Sony Tablet S

The Sony Tablet S was announced earlier last month, along with its foldable sibling the Sony Tablet P. Though the Sony S tablet adheres more to the conventional tablet format, its design is certainly unique compared to its main iPad 2 competitor and some of the other Android based tablets now available.

What we like best

Sony Tablet S sports a wedge feature so when you’re sitting at your desk it is a lot easier to wield. We’ve found flat-backed tablets lose some of their usability when prostrate, and personally I find a copy of Moby Dick offers just about the right gradient to comfortably use an iPad at a table.

The Sony S Tablet has a folded shape so it sits comfortably in the hand like a paperback or magazine folded open, and it also works well with the gaming function balancing in your hands as well as a controller.

This tablet is built for multitasking with easy internet connectivity via Wi-Fi and 3G in certain models: you can browse, type, listen to music or watch a movie efficiently easily with the intuitive user interface.

If you are a Sony buff the S Tablet will certainly find a good home: you can sync it up to all your media devices including television, Hi-Fi and Blu-ray. It also offers you a chance to relive the golden days of gaming. It’s Playstation certified so you can get some real classics to play on this new mobile format, as well other games available at the Android Market.

What we like least

We were a bit perturbed by the price and format choices by Sony. It was never going to undercut the iPad by as much as Amazon’s Kindle Fire, but we expected at least a competitive price due to Apple’s Market domination. Unfortunately, the Sony Tablet S retails at about the same price as the iPad with just 16 GB, if you’re after 3G which is incredibly useful on mobile technology then you’ll have to part with up to £100 extra.