The Sony Xperia Tablet S' beautiful design (pictures)

Thin. light, and comfortable, the Sony Xperia Tablet S is both aesthetically and ergonomically pleasing. See slide 3 for how deeply into thought I escape while using it.

Eric Franklin

Sept. 17, 2012 3:15 p.m. PT

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James Martin/CNET

Call it a follow-up

In 2011 Sony entered the Android tablet market with the wedge-shaped Tablet S (I always say: if you're going to enter a market, you should have the appropriate tool to keep that door open). A year later, the company is back with the Tablet S' follow-up, the Xperia Tablet S.

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No wedge

Sony eschewed the wedge shape of the original in favor of a much straighter, more uniform design, which ultimately works better. See next slide for more evidence.

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The New Yorker

Look at that face. That's the face of deep, contemplative thought only esteemed publications like The New Yorker can elicit. And look how comfortable I look holding the tablet. I'm not saying I was reading The New Yorker in this pic, I'm only saying you can't prove I wasn't.

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Seriously, Dat design

OK, this is the last time (in this slideshow) I'll mention how great the Tablet S feels to hold.

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Storage wars

The $400 version of the Xperia Tablet S comes with 16GB of storage; however, you can increase that by 128GBs via this small, seemingly innocuous SD card slot. Full-size SD, that is. That's a headphone jack on the left there.

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If only...

If only the power button on my model actually woke the tablet up after one press. Usually, it's two or more presses before the tablet responds. I don't feel this is a physical issue as it seems more performance-based.

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Speaker slit

The speakers are powerful and can get pretty loud, but the tinny sound undermines its capability to belt out tracks.

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Key

One of the key differentiating features of the Xperia Tablet is Sony's remote control software. For those willing to put in loads of time, there's some cool macro customization to tinker around with, but personally I'll stick with my Logitech universal remote, which is always on and easier to use.

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Quick widgets

Taking a page out of Samsung's quick apps tray for its Galaxy tablets, Sony implemented something similar here with small apps extensions.

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Ahh, Tegra 3

Tegra 3: so much potential, so little realized. Splashes on screen are simulated.

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These splashes are real

The Xperia Tablet S is purported by Sony as being "splash proof" as long as the multiport is covered. I tested this by splashing a mostly empty cup of water on its screen. It continued to work. I moved on.