This week, I cracked open the Sony Tablet S. Inside the Android tablet, I found internal hardware that???s as unique as the Android tablet???s wedge-shaped exterior.
See what's inside the Tablet S:
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/itdojo/sony-tablet-s-teardown-wild-wedge-shaped-case-hides-unique-hardware/2930
And, tell me what you think of the device's unique wedge-shaped design. Does Sony have a hit, or miss with the Tablet S?
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...not very informative. I know I can replace the battery but I don't know much more about the "several unique chips" inside and why I should be paying attention.
In this section, I describe the tablet's integrated Elpida/Tegra 2 package, the very unique UEI remote control chip, and the Audience earSmart Voice Processor, which I've never seen on another tablet. I also discuss the internal plastic frame, which is something I haven't seen on other tablets.
What exact bit of information are you looking for?
What exact bit of information are you looking for?
Hi Bill, I think that the review needs a bit more explanation for those of us who do not know what each chip does and why it is important. For instance, I do not know if the Audience earSmart Voice Processor interprets voice commands and whether this is an improvement or not. You say that the UEI chip enables IR connectivity--this means infrared? I thought Bluetooth was taking over for close range connectivity, so is this really a benefit? I would be interested in your opinion of whether this tablet is an improvement over the current standard or not.
I guess it comes down to the audience you are writing for.
I guess it comes down to the audience you are writing for.
It seems that Sony wants to place premium and unique equipment in the items they make, but a VGA front camera on an HD capable screen seems to go backwards, especially for the same price as an iPad. Otherwise a typical Sony product.
I agree. I would like to have seen a 1.2 or 2 MP front-facing camera. The rear-facing 5MP camera works very well however.
The screen can rotate through 270 degrees, so you can hold the large edge in either your left or right hand and the screen will be right-side up.
Would not work for a southpaw with traditional print media, unless they can read upside down.
But even if it can only be rotated 270 degrees in one direction that means that any side can be top, bottom, left or right with the screen rotating to remain vertical to the viewer in each case. I.E. if it is in landcape mode initially, then a 90 degree anti-clockwise rotation makes the previous bottom edge now the left, rotate another 90 degrees and it becomes the top edge, rotate another 90 degrees and it becomes the right edge. With each 90 degree rotation the screen will auto-rotate in the opposite direction to keep it verical with respect to the viewer. It would just mean that, unlike something like the Xoom which can go round and round in either direction, you would have to rotate in the opposite direction to reverse its screen orientation.
It works fine left-handed, it's how I use mine. The image simply rotates as needed. It's just as annoying when apps force landscape mode, of course, and the power button is now at bottom right instead of top left, but that's all.
I too am left handed. The tablet screen rotates from vertical to horizontal??? on both sides. Like the author states, it feels like youre holding a paperback book, and does so equally well in both hands.
The only reason why I haven't got a tablet yet is because none of them seem to support USB flash drives. I know I sound like a pure novice, to me this is the most important part of my PC life and it's missing big time in tablets. Can anybody recommend a good tablet with USB support for me please?
It depends on how you want to achieve your goal.
On the ASUS TF101 Transformer, the tablet itself has no regular USB host port. When attached to the Keyboard dock, though, you gain two full sized USB host ports, and not only will those ports accept USB Flash Drives, they'll accept USB hard drives (both external drives that require their own power and portable drives that are powered by the USB port). I hook up my 1TB external portable 2.5" hard drive to my Transformer tablet on a regular basis. Try doing *that* with an iPad without Jail-breaking.
If you want the ability to do this ON the tablet, the Xoom now supports this, I'm pretty certain. I think you need a dongle. The Acer A500 Iconia and other Acer tablets should support it as well - the A500 has a built in full sized USB port.
Even my Coby Kyros MID7015 did this, and it was in the range of $100-150. It required a dongle to convert the mini-USB into a full USB host port. I used to hook my 32GB thumb drive to the Coby on a regular basis.
The point is, there are a LOT of tablets that can do what you want. This is one of the significant advantages of Android over iOS.
