back to article Sony Tablet P in pictures

Sony's Android 3.2-based Tablet P won't be going on sale until November, but it was still much in evidence at IFA. Sony S Android tablet The desktop and other images are spread across both displays. Scrolling across both screens is very smooth Sony S Android tablet Sony S Android tablet The base and lid were formed …

COMMENTS

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  1. James Pickett

    Lookalike

    I was trying to decide what it reminded me of, and then realised - it's an oversized Nintendo DS. I bet it's overpriced, too. Will it show two pages of a book when turned through 90 degrees..?

  2. DJ 2
    Thumb Down

    But

    There is a great big bloody black gap in the display, where is the folding LCD? I can't imagine anyone buying this, imagine watching movies on that, with a great big black gap in the video.

  3. Joe K
    Facepalm

    Ridiculous!!

    Who the hell wants to watch a film split across 2 screens with a big black bar in the middle, or game like that, or anything else.

    Each screen is far smaller than a netbooks, yet the thing is certainly not pocket-friendly, so why bother.

    This is going to be an absolute disaster.

  4. Filippo Silver badge

    title

    If it had a bendable display, it would be awesome. It's still intriguing.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Honesty is they key to a post title; if you can fake that, you're in.

    Fine for split screen use, games etc but I wonder how quickly the brain (and indeed Brian or the bairn both of which my sausage fingers chose before editing) would get used to the black bar across a full screen image.

    If that stops being a problem pretty quickly then this might well be the best tablet device going.

  6. Francis Boyle Silver badge

    This will be a great idea

    once they find a flexible screen to put on it.

  7. DrXym

    Nice idea

    But I wonder what effect a split screen will have on most apps. I assume that the device will just cut them in half or provide some mode where you can run apps.in the top half and a keyboard in the bottom. It might make for a compact browsing experience I guess but I'm not sold. I think the flat model with a conventional screen looks nicer.

  8. thecresta
    FAIL

    Terrible to Play

    So I can either use the Dpad OR the left shoulder buttons?

    And the D-pad is dangerously close to the Home / Back buttons.

  9. G2
    FAIL

    push that button! ooops.. not THAT one! **screen cracks**

    those gamers that are used to really squeeze the plastic buttons of the console will find that they WILL get a broken display on this one.

    Sony should see failure mode coming... i don't think that there is anyone who didn't press really hard on one button or another at least once in their lifetime during a really captivating game. Even if i'm super careful that button arrangement is just asking for trouble. Do that with this display and you're guaranteed to break the screen. Can you spell "not covered by warranty"? i can!

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's a Toshiba Libretto

    but from Sony.

  11. Neil Charles
    Joke

    Form factor like that, I've only got one question

    Can you play Donkey Kong on it?

  12. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

    Better folding screen

    I'm sure I saw a demo 2 years ago (from Toshiba maybe?) where they'd got no bezel between the screens. This meant you had a big rounded hinge sticking our of the back when folded, but that when opened out, the device was completely flat, on both back, and more importantly, front.

    Sorry it was Samsung

    http://www.reghardware.com/2008/11/24/folding_oled_samsung_phone/

    Knew I'd seen it on here somewhere... I think there's a better shot of it on YouTube.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qat9FeJ6qIg

  13. BatCat
    FAIL

    It's a bit like...

    ...the current implementation of the Flying Car concept. And, in the same way that a light aircraft with folding wings and headlights isn't a really Flying Car, a tablet with two screens and a hinge down the middle isn't really a Folding Tablet...

  14. Allan 1
    Thumb Down

    Ugly

    How Ugly.. Nuff said.

  15. Gordon 10

    Surely

    It's not beyond Sony's ability to minimise that honking black bar down to almost nothing.

    Imagine how good it would look if the edges of the lcd's joined seamlessly.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So, how long

    So, how long until they decide to remove the ability to run Linux on this?

    (yes, I know, Android is based on the Linux kernel....)

    Or alternatively, remove the ability to play PS2 games.

    Sorry Sony: You burned me once too often, and for that, I will remind everybody at every turn that you aren't to be trusted.

    1. Pete 6
      Facepalm

      Yawn

      The PS3 ran linux like crap. I don't understand where the obsession ever was.

  17. SuccessCase

    Unbelievable

    They think this will sell. Seriously, what's with the horrible curve on each half? I've witnessed these kind of design choices first hand. It happens like this.

    Marketing. "we need a tablet product to match x,y,z market segments"

    Product "OK we're on to it"

    Marketing "and it needs a,b,c features and must cost i"

    Executive present at kick-off meeting who has spent so long working budgets and climbing the greasy pole, he doesn't actually have a clue about or care for great products (unless they make money) "And it needs to be like the iPad"

    Product "OK, got it, we've been thinking about doing a split screen device."

    Marketing. "sounds cool"

    Executive "great, like an iPad with a split screen, a foldable iPad"

    Engineering "at that cost with the feature list specified, we can't fit all the features in without utilizing some lard arsed components"

    Product "Oh dear, that's a shame - we'll brief the agency to make it look thin and see what they can do"

    External product design agency - to themselves "Shit, they want us to fit all this crap in a clam-shell design, it'll look like a Blackpool bird in hot-pants. Still they're paying us to do it"

    Product design unveiling meeting.

    External Agency doing a big build up to the customer (Sony) "We employed parabolic analysis to hide the size working an innovative curve into the design and acheived optimum results meeting all the design parameters. It's jazzy, innovative, slim looking (hiding the true thickness unless you look at it side on). This is one sexy machine."

    Then the result is uncovered.

    Silence. And no one feels empowered enough to break it, or write the project off - and the executive who does have that power having the imagination of an accountant doesn't, in any case, have a F***ing clue.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    Disappointed by the gap

    An interesting product, and I like the comparatively small dimensions and low weight. That finish does look a bit shoddy though, and I really wish there wasn't a big gap between the screens. If it were gapless, or nearly so, then I'd want one myself.

    That said, millions bought the DS/DSi/3Ds with an even larger gap between the screens...

    Personally I have no desire to lug a 10" tablet around with me all day, but this could fit in a pocket, and still offer a nicely sized control area. Smartphones are great, but I can see a market for this too.

    Kudos to Sony for coming up with something that isn't an iPad clone!

  19. Ken MAC

    Clam Shell Blast from the Past

    Maybe Mister Potter of 'Potter Scientific Instruments or Nothing' aka PSION should call an ambulance chasing sorry patent chasing american lawyer (just for a laugh) and send Sony a picture of his Organiser 3a, (One of which is still chugging away in my home office) and claim prior art of the case design at least.

  20. nemo20000
    Coffee/keyboard

    I must be getting old

    I’d swap the bottom screen for a keyboard. Install some great EPOC-like programs. Put a Psion logo on it.

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