Let us make one thing absolutely clear: these are the most stunning laptops to ever bear the Asus brand. They’re also the best looking Ultrabooks we’ve seen so far – more alluring than Toshiba’s, Lenovo’s and Acer’s.

And there’s no doubt about it, Asus better have the lawyers ready, because these two new models bear more than a passing resemblance to Apple’s MacBook Air.

The circular swirls on the lid add a welcome bit of individuality, and both models sport a metal chassis that tapers from 3mm at the front to 17mm at the rear. Combined with gloriously stout build, it’s hard not to come away impressed. The build quality is excellent, and while our Asus contact winced as we tried to snap their latest laptops in two, the chassis barely flexed at all.

The specifications are just as impressive. The 11.6in UX21 partners a 1.6GHz Core i5-2467M processor with 4GB of memory and a 128GB SSD, while the 13.3in UX31 is identical apart from two crucial upgrades: it’s got an even speedier 1.8GHz Core i7-2677M processor, and the display resolution bumps up from 1,366 x 768 to a spacious 1,600 x 900.

Asus claims around five hours of battery life for the baby of the range and over seven hours for the UX31, but the real fanfare was reserved for the system’s resume and standby abilities. While both systems spring from deep sleep in just two seconds, the UX21 is able to last a week on standby and the UX31, two weeks.

If there’s one casualty of Asus’s ruthless fat-trimming, though, it’s connectivity. Both models plump for two USB ports – USB 2 on one side, USB 3 on the other – and both shrink their D-SUB and HDMI sockets down to miniature proportions. You’ll need to make sure not to forget the Micro-HDMI and mini-VGA adapters on your travels. The only difference on the larger UX31 is the addition of an SD card reader – Asus couldn’t quite find room for one on the UX21, apparently.

Beauty and beastly strength aren’t the Zenbook’s only qualities, however, and Asus’s latest feels every inch the luxurious Ultrabook. The stiff base means that there’s not a hint of wallow in the keyboard, and the Scrabble-tile keys feel crisp and lively. The subtle scooped-out profile on each key is a nice touch, too, helping the smooth keys grip each fingertip for a more confident feel. In fact, our only gripe is the lack of keyboard backlighting – a disappointing omission.

The large glass touchpad beneath seemed pretty solid, but we’ll definitely want to spend a little more time with the Zenbooks before we make a final judgment. We’ve no qualms with the silky smooth surface, which makes for accurate, responsive cursor control, but we’re not quite so sure about the slightly stiff-feeling buttons along its bottom edge – these might take a little more getting used to.

If you’re wondering about the price of admission to Asus’s Zenbook range, well, you may just be in for a rather pleasant surprise: the UX21 is up for grabs at £849 and the UX31 at £999 – a few hundred pounds cheaper than the comparable MacBook Air models. With both laptops available to order from 21 October at Currys, PC World, Comet and Amazon, and our review units just days away, we have a feeling that this is the Ultrabook everyone’s going to want to get their hands on. Stay tuned for the full PC Pro review.

Intel’s grand push of the Ultrabook concept has clearly inspired design minds across the globe, including Acer’s. The S3 is the best-looking laptop to roll off Acer’s assembly line in recent memory: measuring 13mm at its thinnest and 17mm at its thickest, and weighing in at a svelte 1.3kg, this is a gorgeous ultraportable. Sorry, Ultrabook.

Opting for a magnesium-alloy construction, the Aspire S3 is dressed top to toe in metallic grey, with a matching scrabble-tile keyboard and a strip of black at the rear. Yet, if this were purely a catwalk competition, the Acer would have trouble wresting our gaze from either Lenovo or Toshiba’s more striking figures.

In terms of all-out construction, it falls somewhere in the middle of the pack. Grappling with the Aspire S3 reveals it to be substantially sturdier than Toshiba’s slender Portege Z830, but it’s not bulletproof: heavier-handed abuse revealed some give in the Acer’s base and a slight flex across its silvery lid.

