By 
At today’s IFA press conference, Sony bigwig Kaz Hirai made the followup to last year’s Tablet S official. Dubbed the Sony Xperia Tablet S, the slate is both thinner and more powerful than last year’s model while following the same general design principles. Also announced were the Sony Xperia T, Sony Xperia V, and Sony Xperia J.
The three Android-powered smartphones drop at various price points, with the 4.6-inch Xperia T coming in at the top tier. New NFC capabilities allow for easy pairing with devices like headphones and speakers. The Xperia V will launch as a mid-range waterproof option, while the Xperia J comes in at an affordable combination of price and specs. Hirai quipped the phones come with a “license to thrill,” and indeed the new Xperia T will feature into the upcoming James Bond flick Skyfall.
Back to the Xperia Tablet S, the device will feature a Tegra 3 chip, Android 4.0, and up to 64GB of internal storage. It measures in at .35 inches at its thinnest and .47 inches at its thickest. A built-in IR emitter and full-size SD card slot round out the new Tablet S’ features. Pricing starts at $400 for the 16GB model.
Stunning but Vaio is super awesome though!
VAIO has had a history of making its PCs work only with SONY video cameras and partitioning hard drives in ways that make it impossible to alter the OS or even make updated images of the included OS.
They tried this with android too, but they relented after long, sustained complaints after the Xperia X10 was too locked down and encrusted with bloatware.
Sony has become one of the better phone makers now in terms of open bootloaders and working with the hacking community. However, for tablets, ASUS and acer are both running circles around just about everyone else when it comes to openness, providing vanilla android, and quickly updating stock android.
I didn’t like the look and feel of the first Tablet S, so to hear it’s pretty much the same isn’t going to put one in my bag.
I would buy the Tablet S…..if it were on 4.1. Get on that Sony.