PlayStation Certified: The Tablet S will be the first tablet device that lets you enjoy games for PlayStation Certified Devices including original PlayStation games. For now, you’ll only get to enjoy two games namely Crash Bandicoot and Pinball.

Personal Space

Personal space is a free cloud-based service that makes it easy for you to share pictures and videos stored on Sony Tablet. Sony Tablet can also be used to access albums that have been previously uploaded from other devices.

Unfortunately after all these, Sony declined to announce the price and exact date of availability of the Tablet S in Malaysia. It’ll be announced only in February so if you’re interested, we’re sorry to say, you’re just going to have to wait.

There’s an optional cradle for purchase as well that can turn the Tablet S into a digital photo frame or digital clock when plugged in.