Sony tablets officially unveiled and coming this fall

After initial rumors and a semi-confirmation about Sony entering the tablet market, the Japanese electronics corporation has finally showed its hand, and could be reaching to consumers sooner than previously thought.

In a meeting with reporters Tuesday, Sony revealed its tablet offerings with not one, but two devices, currently codenamed S1 and S2, respectively. Previous rumors are so far spot on in terms of the design, as the S1 tablet will be tapered on one end and is akin to “holding a magazine,” said Sony during the conference. This should make the tablet more hand-friendly for web surfing or e-book reading. Additionally, the S1 will be able to serve as a remote control for Sony products, claims WSJ. Otherwise, the 9.4-inch tablet is expected to ship with Android Honeycomb and Nvidia’s Tegra 2 APU with wi-fi and 3G connectivity. Additional info, such as screen resolution and RAM, were not discussed during the conference, but we will update the specs as they become  available.

If the S1 tablet is sounding a bit run-of-the-mill, then the S2 tablet should definitely get some heads turning. The S2 will be a dual-screen, clamshell tablet, similar to the Nintendo DS. Both screens will be 5.5-inches at 1024x480 resolution each. At least one screen will be multitouch-capable; it is currently not clear if the top screen will accept touch input. In terms of internal hardware, the S2 will also come with a Tegra 2 processor, Android 3.0, wi-fi, and 3G support.

Of course, a Sony multimedia device just wouldn’t be complete without some sort of Playstation integration, and thankfully both tablets will be Playstation Certified upon release. This means full access to the Qriocity music and movie service and the Playstation Suite for a growing library of classic Playstation One games converted for mobile devices, analogous to the features of the recent Xperia Play smartphone.

A great deal of questions still remain for these Sony tablets, including prices, but expect a release as early as this fall for both devices. Nonetheless, both tablets may not necessarily debut simultaneously worldwide, according to WSJ, but should both hopefully launch within the same timeframes. Anticipate more concrete details within the coming weeks about Sony’s first foray into the tablet market with these upcoming tablets.

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