Sony Tablet S on sale today

[Larry-G]

The Sony Tablet S is on sale in the UK today, but should you care about this quirky Android tablet?

The 9.4-inch Tablet S is Sony's very first stab at making an Android tablet, and it's making an effort to distinguish itself from the horde of identical Android tablets out there.

For one, Sony has decided to make the Tablet S wedge-shaped. As well as doing an admirable job of propping doors open, Sony reckons that making one side of the tablet much thicker makes the whole thing easier to hold.

We found the Tablet S comfy enough in our hands, and it's quite light. But we'd be surprised if everyone falls in love with the folded-over look -- it doesn't have the elegant simplicity of the iPad 2, or the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

The Tablet S is powered by Android version 3.1, or Honeycomb to its mates. That's the tablet-specific version of Google's operating system, and it brings delights such as tabbed browsing, and a swoopy holographic interface.

Sony's also throwing some old PlayStation games at the Tablet S, though we're waiting to see how well those old games play on a touchscreen device. It didn't work particularly well on the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play.

You can pick up the Tablet S from PC World for £399 for the 16GB Wi-Fi only version, while Currys has the 32GB model for £479 (a 3G version is coming later). Those are the same price as the 16GB and 32GB Wi-Fi only iPad 2, and we reckon that will be too pricey for some people.

Recently the HP TouchPad tablet was reduced to just £90, and it sold out very quickly. To us that indicates that if tablet manufacturers want to compete with the iPad, the key is to make their devices cheaper than Apple's offering.

Intrigued by the Sony Tablet S? Then check out our in-depth preview, and if you're a fan of moving pictures, we've got hands-on video for you too.

Are you keen on the Tablet S?

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/laptops/sony-tablet-s-on-sale-today-50005215/