Start pecking away at the Acer’s keyboard and you’re unlikely to come away disappointed. It’s still not the match of Lenovo’s supreme effort, but the stout construction means that there’s no sag or give anywhere to be found. The keys have a light crisp action, and we’re big fans of the wide shift keys flanking either side.

We weren’t anywhere near as keen on the touchpad. Acer may have followed the trend for glass touchpads, but going by the pre-production samples we saw, they haven’t got it quite right. The whole pad clicks like one giant button, but there’s just a bit too much give for our liking, and the touchpad seemed to wobble just slightly with every press.

The screen disappointed, too. With a 13.3in TN panel and the usual 1,366 x 768 pixel resolution, the units we saw were seriously lacking in brightness. Colours lacked their usual lustre and whites were tainted with a yellowish hue: we hope the production models are significantly better.

Connectivity doesn’t throw up any huge surprises. The two USB 2 ports are a bit of a disappointment – we would have hoped for at least one USB 3 – while video outputs are limited to an HDMI socket positioned alongside the power socket at the rear. A combined headphone/microphone socket and SD card reader, meanwhile, are positioned on the sides. We heard no mention of 3G, with single-band 802.11n buddying up with Bluetooth 4. There’s no Gigabit Ethernet, though - Toshiba’s Portege Z830 remains the only Ultrabook we’ve seen with wired networking.

The Acer’s trump card looks to be its price, however. With entry-level models starting at 799 Euros and working their way up to 1199 Euros, the Aspire S3 may end up being the cheapest Ultrabook on the market. Processors start with Intel’s Core i3 and work up to i7, while lower-end models make do with mechanical HDDs rather than the SSDs that are de rigeur on rival Ultrabooks.

With a UK launch event next week, and the promise of availability ‘in select regions’ of Europe sometime in September, we’re keeping our fingers crossed that a review unit will soon be winging its way to PC Pro’s offices. At the right price, Acer’s Ultrabook could yet be in with a chance.

With a 5.3in, 1,280 x 800 Super AMOLED display beaming forth, the Galaxy Note immediately grabs the attention. The display is eye-searingly bright, and colours are as rich and saturated as we’ve come to expect from Samsung’s Super AMOLED technology. The huge resolution gives the Galaxy Note a super crisp 285 ppi (pixels per inch) pixel density, which leaves it not too far behind the 326ppi of Apple’s iPhone 4 Retina display.

Small hands will struggle with the Galaxy Note’s 83mm width – not to mention the fact that persons of a smaller stature will look like they’re holding a full-sized tablet to their ear – but this giant smartphone felt perfectly manageable in my larger palms. The 9.65mm thickness gives the Galaxy Note a slim, dainty profile, and while Samsung made no mention of weight, it didn’t feel it unduly heavy.

There’s a trick hidden in the Galaxy Note’s bottom corner, however: a removable stylus that Samsung’s dubbed the S Pen.

This stylus partners with Samsung’s S Note software for making handwritten notes or even artistic sketches. It’s possible to choose from a variety of pen/brush types and thicknesses with the drop-down menu, and thanks to the Galaxy Note’s sizeable screen, inking feels natural and comfortable.

While it’s easy to scribble handwritten notes, or doodle to your heart’s content, you can also import pictures onto the canvas. While any photograph will do, it’s possible to grab a screenshot – from Google Maps, for instance – and then directly annotate it with the S Pen.

Basic handwriting recognition also allows you to use the S Pen within the Note’s messaging application. In our brief time with the Galaxy Note, however, it appeared that only single words could be converted, and there was a noticeable pause as the recognition process took place. Clearly, the Galaxy Note’s handwriting recogniton still has some way to go. Still, with Samsung planning to release the S Pen SDK to app developers, there’s a potentially bright future for pen-driven apps.

Happily, though, the S Pen makes a great partner with the pre-installed Swype keyboard – without a finger to obscure the view, we found it quicker to tap texts than ever.

