Sony Tablet PCs

Sony launches salvo into the tablet wars

Unveiling its first ever tablet PCs, S1 and S2; Sony has effectively launched a salvo into the ongoing tablet wars.

The Japanese electronics and entertainment giant's tablet computers will be able to download videos, music and other entertainment and be compatible with existing PlayStation games, Sony official Kunimasa Suzuki said in a news conference. Both use the Google Android 3.0 operating system, known as Honeycomb.

The Sony Tablet S1 has a 9.4 inch (24 centimetre) screen, and front and rear cameras. S1 is intended for the home. The folding clamshell S2 is a portable device with dual 5.5 inch color touchscreens and fits into a pocket.

"This design is particularly relevant for reading digital books whose content is displayed on screen as two pages side-by side," Suzuki said.

Since the impressive creation of a tablet market by the technology giant Apple, several players have entered the market to challenge what would otherwise be a monopoly of the iPad. Sony's table devices also come in line with the massive interest the gadget has garnered across the globe fueled by the competition.

Sony's first tablet PCs S1 (L) and S2 are displayed at their unveiling ceremony in Tokyo , April 26, 2011. Sony said on Tuesday it will launch its first tablet PCs, hoping to gain second place in the growing market dominated by Apple's iPad.

Promoters pose with Sony's first tablet PCs S1 (L) and S2 at their unveiling ceremony in Tokyo April 26, 2011. Sony, a laggard in the booming tablet market, launched its first tablet computers in an ambitious attempt to grab the second spot in the market created and dominated by Apple's iPad.

Kunimasa Suzuki (L), deputy president of Sony's consumer products and services group, poses with Google's senior vice president Andy Rubin at Sony's first tablet PCs' unveiling ceremony in Tokyo, April 26, 2011. Sony, a laggard in the booming tablet market, launched its first tablet computers in an ambitious attempt to grab the second spot in the market created and dominated by Apple's iPad. The gadgets will use an operating system based on Google's.