Sony Tablet P

Sony has come up with a uniquely designed tablet running on Android OS. Tablet P has a clamshell form factor which allows the tablet to fold from middle. This device has two 5.5″ screens in two separate panels. It is a Playstation certified device where the second screen can emulate the game controller or a laptop style keyboard as per requirement.

Tablet P has a matte surface finish which acts as a savior against fingerprints or scratches. The body feels solid and the unique form factor allows it to be used as a mini laptop. It weighs 0.82 pounds which is slightly less than the most 7″ tablets. Along the right edge, there is a micro-USB slot with a dedicated AC port, a power button and a volume rocker. The opposite side houses a single speaker which has low audio quality. The top plastic shell can be removed for SIM card and the bottom for battery & microSD card. There is also a front facing VGA camera and a notification light that emits green hue for emails or social network notifications & red or orange when the device is short on battery.

Tablet P has identical 1024 x 480 screens boasting the TruBlack LCD technology with crisper colours. The screen is missing the coveted Gorilla glass which might not matter much since the clamshell design protects the glass anyways. The back side of the top panel features a 5 Mp auto-focus camera, though the quality of shots taken can be considered as average to poor in low light conditions. The camera can shoot videos up to 720p resolution.

Tablet P is powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor with 1GB of memory. It comes with Android Honeycomb 3.2 that is heavily modified by Sony to utilize both the screens in an unusual way. Due to dual screen, Sony Tablet P needs much more power to operate. It features a 3080mAh battery with an average usage time of 7 hrs max. The drain in battery is more due to the lower screen which doesn’t time out like the upper screen.

As per the software, Tablet P comes with a new launcher and a number of Sony customizations on theme, icons & widgets to efficiently utilize both the screens. Only few apps have been designed for Tablet P. The stock web browser effectively scrolls between two screens and the Flash works fine on one screen. Sony has tried to make it a true media content device providing Music Unlimited & Video Unlimited apps. It boasts an unhindered access to 10 million songs with two separate usage plans. The basic plan offers syncing of your music collection whereas the premium one offers any tune on demand. Similar plans have been implemented for videos too. The device is also DLNA compatible therefore any video can be easily accessible to bigger screens.

Tablet P can be put into a genre of its own and may entice a niche segment who are bored of matchbox smartphones and slate like tablets. It has been priced at $780.