Samsung’s also trying to tout the Note as a hybrid business device. With Juniper Networks’ Junos Pulse installed as standard – an SSL-enabled VPN service – and that high-resolution screen making remote desktop operation entirely feasible, the Galaxy Note is potentially more capable than a standard smartphone.

Going by the range of accessories on show, Samsung’s keen to stress the Note’s versatility. In addition to swish leather cases, larger styluses, docking stations and vehicle mounts, the appearance of Bluetooth keyboards seems to suggest that the Note is capable of much more than just phone, SMS and internet duties.

There’s no doubting the Galaxy Note’s potential. With a dual-core 1.4Ghz processor powering Google’s Android 2.3; 16GB or 32GB of internal memory; wireless networking that includes Bluetooth 3 and reaches up to dual-band 802.11n;  an 8-megapixel rear and 2-megapixel front-facing camera; GPS; and Full-HD video recording at 30fps, the Galaxy Note can hold its own against any smartphone on the market today.

But with no set price or mention of a release date, we’ll just have to sit patiently and wait for our very own review unit to arrive. Only then will we be able to tell whether Samsung’s over-sized smartphone is a genuine star in the making.

While it gets harder and harder for manufacturers to differentiate their slates from the identikit masses, Toshiba’s done a great job of giving its AT200 a little personality of its own. The unfussy design looks plain yet elegant; a strip of black running along the tablet’s flat 7.7mm edges, arresting only when it reaches the ports on the tablet’s flank.

Those ports include micro-USB, microSD and Micro HDMI, although it’s worth noting that the AT200 can’t be charged via the USB connection, only via the docking connector on the underside.

The on button, volume controls and orientation lock, meanwhile, are almost camouflaged – hidden by the black strip binding the AT200’s edges.

It comes as little surprise that the  AT200 feels as feather-light in the hand as the 558g weight might suggest, but it also exudes an air of solidity. There’s no give or flex in the casing, and the brushed aluminium back adds a frisson of class to the proceedings.

The demo unit we got our hands on was running a temporary build of Android 3.2, so lacked any of the Toshiba-specific apps that will be included on the final retail models. However, performance was spritely thanks to the dual-core 1.2GHz TI OMAP 4430 processor and 1GB of RAM inside.

Elsewhere, there are few surprises. The 10.1in 1,280 x 800 screen looked bright and crisp, and we didn’t get a chance to properly test the 5-megapixel front-facing and 2 megapixel rear-facing cameras. All the usual tablet gadgetry is present and correct, however, with a 3D accelerometer, gyrometer, electronic compass and GPS. Wireless networking includes single-band 802.11n, Bluetooth 3.0 and optional 3G.

Toshiba’s been unusually specific about its battery tests, too, and with the screen set to 60cd/m2 (we presume that’s its dimmest setting) the AT200 manages eight hours of video playback or eight hours of usage divided into 65% web browsing over Wi-Fi, 10% video playback and 25% left on standby.

16GB and 32GB models will be the first to market later this year, with 64GB and 3G versions following soon after. As ever, Toshiba’s promised to make sure we get one of the first AT200’s to strut off the factory floor, so keep your eyes peeled for the PC Pro review.

In the flesh, it’s stunning to behold. Measuring only 15.9mm at its thickest point, the Z830 impresses before you’ve even hit the power button. And where other Ultrabooks proudly proclaim their sub 1.4kg credentials, the Portege Z830 trumps them all:  at 1.12kg, Toshiba hasn’t just left every Ultrabook in its wake, it’s even trumped Sony’s VAIO Z Series.

Despite that headline-grabbing weight, the internal honeycomb struture allows it to feel unusually burly. Given its millimetre-thick stature, we could barely coax any flex out of the Z830’s base.

The lid, meanwhile, is more pliable – it brings to mind the taut, yet highly flexible likes of Sony’s VAIO Z Series – allowing it to absorb the shunts and knocks of a laptop on the road.

