Sony contemplating a dual-screen Android tablet, as well as Windows one with a sliding keyboard

Sony seems to be hedging its mobile bets this year - at the MWC last week its joint venture with Ericsson introduced the Xperia Neo, Xperia Play and Xperia arc (our hands-ons here) Android phones. On the tablet side of things, Sony is said to work on an intriguing design, codenamed S1, which will be running Android 3.0 Honeycomb.

The Japanese obviously have picked up steam, though, since they have decided to simultaneously work on another two interesting design decisions. the first one is called internally the S2, and looks like a big sunglasses case, round sides and all. Open it up, and it reveals two 5.5" displays, separated by the hinge and screen bezels, which are a platform for porting dual-screen options to Honeycomb - showing your email inbox on one screen, and the body of the highlighted email on the other, for example, among many others in the works by Sony.

The slate also features 3G connectivity, and is supposed to be another platform for Sony's Qriocity on-demand entertainment media. The report says Sony is a bit miffed by the idea internally, and this might never take off commercially for the rumored $699, but at least the company is waking up to Android, after it slept for the entire 2010. Here is a sketch of it below, which might imply a controlled leak to gauge reactions, judging from the fact that something like this can be drawn by a 3-year old.


The other tablet has much more chances of seeing the light of day, since it will be part of the VAIO series. A Windows-running tablet with 9.4" display is in the works, which will feature a sliding keyboard, similar to what the Samsung Sliding PC 7 Series is offering. Pretty good idea, and if Sony throws in an Oak Trail chipset that lasts 6-8 hours running Windows, it might even have a greater chance of success. Hopefully it will receive a tablet-friendly Windows 8 version as well. The Windows tablet is supposed to appear for the holidays this year in a $799 reincarnation, which once again reaffirms our observation about the "Sony premium".

source: Engadget