With Sony’s first two tablets now up to date and running on Ice Cream Sandwich, it seems the company is getting ready to launch a second range of models.
Slides depicting a new Sony tablet in direct comparison with the current Tablet S have leaked on German site Mobiflip, showing a very similar shape and design, but much thinner. Sony appears to be sticking with the whole ‘folded magazine’ style shape on the back, but in the new model it’s a good 42% thinner, measuring 8.8mm at one end and 11.85mm at the thicker ‘folded’ end.
The new tablet is also toted as being lighter in the slides, although we’re not sure by how much. Waterproofing also seems to be one of the key selling points of the unannounced tablet, with one slide showing a hefty amount of water splashing off the screen. A tagline states “The slim, aluminium splash proof body allows the tablet to look and work great anytime, anywhere” – so the build quality has been upped as well.
Internally the tablet receives several upgrades from the Tablet S, with an Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor powering Android 4.0 “or later” – perhaps Jelly Bean, if Sony can make it work in time – 3G connectivity, either 16, 32 or 64GB of internal storage, and a big 6000 mAh battery which will apparently provide an iPad-rivalling 10 hours of battery life.
Interestingly it seems Sony is also gunning for Microsoft, with one particular slide showing a keyboard dock that is very similar to that of the Surface. The keyboard accessory covers the entire tablet, and can be folded out to lie flat in front of the screen while the device is propped up by a kickstand. The slide estimates the price of the keyboard to be around $99, which seems pretty reasonable. The tablet itself will start at $449.99 for the 16GB model, going up to $549.99 for the 32GB, and finally $649.99 for the 64GB model – eagle-eyed buyers will spot that each price is $50 lower than the equivalent iPad.
Unfortunately the slides don’t give us any indication as to when the Xperia Sony Tablet will launch, although we would expect it to hit sometime during Q3 of this year. Stay tuned for more on this one!
Let us know your thoughts on our comments below or via our @Gadget_Helpline Twitter page or Official Facebook group.
Via: The Verge