Hasta La Gadget!

While one consumer electronics giant is unceremoniously exiting the tablet wars, after many teaser trailers we’re hearing Sony is finally ready to reveal its entry. We uncovered the S1 PlayStation Tablet ahead of its official reveal earlier this year, and after getting our hands all over it we’ve got more details to report before it launches. The official name of the S1 is the Sony Tablet S, which is currently projected to bring its 9.4-inch (1280×768) screen to market in the first two weeks of September. It will ship with Android 3.1 with an eye towards upgrading to Ice Cream Sandwich once that’s available, and just as the company said many of the key features will revolve around using it to control all devices in the home, via the network or the integrated IR blaster, as well as having the ability to “Throw” media to other DLNA-compatible hardware, whether it’s made by Sony or someone else. The slate’s dual cameras come in at 3.0MP res up front and 5.0MP around the back, while it’s also expected to bring along accessories our source indicates are very similar to those for the iPad. In the images below you can check out a wireless keyboard and dock setup and micro-USB to USB host dongle, details on the “TruBlack” screen technology that’s supposed to provide better colors with less glare, and of course all of Sony’s preinstalled software bringing PlayStation Certified gaming plus its music, movie and book services. What we don’t know yet is its final price — we’d heard $599 previously — but there should be more to say about that and the clamshell S2 tablet soon.

Update: Eagle-eyed Daniel wrote in to let us know that it looks like Sony is rebranding its video service as “Video Unlimited,” which will make it a much nicer match for Music Unlimited.

[Thanks, J]

Sony’s S1 Android Tablet is the Tablet S, due to arrive in early September originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Aug 2011 11:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google first teased Ice Cream Sandwich at its developer conference in May. (Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com)

Images surfaced late Thursday afternoon that purport to show an unreleased new version of the Android operating system, codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich. The leaks first surfaced on Android enthusiast sites Android Police and RootzWiki.

From what we’re seeing, the images aren’t a radical departure from the most current release of Android for phones, version 2.3.4, code-named Gingerbread. What we’re seeing are minor tweaks — blue accents in the user interface, a redesigned version of the notification bar and Google’s “Shopper” app — but nothing that suggests a major overhaul.

Sources for AndroidPolice and RootzWiki, however, suggest there’s more to come that the pictures don’t show. According to sources for both sites, the newest version of Android will include a “panorama mode” for the phone’s camera, a new app launcher and application drawer and additions to Google’s “Shopper” app that allow NFC-enabled devices to use touch-enabled features.

A purported image from an unreleased version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich

Since Android was first released in 2008, Google’s mobile development team has ramped up the software release cycle. Currently, Google releases a new version of Android approximately every six months. It makes sense, then, for recent builds of Ice Cream Sandwich to surface in August, considering Android version 3.0 (Honeycomb) first debuted in February.

Google first teased the new version of Android at its developer conference — Google I/O — in May.

With every new Android version release, Google typically pairs up with a specific hardware manufacturer, strapping the new software to a brand new product. Google launched Gingerbread on Samsung’s Nexus S in December, while teaming with Motorola to launch Honeycomb on the Xoom tablet in February.

Though the leaked pictures show a Nexus S running the purported new version of Ice Cream Sandwich, a source tells both Android Police and RootzWiki that the first device to receive the new build will be the Nexus Prime, a rumored smartphone yet to be acknowledged by Google.

More of the leaked screenshots can be found at the Android Police and RootzWiki websites.

You live, you learn — or so Alanis and Sanjay Jha would have us believe. The Motorola CEO delivered a keynote speech early Tuesday morning at the Oppenheimer Annual Technology and Communications Conference, touching upon the company’s recent past and the lessons its learned going forward. Referencing the Xoom launch, Jha told attendees to expect tablets in the second half of the year with “much more aggressive form factors” and unique enterprise features, adding that the company would be placing a renewed focus on cheaper, WiFi only tablets. The OEM also intends to streamline its global branding, creating marketing efficiencies for worldwide launches and saving the company a buck, or two in the process. Unfortunately, the Moto chief didn’t spill the release beans for the much hyped Bionic, but did take a gentle swipe at the upcoming beast phone, calling it an “important product, but not the only product.” Could this herald an oncoming wave of Ice Cream Sandwich devices? We’re not sure, as Jha waffled when asked whether the company would, yet again, commit to Android’s next untested evolution.

Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha talks Ice Cream Sandwich, future tablets in Oppenheimer keynote originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Aug 2011 23:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This fall, smartphones are going to be better than they’ve ever been. That’s true every year, but iOS 5 and Windows Phone 7.5 are looking pretty fantastic. What about Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, though? More »

Normally, we don’t cover contests, but this Air App Challenge from Sony and Adobe does deserve some special attention. Why? Well, for one, Air hasn’t exactly taken off quite like the Flash makers had hoped — especially in the mobile space. And two, that new S2 tablet is going to need some apps that are designed to take advantage of its dual screens. The $200,000 in cash prizes will be awarded to developers who whip up the best creations specifically for the forthcoming Sony Honeycomb devices, using Adobe’s Flash-plus-browser environment. Challenges have proven successful in the past to spur interest in platforms from Android to New York City’s vast databases of information. If the contest is successful it could turn that little folding Sony from a novel design into a unique and compelling product. If you really need to know more, full PR is after the break.

Continue reading Adobe and Sony create contest to put Air apps on Android tablets

Adobe and Sony create contest to put Air apps on Android tablets originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jul 2011 13:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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