In my opinion, the TF101 offers the most flexibility in this regard, when purchased along with the keyboard dock (which is optional, but I don't see why you would buy the TF101 unless you were interested in picking up the dock, too). Most of the newest Android tabs all offer vendor keyboard docks or aftermarket docks at this time. The Toshiba and the new Samsung tablets, for example - are on display with their docks at my local Best Buy. No one has done the integrated dock with keyboard as elegantly as ASUS at this point.
The ASUS slider (which has an integrated sliding keyboard) is coming out soon in the US, too. This will probably be like the TF101, only with the keyboard non-detachable. 6 of 1, half-dozen of the other which one is best for a particular user, assuming all other features (HDMI, USB ports, MicroSD, full SD) are still there and the price is the same.
On the ASUS TF101 Transformer, the tablet itself has no regular USB host port. When attached to the Keyboard dock, though, you gain two full sized USB host ports, and not only will those ports accept USB Flash Drives, they'll accept USB hard drives (both external drives that require their own power and portable drives that are powered by the USB port). I hook up my 1TB external portable 2.5" hard drive to my Transformer tablet on a regular basis. Try doing *that* with an iPad without Jail-breaking.
If you want the ability to do this ON the tablet, the Xoom now supports this, I'm pretty certain. I think you need a dongle. The Acer A500 Iconia and other Acer tablets should support it as well - the A500 has a built in full sized USB port.
Even my Coby Kyros MID7015 did this, and it was in the range of $100-150. It required a dongle to convert the mini-USB into a full USB host port. I used to hook my 32GB thumb drive to the Coby on a regular basis.
The point is, there are a LOT of tablets that can do what you want. This is one of the significant advantages of Android over iOS.
In my opinion, the TF101 offers the most flexibility in this regard, when purchased along with the keyboard dock (which is optional, but I don't see why you would buy the TF101 unless you were interested in picking up the dock, too). Most of the newest Android tabs all offer vendor keyboard docks or aftermarket docks at this time. The Toshiba and the new Samsung tablets, for example - are on display with their docks at my local Best Buy. No one has done the integrated dock with keyboard as elegantly as ASUS at this point.
The ASUS slider (which has an integrated sliding keyboard) is coming out soon in the US, too. This will probably be like the TF101, only with the keyboard non-detachable. 6 of 1, half-dozen of the other which one is best for a particular user, assuming all other features (HDMI, USB ports, MicroSD, full SD) are still there and the price is the same.
My suggestion for a tablet with full USB connection (and some of the highest specs in other regards, too) is the Acer Iconia Tab A500. Read a review here:
http://www.phonearena.com/reviews/Acer-ICONIA-TAB-A500-Review_id2731
http://www.phonearena.com/reviews/Acer-ICONIA-TAB-A500-Review_id2731
It has a full size USB port, as well as a full size SD card slot in the Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet
Designs with single chips will likely appear, to reduce the weight, and improve the robustness of the motherboard whose size will be come ridiculous (in terms of surface). This will also reduce the amount of toxic materials (soldering) for recycling.
Those chips will have much less pins (all the complex bus design will be integrated). I even think that the interface to the display panel AND the touch sensor on it will be integrated using a very robust high-speed serial interface.
Reducing the mounting cost, will allow better form factors, and will leave more room for batteries, whose design will also participate to the robustness of the device. Less parts will be serviceable, but each part will be more robust. So later, when you'll crack open the case, beside the plastic you'll only encounter very few components: an integrated panel with its touch surface, a single chip containing everything (including the internal memory), possibly an external card reader, and a future high-speed serial interface to an extension "nano-PCI" card (e.g. different 3G/4G adapters, also integrated with its antenna on board), the battery, and very few connectors to hardware buttons, a fast USB3 connector, and connection to the speaker(s) and micro(s). The case will be much less needed for the robustness, and will be only part to the visual design.
