First details of Playstation tablets surface

WITH THE COMING Sony Playstation Vita and impressive Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, you might think Sony considers itself fully covered on the handheld gaming front. But you would be wrong.

Despite the ever present competition of Nintendo's dominant DS system and the continued rise to power of the smartphone in the gaming sphere, Sony is taking the risky move of releasing not one, but two Playstation-certified devices. Now the first concrete details of the newly named Tablet S and Tablet P have been released.

Tablet S, formerly codenamed S1, is the more traditional looking tablet of the two, boasting a 9.4in 1280x800 resolution screen, while Tablet P, the DS clone once codenamed the S2, marries twin 5.5in screens.

Although they look very different, both have Nvidia Tegra 2 mobile processors, run Android Honeycomb - WiFi-only models with Android 3.1 and an upgrade to Android 3.2 later, 3G models with Android 3.2 - and have front and rear facing cameras, a USB 2.0 port and an SD card slot.

Sony's Trublack technology, which allows users to take hardware into bright sunlight by controlling refraction of light between the LCD and screen, will also feature in both tablets.

On top of the expected touchscreen keyboard there's also compatibility with Sony's music and video service Qriocity - now renamed as the Sony Entertainment Network - and the Playstation Suite, which will be used to download content when it launches. The Sony Tablet S and Tablet P can also be used to operate Sony's Bravia TV devices as universal remotes.

The INQUIRER reported that both WiFi model gadgets will be hitting shelves at the end of September. Fanbois wanting 3G capability on their Tablet S will have to wait until November. Sony has announced prices only in US dollars so far, with the entry-level Tablet S costing $479 (£293) and the Tablet P setting you back $599 (£367). See our hands on review here.

More important to Numb Thumbs readers, however, is that Playstation certification means that the Tablet S will be able to play Playstation One and Playstation Portable titles in all new vivid - though not HD - colour and clarity.

So it seems that the wait to see whether Sony's gamble on the handheld games market will pay off is almost over. Rather cannily Sony has managed to combine its strong entertainment brand with the flexibility of tablet PC technology, creating some hardware that's going to be desirable to a lot of consumers. µ