Hasta La Gadget!

Following the unexpected sales halt from earlier this month due to issues with build quality, Sony has taken to its Japanese portal to announce that the Xperia Tablet S will be returning to shelves later next month. Per the company, sales of the 9.4-inch, Ice Cream Sandwich slate are scheduled to kick off again starting mid-November (albeit in small dozes), with the outfit emphasizing that it’s still offering a free-of-charge inspection / repair service to customers who might be affected by the leaky woes. Unfortunately, a “mid-November” estimate is all we have at this point, but you can be certain we’ll let you know as soon as Sony gives us a more concrete date.

Filed under: Tablets, Sony

Sony Xperia Tablet S sales said to resume ‘gradually’ next month originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Nov 2012 05:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Since no blockbuster movie in 2012 can have a home release without a second screen companion app for fans to dig through extra content while they watch, Sony has, naturally, announced one for The Amazing Spider-Man. Just like the only three movies to best its take at the box office this year (The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises and even The Hunger Games), Spider-Man’s app syncs with the movie in a Timeline Mode that pulls up featurettes, storyboards and the like, while Production Mode lets users sift through the moviemaking process, then select particular clips to play on their TV. Unlike some of the others it is not only on iPad but also Android, however the press release indicates it’s restricted to Sony’s own Tablet S and Xperia Tablet S. Still, we were able to initiate the 500MB+ download and access it on non-Sony tablets including the Nexus 7 and an CyanogenMod HP TouchPad, so your mileage may vary. You can check out the apps for free at the links below, a preview trailer embedded after the break and snag the movie itself for $25 on Amazon, delivered November 9th.

Continue reading Spider-Man Blu-ray comes with a Second Screen app for iPad and Sony’s Android tablets

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Spider-Man Blu-ray comes with a Second Screen app for iPad and Sony’s Android tablets originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Oct 2012 22:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Last week we reported that Sony’s Xperia Tablet S received an update to Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich. Well it looks like Sony didn’t want Xperia Tablet S owners to have all the fun and if you’re living in the US, good news because Sony has announced that the Tablet S will also be getting an update to Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich. Granted it’s not the latest build of Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0.4), and neither is it the much awaited Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, but we guess an update is better than no update, right? Plus, according to Sony, this update is a pretty big one and will introduce several new features. In any case you should be receiving the notification to update, but don’t worry if you haven’t because there is a chance that the update is being rolled out in stages. In the meantime if you want to know what sort of cool and new features that Sony will be introducing to the Tablet S in the Android 4.0.3 ICS update, head on over to Sony’s website (source link below) for the details!

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Android 4.0 update now available for the Sony Tablet S, Sony Tablet S and Tablet P gets Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich in Japan this April,

It is a safe bet to say that the Android-powered tablet market is saturated with many different devices from various hardware manufacturers. After all, the Android fragmentation issue has added to that conundrum, but it should not be too large of an issue to prevent players in the market from making their own contributions. Case in point, Sony Mobile’s latest tablet announcement, the Sony Xperia Tablet S, will be in vogue with the times by sporting a thin and light design that comes packed with original applications as well as exclusive features from Sony. This new device will accompany other smartphones from Sony under the Xperia label, which is not too bad a thing, actually.

What is the reason that Sony wants to introduce the Tablet S under the Xperia family name? Well, Sony did so in order to offer users a consistent experience between the immediate convenience of an Xperia Smartphone as well as an immersive entertainment experience of an Xperia Tablet. After all, research has shown that common user experience across the devices will help enhance overall usability and intuitiveness. When merged with optimally designed hardware and software, the Xperia Tablet is said to offer consumers with a compelling way to play, watch, listen, share, discover and connect.

The Xperia Tablet S can also be considered to be an over-glorified universal remote control, since it has added macro functionality that lets you turn on multiple devices of most brands, ranging from the TV to Blu-ray Disc players and audio system, using but a single touch of a button. This means you can easily program sequenced commands such as “Watch TV” or Play Music”, while performing the sequences with one tap on the screen.

Not only that, there is a new app known as Watch Now, enriching the entire TV watching experience. Watch Now delivers an interactive, visual program guide that is fueled by personal preference and real-time trends from users’ social media feeds.

Apart from that, the Xperia Tablet S boasts of a splash proof design which will help provide additional protection from the elements. After all, you can never tell just when Murphy might strike, do you – especially when a wet disaster happens! IPX-4 splash proof rating allows the Xperia Tablet S to withstand splashing water at all angles, but this happens only when the multi-port cover is in place.

As for the Xperia Tablet S’ specifications, we are looking at Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, a thin and light aluminum body, a NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor, an SD memory card slot, HDMI connectivity, integrated Wi-Fi, and ClearAudio+ mode amongst others. You can choose from 16GB, 32GB and 64GB capacities which will retail for $399, $499 and $599, respectively.

Press Release

[ Sony Xperia Tablet S – a whole new way to tab? copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Looks like those leaked slides showing Sony’s Xperia-branded tablet were right about pretty much everything. (Well, everything except the price, anyway). The company just formally announced the Xperia Tablet S and, as rumored, it features a Tegra 3 chip, Android 4.0 and up to 64GB of built-in storage. Like last year’s Tablet S, it has that distinctive folded-over magazine shape, except this go-round it’s made of metal, and measures between .35 and .47 inches thick (the weight, too, has dropped to 1.26 pounds, down from 1.31). Sony also kept the Tablet S’ IR emitter, which allows the tablet to double as a universal remote, and this time you can program shortcuts to do things like watch sports. Rounding out the spec sheet, there’s a full-size SD slot, a 9.4-inch (1,280 x 800) IPS screen and a 6,000mAh battery promising 10 hours of runtime.

As we mentioned, the tablet will ship with Ice Cream Sandwich, but Sony is promising an upgrade to Jelly Bean as soon as it can optimize all its custom apps. And indeed, there are quite a few specialized applications here. For starters, there’s a new Watch Now app that allows for live TV-viewing (cable subscription required), with the option to “check into” shows and share comments on Facebook and Twitter. Meanwhile, Sony added a Guest Mode that lets you create custom user profiles, forbidding the use of certain apps — a handy parental control tool, we say. Naturally, Sony also threw in Music and Video Unlimited, where you can buy content from Sony’s vast movie and song catalogs. Finally, the tablet comes with 5GB of space in PlayMemories, Sony’s new cloud storage service.

The tablet will be available September 7th, though Sony is accepting pre-orders starting today. It will start at $400 for the 16GB model, with the 32GB going for $500 and the 64GB for $600. And yes, as those leaked slides indicated, there will most certainly be accessories. For starters, there’s that optional Surface-style keyboard we heard about, priced at $100. There’s also a three-position stand, with HDMI output and a USB adapter for a charging. That, too, costs $100. Sony is also selling a charging cradle ($40), a plain-Jane stand ($25), a dock speaker ($130) and a carrying case, priced at either $51 or $80, depending on whether or not you get it in leather. We very much expect to get some hands-on time at IFA, so stay tuned for first-hand impressions.

Continue reading Sony Xperia Tablet S official: slimmed-down design, Tegra 3, IR remote and Android 4.0, starts at $400

Filed under: Tablets

Sony Xperia Tablet S official: slimmed-down design, Tegra 3, IR remote and Android 4.0, starts at $400 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Aug 2012 10:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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