Sony Tablet P scoffing Ice Cream Sandwich on 24 May
The flip-open tablet will be getting the jump to ICS next week, following its brother, the Tablet S.
If you bought the Sony Tablet P, you may have been left wondering if its odd shape would hamper any upgrade to Android Ice Cream Sandwich. (As if anyone needed another hurdle.) And when its bigger brother, the Tablet S, got the upgrade almost a month ago, you could be forgiven for feeling left out in the cold.
Worry no more -- the Tablet P will be served a healthy dollop of Ice Cream Sandwich on Thursday 24 May. Just five days to go.
Sony relayed the good news via its Japanese site, translated by The Verge. There's no mention that the UK update will go out at the same time as the Japanese one, but our cousins at CNET confirmed with a Sony spokesperson that's the case. Indeed, no matter where you are you'll get the ICS update, seeing as it's an international release.
So what will your dual-screen tablet be able to do with Ice Cream Sandwich? Small Apps lets you operate shrunken down features like a miniature browser window, calculator or remote control on top of supported apps like the browser, so you can quickly find something out without having to go back to the home screen. Think Dashboard on an Apple computer.
You'll also be able to get straight to the camera from the lock screen to take panoramic snaps -- handy if you see a potentially comedic situation developing. And a new browser lets you flick between mobile and desktop versions of a site with one button.
The Tablet P scored two and a half stars in our review. It's an interesting take on the tablet format, but being more expensive than an iPad, it needed to be much more special to score highly. The Tablet S scored a star better, showing maybe tablets are better suited to the traditional 'slate' shape. Still, the P folds down to fit in a pocket, so is more portable.
Will you be spooning a serving of Ice Cream Sandwich onto your Tablet P? Or will you just download the update? And would the latest version of Android convince you to buy a Tablet P? Let me know in the comments below, or on our Facebook page.