May be even the USB connector will disappear: it will just be a robust connector for charging the battery, and all the other connectivity will use wireless technologies (I personnally don't like the very fragile micro USB connector, very sensitive to the presence of durts and oxydation, and not very robust physically to moderate forces of insertion). There will also no longer be any connector to an audio headphones (wireless Bluetooth will be much better and more robust).
So the final chip will no longer have any digital interface except two for the fast "nano-PCI" interfaces connecting the display and the extension board for other wireless adapters, and one for the external memory card reader (which in my oponion should become more universal and probably use a "nano-PCI" serial interface as well).
Those chips will have much less pins (all the complex bus design will be integrated). I even think that the interface to the display panel AND the touch sensor on it will be integrated using a very robust high-speed serial interface.
Reducing the mounting cost, will allow better form factors, and will leave more room for batteries, whose design will also participate to the robustness of the device. Less parts will be serviceable, but each part will be more robust. So later, when you'll crack open the case, beside the plastic you'll only encounter very few components: an integrated panel with its touch surface, a single chip containing everything (including the internal memory), possibly an external card reader, and a future high-speed serial interface to an extension "nano-PCI" card (e.g. different 3G/4G adapters, also integrated with its antenna on board), the battery, and very few connectors to hardware buttons, a fast USB3 connector, and connection to the speaker(s) and micro(s). The case will be much less needed for the robustness, and will be only part to the visual design.
May be even the USB connector will disappear: it will just be a robust connector for charging the battery, and all the other connectivity will use wireless technologies (I personnally don't like the very fragile micro USB connector, very sensitive to the presence of durts and oxydation, and not very robust physically to moderate forces of insertion). There will also no longer be any connector to an audio headphones (wireless Bluetooth will be much better and more robust).
So the final chip will no longer have any digital interface except two for the fast "nano-PCI" interfaces connecting the display and the extension board for other wireless adapters, and one for the external memory card reader (which in my oponion should become more universal and probably use a "nano-PCI" serial interface as well).
may be it wil be the complete disparition of all motherboards:
- the single chip will have a fast serial interface (nano-PCI, nano-USB or other emerging technologies for faster bandwidths).
- this will also be the case for the display/touch device
- also for the connection to the extenral card reader or external wireless interface
These subdevices will be only connected in a "daisy chain", and esier to service and replace, or extend in longer chains within the case, or outside of it. And then may be it will be the case that you'll be able to choose for your prefered form factor or usage.
- the single chip will have a fast serial interface (nano-PCI, nano-USB or other emerging technologies for faster bandwidths).
- this will also be the case for the display/touch device
- also for the connection to the extenral card reader or external wireless interface
These subdevices will be only connected in a "daisy chain", and esier to service and replace, or extend in longer chains within the case, or outside of it. And then may be it will be the case that you'll be able to choose for your prefered form factor or usage.
Hi! I own a galaxy tab and what I'd be missing with this device is a sim slot to have data connection while around. And weirdly enough not many tablets or netbooks have this either.
The device???s wedge-shaped exterior is unlike any other tablet on the market today.
Guess you haven't seen the Notion Ink ADAM.
What I'd really like is a Linux based tablet laptop replacement. "All" of the current tablets are trying to make a "phone based" OS work on a non-phone device. None of them seem to be doing a particular bang up job of it either.
For a neat concept device check out the http://www.myrolltop.com
Guess you haven't seen the Notion Ink ADAM.
What I'd really like is a Linux based tablet laptop replacement. "All" of the current tablets are trying to make a "phone based" OS work on a non-phone device. None of them seem to be doing a particular bang up job of it either.
For a neat concept device check out the http://www.myrolltop.com
It's not exactly a tablet, but the smallest Linux portable I've seen is the Palm Pre. You have to root it, but that's fairly simply, and then essentially you have a pocket-sized Linux PC.
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It appears that the blue tooth function on mine is shot and the wifi is weak, I wonder if the board if available. Also the usb port is only for data transfer. It would be nice if it can charge the battery too. It seems that this tablet is meant for the TV room. This way you can control your set, play games, and check emails, without having to boot the laptop.
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