View the official Sony S1 S2 tablet product images

Sony was late for the tablet table but the wait might be worthwhile. It has been discussed wheter Sony or Sony Ericsson would be the tablet provider of the two. It could of course be both companies but we doubt that Sony will start competing with itself.

The two new tablet was announced with the code name S1 and S2. The final name will be announced at launch this fall.

This is the Sony S1 as seen from the front. It has a front facing camera for video call. As you can see no hardware buttons are located on the flat surface. The illustration image below can be TimeScape for tablets where various social feeds are gathered in one application.

The picture of the Sony S1 backside tells us that the tablet has a main camera located on top of the device. It is PlayStation Certified and it might have a memory card slot located in front of the device (bottom of this picture). Two rubber nubs are seen to the right and left of the for secure placement of slippery surfaces.

This is the Sony S1 seen from the right side. The power button, volume keys and reset hole. To the left on the picture you will see one of the two stereo speakers. As the S1 specifications could be changed later Sony has not given out much of the technical details, but we know the screen size is 9.4 inch large and that makes it possible to calculate the rest of the dimentions. We have found out that the S1 dimensions must be close to 249 x 173 x 21mm. The thinnest section of the S1 is aproximately 10mm thick.

Rumors has it that the S1 has a infraread sensor which should make the S1 a very high tec remote. 

Sony S2
Sony "S2" was the second tablet announced yesterday. This is the most interesting one in terms of design and size. While the S1 has a more traditional tablet form factor, the S2 which its folding form might not be for everyone. Splitting the display in two is not done because users want such displays, but because this was the only way to keeb the size of the tablet so small. It is the first time we have seen a Android Honeycomb tablet with two screens, but not the first Android device. As we wrote yesterday, the Kyocera Echo with its dual 3.5 inch displays are running on Android 2.2. The Echo has two 800 x 480 pixel displays and we have reason to believe that the S2 will have a 1280 x 800 pixel resolution.

There are no hardware keys inside the folded S2. Apart from the two displays, it is only the front facing camera that is visible. Android 3.0 Honeycomb can be controlled entirely by touching the screen. Also notice the visible and solid looking hinges. The only place we have seen traces of connectors and keys are on the right side of the device. We can see a power button, 3.5 audio jack, volume keys and something that looks like a micro USB connector. More interestingly is what we don't see. A memory card slot. Will Sony release a tablet without the posibility to add more memory? We doubt it. The product images seen in this article are computer generated, so the card slot could be added later in the production line.

Looking at the S2 from the outside it is easy to see that the Sony S2 has inherited the curved form factor from the Sony PS3 game console. The hinges are even more visible now as they are sticking out from the back side of the tablet. Without the hinges, the S2 should glide smoothly down large pockets.

The last picture in this series is of a S2 having virtual game controller keys on the lowest of the two screens.

Do you think Sony will succeed in the tablet market? Are they too late or just in time now that the Android operating system has become mature?