After spying the USB 3 port on the Z830’s right-hand side, and the SD card reader and audio inputs and outputs on the left, we initially assumed that Toshiba had been forced to compromise on connectivity; not so. Somehow Toshiba’s engineers have managed to squeeze in a comprehensive selection at the rear.

With two USB 2 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI and a VGA socket, Toshiba’’s accepted zero compromise to achieve such a stunning form factor.  Wireless connectivity also includes all the usual faces: 802.11n (no confirmation whether dual-band is on the cards), Bluetooth 3.0 and optional 3G.

The backlit keyboard is very similar to that of Toshiba’s existing 13in notebooks. In our snatched minutes with the Z830, we noted a soft, cushioned key action, and there’s not a jot of flex anywhere to be found. The wide keys felt a little too squat for our liking, but we’ll hold off judgement on the keyboard until we get to play with the Z830 for a little longer.

There are no such issues with the touchpad, however. Again retaining the familiar Toshiba design and discrete clicky buttons, Toshiba’s clearly foregone flashy glass and buttonless designs for straightforward practicality: a good thing. A fingerprint reader hides in the middle, and it’s also possible to disable the touchpad with the button above.

Toshiba were  a little more coy when it came to exact specifications and pricing, stating that such information would be following in the coming weeks. They confirmed the basics, however:  as yet undisclosed variants of Intel’s second Generation Core processors will take the reins alongside a 128GB SSD and anything up to 6GB of RAM. Given that every other manufacturer has been happy to release the details of the CPUs in their Ultrabooks, we can’t help feeling that Toshiba’s got something new up its sleeve for the Z830.

Pricing will make all the difference to the fortunes of Toshiba’s featherweight Ultrabook, but with Portege and Satellite branded versions of the Z830 set to hit the shelves sometime in the fourth quarter of this year, it looks like the battle for the best Ultrabook has only just begun.

The hardware

The 372g Tablet P measures 26mm thick and 180mm long. That’s a bit chunkier than the latest breed of slip-thin phones, but the thick-set, curvy figure fits comfortably in the hand. And, while we’d struggle to squeeze it in our jeans pockets, it’s still far more pocketable than any of the current breed of Android 3.2 tablets.

Push the Tablet P flat, though, and the two 1,024 x 480 5.5in displays combine to form a 7in, 1,024 x 960 resolution display. Despite the several millimetres of bezel in between, it works well and ensures that navigating Android 3.2 never feels unduly cramped.

The Tablet P’s novel dual-screen design makes it possible to use it in a variety of ways. Set it on the desk like a miniature laptop, and while the top screen displays video, pictures or text, the bottom screen can assume a variety of roles. While playing a video or music, it displays playback controls, elsewhere offering a gallery view or an on-screen keyboard.

The design really comes to life once you fire up one of the included PS One titles. Where the Tablet S floats its gaming controls at the sides of the screen, the Tablet P relegates them to the lower screen, which feels far more natural; more like a traditional portable gaming device, such as Nintendo’s DS.

Sony’s Reader Store reveals another trick: tilt the Tablet P round so that you’re holding it like a book, and text flows down each screen to mimic individual pages. The narrow 480 pixel resolution of each screen leaves the pages looking a touch narrow, though, and we’ll be interested to see how it copes with diagram-filled textbooks and the like.

Swiping left or right smoothly scrolls from page to page, while highlighting text allows you to search through books or refer to Wikipedia for rapid reference. With the Reader Store reaching the UK at the end of October, it’s a feature that’ll live or die on the pricing and selection of books on offer.

Specifications

The Tablet P’s tiny body doesn’t leave much room for a battery, but Sony claims that the P will survive 120 hours in standby, and up to 6 hours of web browsing via WiFi.

And though the Tablet P shares the same Tegra 2 processor as the Tablet S, its standard specifications are a little different. There’s only one model (part code SGPT212) which comes with 3G, a rather stingy 4GB of onboard memory and a 2GB microSD card. Those looking to carry around heaps of music and movies will need to invest in larger microSD media.

