Sony S1 tablet will tip up next month

JAPANESE ELECTRONICS GIANT Sony will launch its renamed Tablet S in the first couple of weeks of September.

The Tablet S was originally announced in April under the codename S1 along with the dual-screen S2. The specifications are unchanged with a 9.4in screen with 1280x768 resolution. The Tablet S will launch with Android 3.1 Honeycomb and could be updated to Ice Cream Sandwich afterwards, according to Engadget.

If Engadget is correct then the Sony Tablet S could be available as early as next Thursday. We find this hard to believe but we'll wait and see.

There's still DLNA and infra-red technology that will enable the tablet to 'flick' content to other capable devices and be used as a remote control. What's new to us are the specifications of the cameras, which will apparently be 5MP on the back and 3MP on the front.

Last month Sony's product manager Chris Trewhitt told us that the two tablets would not "necessarily be launched at the same time", so it's not too much of a surprise that there isn't any information on the Tablet S2.

We contacted Sony but it was unable to confirm any of the details beyond the press release from April. We do know that both tablets will have Sony's Playstation Suite and might have access to Qriocity for music and video content.

We don't know how much the Tablet S will cost but we estimate it will be between £400 and £500. Sony has taken its time getting a tablet to market "in order to get it right and make them unique", so it will be hoping that it hasn't missed the boat. µ