Sony Quietly Brings Back Xperia Tablet S
There is a new tablet on the block. Not that new actually as Sony launched the Xperia Tablet S September this year only to withdraw it from the market a month after due to build defects.
The struggling consumer electronic firm recalled the Sony slate from store shelves following complaints that sub-standard production left the tablet susceptible to moisture build-up under its screen surface.
According to tech blog site Digital Spy, Sony already rolled out some 100,000 units of the Xperia Tablet S in selected European markets, United States and Japan when the issue was brought to its attention, further compounding woes of the company that has been absorbing strings of losses and disappointment in the past few years.
The Japanese firm, however, has vowed to re-issue the product not later than November this year, likely to take advantage of global consumers' frenzied search for new devices to own this holiday season.
And it is back indeed with the same specs that it packed when it debuted two months ago.
According to TechRadar, the Xperia Tablet S is powered by Android Ice Cream Sandwich but could soon be updated to Jelly Bean. Its processing muscle was made possible by NVIDIA's Tegra 3 quad-core chips that hit maximum speed of 1.4GHz, which Sony paired up with 1GB of RAM.
The tablet comes in memory configurations of 16GB, 32GB and 64GB with a host of connectivity options including Wi-Fi and 3G, though the latter is determined by the market where the Xperia brick is released.
Easily noticeable about the Sony slate is its aluminium body that TechRadar said "provides the Xperia Tablet S with a solid build quality, which feels more premium in the hand than a lot of other Android tablets, and makes it a smart looking device."
In its initial review of the product, TechRadar labelled the Xperia Tablet S as worthy competitor within the Android tablet sphere and could even measure up with the likes of the Galaxy Note 10.1 given Sony would keep a lid on its pricing to make it more attractive for consumers.
Sony is offering the Xperia Tablet S with a base price of £329 in UK, to bump up by as much as £449 depending on configurations preferred by would-be buyers.