Though the Tablet P’s novelty factor will have gadget fiends salivating, the pricing may dampen their enthusiasm: at £479, we can’t help thinking that Sony is being just a touch optimistic.

While other manufacturers have been focusing on tablets and phones at this year’s IFA trade show, Lenovo has also chosen to introduce its IdeaPad U300s – one of the first examples of Intel’s Ultrabook concept we’ve seen.

And with the promise of serious processing power in a slender 14.9mm thick chassis, this latest addition to the IdeaPad range is a bona-fide stunner.

It can’t quite match the likes of Samsung’s 9 Series or Apple’s Macbook Air 13in for lust-inducing slenderness, but it’s still utterly gorgeous. That 14.9mm thick chassis weighs in at just 1.3kg, yet, thanks to the all-aluminium construction, feels far from insubstantial.

There’s a little flex when you really tug at the seams, but not much: the base feels taut, and the lid looks to afford the display a considerable amount of protection.

The attention to detail in Lenovo’s design is impressive. Lenovo claims that the U300s is crafted from a single sheet of aluminium, which is then sandblasted and anodised to make it tougher and more scratch-resistant.

Then there’s the noticeable lack of vents in the U300s’ gently curved base: instead, Lenovo keeps the Core i5 and Core i7 processors cool by virtue of a discrete vent on the left-hand edge and maintains cool-running by using a “breathable” keyboard, which allows air to circulate through the gaps between the keys.

Any fears such novelties might affect usability swiftly prove unfounded. The scrabble-tile keyboard has a light, crisp feel, and the glass touchpad beneath it behaved brilliantly during our snatched moments with the U300s. Just like Apple’s Macbooks, the glass gives a lovely smooth, solid feel under the finger, and left- and right-clicks were recognised reliable despite the lack of discrete buttons.

Lenovo has done a great job of giving the U300s a classy, uncluttered look, but there’s still enough connectivity where it matters. There’s a single USB 3 port alongside an HDMI output, and a USB 2 port on the opposite edge.

We didn’t have enough time to give the glossy 13.3in display anything more than a cursory look, but the brightness levels were impressive and colour reproduction was punchy. One thing’s for sure, it looks better than the decidedly average LCD in Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 ultraportable.

The seam-free chassis does of course mean that Lenovo has had to opt for a non-replaceable battery, but the claims of eight hour battery life in MobileMark 2007’s Productivity test give us some hope. In tandem with Lenovo’s excellent RapidCharge technology – which charges the battery to 50% capacity in just 30 minutes – the U300s is looking very promising indeed.

A keen price further bolsters the IdeaPad U300s’ appeal. Models sporting low-voltage 1.6GHz Core i5-2647M and 1.8Ghz Core i7-2677M processors will see the light of day towards the end of October, and our contact suggested a model sporting the low-voltage 1.6GHz Core i5-2647M processor, 4GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD would be available for around 999 Euros, which looks to severely undercut the likes of Samsung’s Series 9 900X3A.

Lenovo looks to be onto a winner with the U300s. With build quality and ergonomics reminiscent of a ThinkPad, and looks that can rival Apple’s best, it heralds an exciting future for Intel’s Ultrabook concept. The ultraportable is dead; long live the Ultrabook.

As the name suggests, the new baby of Samsung’s tablet range sports a 7.7in, 1,280 x 800 pixel screen. It’s not just any old display, though: Samsung has squeezed in a Super AMOLED Plus panel, and the eye-popping vibrancy of the thing just has to be seen to be believed.

Even under the viciously bright spot lighting in Samsung’s (still half-built) hall, the Galaxy Tab 7.7’s display looked glorious. Colours are super-saturated – so much so, that it doesn’t feel like you’re looking at a screen at all.

Reach out and touch the tiny tablet, though, and it’s beautifully petite. Measuring just 7.89mm thick, the gently curved edges felt great in our giant hands, and it feels just as barely-there as the 335g weight suggests.

