And so I’ve been using the Sony Tablet S for about two weeks now. A fortnight is a pretty decent amount of time to let the initial novelty of a product die down and let those small kinks or perks of a product bubble up to the top. Over the past two weeks I’ve come to really like the device. In fact the only thing that causes me to not swoon over it is the lack of 3G connectivity. I think everything should have 3G these days.

But I digress. Let me talk a little about the various aspects of the device and how I’ve found it to be awesome (or not)…

Weight

It weighs 598g. To give you a basis for comparison, the iPad 2 weighs 601g. BUT. When you’re holding the Tablet S, it feels significantly lighter. I think it has to do with the asymmetic design that shifts the device’s center of gravity into your palm. Correct me if I’m wrong but I think the physics around that is that if you’ve got weight further away from your palm (which acts as a fulcrum) then you’re going to have to use more force to counter the force that it generates. It’s basically how levers work.

Battery Life
On standby with the device doing almost nothing, it lasts 2 days. Under normal usage of listening to music, surfing, reading and playing games, it’s about 7 to 8 hours. And this is where it gets quite irritating because I leave for work around 10 or so and I head back only around 11.30pm. And so it definitely has to be charged at some point forcing me to have to bring the charger along. I think it would be great if they could switch to some sort of microUSB charger even if it still has to be plugged into a power socket – that way I can just bring that one charger to cycle through multiple of my devices.

Design
I think I must have mentioned this several times already but I really like the sleek design of the Tablet S despite it being a fingerprint magnet (there’s not much anyone can do to fix that I guess).

Connectivity
In terms of data connectivity, I really wish it had 3G because the lack of it meant that I had to leave my Android portable hotspot on all the time wish drained the battery of an already-terrible-battery-life phone. But it was otherwise alright. The WiFi was stable enough to use at most places and it could connect to WiFi networks quite quickly.

Data ports wise, I never really had a reason to use the SDCard slot although I figure it would useful in some rare cases or if you’re a photographer or something. I did however use the microUSB port to transfer videos into the Tablet S.

Performance
With my only point of tablet reference being my BlackBerry PlayBook, I found the Sony Tablet S to be just as smooth. In the two weeks that I used it, I didn’t encounter any memory leak issues or the device being laggy because it ran low on memory. I did, however, have the Sony Social Feeds Reader app which runs in the background crash on me occasionally for no apparent reason. But no biggie there I think.

Durability
With the back made of some sort of plastic, and a full glass front, it does give a tad bit of a fragile feel. And I actually think it is because the review unit had arrived with a tiny scratch on one of the corners of the screen. My suggestion here is get a case and definitely get a screen protector if you get this. I don’t think it’s flimsy but it’s something you have to protect.

Useful?
So…all that said, does the Sony Tablet S fit a need? Did it fulfil a need I didn’t know I had or was it just a burden to lug around everyday?

Well, it is an Android device and because the Android Market is somewhat quite established now, there is an app for pretty much everything you want and need. And because I bring around my laptop almost everywhere I go, my expectations of a tablet are for when I’m public transport or when I’m in a social setting and want to be able to have a big screen to check emails or show videos without having to whip out a huge laptop.

So, yes, it is a great device to have if you don’t need your tablet to have in built 3G and replace your entire laptop functionality.

The Sony Tablet S is a light, well designed device that’s good for both work and play.

Plus, it’s really stylish to carry around too.

Maybe they deliberately made it a little fragile so that you won’t/can’t hide it in your bag. ;p

Other Sony Tablet S Review Articles

• Sony Tablet S – Elegance you can hold
• [First Impressions] Sony Tablet S
• [Pictures] Sony Tablet S
• 24 Hours with the Sony Tablet S
• A Week with the Sony Tablet S
• [Making The Cut] Sony Tablet S

Ridzuan Ashim
Starting and maintaining Ridz.sg aside, Ridzuan is Co-Founder of Senseless Labs – A software solutions company currently focused on building mobile-based Marketing and CRM solutions. He has been dabbling in both web and mobile development since 2003. His interests include how technology can be used to improve the human condition, poverty alleviation through sustainable development, education and microfinancing.