As you’d rightfully hope given the dual-core 1.4GHz processor inside (we’re waiting on confirmation of the actual architecture) the Tab feels pretty alert in use. We did experience the odd hitch here and there while surfing the web, but we’d be more inclined to blame the variable quality of IFA’s wireless airwaves than the tablet itself.

Indeed, delve through a copy of the Washington Post with the supplied newspaper reader, and there’s no lag at all while zipping around the front page and zooming in and out.

The tweaked home screen gives the little Galaxy Tab a touch of individuality, and Samsung’s keen to make a big splash on its four Hubs. The Game, Music, Readers and Social Hubs are pretty self-explanatory, but the Social Hub appears to be by far the most useful, aggregating email, contacts, calendar and friends across multiple social networks, it’s the perfect addition to such a temptingly portable tablet.

In fact, the only issue we noticed during our time with the Tab 7.7 was that its metal back became noticeably warm to the touch. After around 15 minutes of surfing the web, it was warm enough to start making our hands feeling fairly sweaty: obviously, squeezing a dual-core 1.4Ghz processor into such a tiny chassis has its downsides.

Still, the Galaxy Tab 7.7’s specifications are nothing to complain about. The presence of 5GHz 802.11n is a welcome – especially so given the congested state of today’s 2.4Ghz spectrum – and as channel bonding is supported, streaming or transferring gigabytes of music or movies will be swift and speedy.

There’s nothing lacking elsewhere: GPS and Bluetooth 3.0 make the grade, and the 3-megapixel front-facing camera is partnered with a 2-megapixel one at the rear. And, in contrast to some of the competition, Android 3.2 is installed as standard.

In fact, there’s only one major problem that Samsung has to deal with, and that’s the Galaxy Tab 7.7’s likeness to a shrunken iPad. Going by the message in the picture below, our German chums might have to wait patiently until the Galaxy Tab 7.7 finally arrives on Amazon.de.

In among the expected crop of tablets, TVs, cameras and smartphones at IFA, Sony has unveiled its most stunningly bonkers product of all: the HMZ-T1 Personal 3D Viewer. Cramming two tiny 0.7in OLED screens into a headset that looks straight off the set of Star Trek, the HMZ-T1 delivers Full HD in three dimensions to an audience of just one.

If the photograph above suggests that these poor people are having a little trouble getting the device to fit just right, well, that’s because it’s a pretty bulky affair. With the visor extending so far in front of your face, the HMZ-T1 is unwieldy, even with the plastic headband properly fitted (see the chap at the far end of the row in the picture). The integrated headphones slide back and forth and rotate around, but we still had some trouble getting them just so on our, admittedly chunky, head.

Once you’ve got the HMZ-T1 on, you just have to adjust the focus sliders to bring the 3D image into crisp relief. A variety of video and audio options can also be adjusted in a heads-up display, with the directional keypad on the headset’s underside making it easy to navigate.

Once it’s configured, the image quality is staggeringly good: colours are rich and saturated, and the inky blacks of the OLED technology give images immense solidity. Once the picture snaps into focus, the sense of scale is unnerving: it feels like viewing a sizable 100in+ projection screen. The 3D effect is impressively free from any crosstalk artefacts, too. Even the compact headphones deliver fine sound quality.

But if you thought those active-shutter glasses for your 3D TV were expensive, we suspect the HMZ-T1’s use of OLED (that’s organic LED panels, if you were wondering) means we’re looking at a four (or even five?) figure sum. Funnily enough, Sony made no mention of pricing or a release date, so currently these 3D goggles are as elusive as they are crazy-looking.

UPDATE 2/09: It looks like our fears of massive four figure price-tags were unfounded. With our Sony contacts mentioning a suggested retail price in Japan that equates to nearer £800, the HMZ-T1’s aren’t quite as out there as you might expect.

So, if you’re sick of being forced to watch Eastenders with your other half (and you’d pay any price to squeeze in a quick round of Modern Warfare 2 while the missus isn’t looking), then maybe it’s time you got saving those pennies.

]]> http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2011/09/01/sony-hmz-t1-personal-3d-viewer-review-first-look/feed/ 3 http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2011/09/01/sony-tablet-s-review-first-look/ http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2011/09/01/sony-tablet-s-review-first-look/#comments Thu, 01 Sep 2011 07:19:57 +0000 Sasha Muller http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/?p=41899 Amid a bevy of product announcements at Sony’s IFA 2011 stand, its brand new Android tablet, the 9.4in Tablet S, caught everyone’s attention. We fought through the crowds to get up close and personal with Sony’s new media darling.

The hardware

If you’re looking for novelty in the specification sheet, you’re likely to be disappointed. The 9.4in, 1,280 x 800 screen is powered by an Nvidia Tegra 2 processor and comes with Android 3.1 installed as standard – although it will eventually be upgradeable to 3.2.

Nevertheless, the screen itself looks bright, and even under the vicious glare of the Sony booth spotlights it positively oozed with contrast. If you can gauge speed from a few minutes spent flicking through menus, and idly pecking through a demo gallery of pictures and videos, the Tablet S feels as responsive as they come.

However, it’s the physical design that delivers the real departure from the exisiting crop of Android tablets. With a novel wedge-shaped design, the Tablet S tapers across its back from a thin edge to a thicker rounded profile. That extra girth makes the Tablet S more manageable than most in portrait mode; with more to grip onto, it actually feels far lighter than the claimed 598g weight would suggest.

Pop the Tablet S back on the desk, and that tapered figure also allows the display to tilt just that little bit forward. Thus, rather than forcing you to crane your neck to look from above, it’s quite usable from a sitting (or standing) position. In addition to making for easier typing, this makes it far easier to watch a video or read a webpage with the tablet flat on a desk.

If you crave an even more laptop-like tablet, the optional Sony docking cradle and Bluetooth keyboard will happily oblige. For tapping out longer emails, the wireless keyboard is the far comfier option – and a strip of Android navigation keys along the keyboard’s top edge save you from having to reach out and prod the display with aggravating regularity.

The software

Although Google’s Android 3.1 software is largely unmodified, Sony has added a few finishing touches of its own.

The first is the ability to use the Tablet S as a (very expensive) universal remote control, courtesy of an integrated infrared transmitter. Hundreds of TV brands and models are preconfigured, so most people will be able to just select their telly from the list and get channel-hopping right off the bat. If your TV isn’t listed, an IR receiver allows you to program the requisite codes using your old remote.

Another nifty party trick is the ability to ‘flick’ movies and music wirelessly to other devices. You don’t need a Sony TV for this: apparently it’ll work with any recent TV with up-to-date DLNA support, though we’re yet to see a definitive list of supported hardware. We tried and failed to get a decent video of the process (frankly we’re surprised it worked at all over IFA’s overloaded airwaves), but we saw plenty of demonstrations of it working.

It’s also possible to flick web pages and internet video over to the TV. Find a funny/horrible/interesting video on YouTube, and all you have to do is hit the shortcut button to fling it over to the TV set. The Tablet S then turns into a wireless touchpad/remote control, allowing you to continue surfing the web on the big screen.

The final attraction – perhaps the main one, depending on your priorities – is that the Tablet S (like its little brother, the Tablet P) boasts PlayStation certification. That means it’s possible to play downloadable PS One games, such as Crash Bandicoot:

The on-screen controls aren’t perfect: with default settings, we found the precision control required to avoid plunging Crash Bandicoot into every other crevasse nigh-on impossible. Thankfully, it’s possible to adjust both the position and size of the controls to suit your hands. As you’d expect from a game of this age, the graphics are basic, but the overall appearance is crisp and colourful, and framerates are silky smooth.

Whether Sony’s Tablet S would tempt us away from Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1, or indeed an iPad 2, is yet to be seen. With the basic 16GB Wi-Fi model coming in at £400 and available from the end of September, you’ll have to wait for the PC Pro review before we can give you the definitive answer.