Report: PlayStation tablet detailed

By Fred Dutton Published 16 February, 2011

$600 S1 to follow Xperia Play's lead?

First details have emerged about Sony's upcoming gaming tablet, if an Engadget report is to be believed.

According to sources close to Sony, the gadget, which was first hinted at by Sony boss Kaz Hirai at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last month, is code-named S1 and will run off a Tegra 2 processor.

Engadget claims that it will run a custom version of the Android Honeycomb OS, feature full integration for Sony's Qriocity cross-media platform and, like the Xperia Play, come pre-loaded with classic PSone games.

The site also has a mock-up of the device, which shows an eccentric folded design that looks like a paperback bent back on itself. A source apparently dubbed it "the best thing" they had ever seen from Sony.

A September launch is mooted with a $599 price tag attached – that's $100 more than an iPad and $300 more than a PlayStation 3.

The Xperia Play smartphone, which after months of speculation is now set in stone, will launch in April, with full PlayStation Store functionality coming later in the year.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (25) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • CaptainQuint #1 1 year ago

    Hmm, this could get really interesting.

  • tobsen #2 1 year ago

    Fantastic. With the news the other day that Sony scrapped their PS4 design and put the project on hold indefinitely, one of the last bastions of hardcore gaming is about to jump the shark. From here it's all touch-screen casual. Mark my words.

  • nazzyq #3 1 year ago

    $599 burning a hole in your pocket? I guess Sony was feeling a bit restrained trying to keep the price of the NGP down. So they blew off some steam trying to make this thing.

  • mrpon #4 1 year ago

    Possibly the worst mockup I've ever seen!

  • CrumpledPaper #5 1 year ago

    It's not really a gaming tablet - gaming won't define it. Even less than is the case with Xperia Play, this one won't have physical gaming buttons even. You can call it a Playstation tablet, but it's just one aspect of it. It's 'just' the next device from Sony that will have PlayStation certification - I expect probably a lot of their mobile devices going forward will have it, whether they're pitched specifically at gamers or not.

    So a Playstation tablet? Yes. In the sense that it'll run Playstation suite content. A gaming-specific tablet? No, not really. We need to start wrapping our heads around the idea of Playstation living inside a much wider range of multi-purpose devices.

  • Skurmedel #6 1 year ago

    XPeria Play is Sony Ericsson's, not Sony. It's a separate entity owned by the two :)

    /nitpicking mode disengaged
    Edited by Skurmedel at 16/02/11 @ 23:01

  • coolbritannia #7 1 year ago

    I'm even less arsed about this than I am the iPad.

  • RESIDENT_nEVILe #8 1 year ago

    Hard to swallow at that price.

  • azic #9 1 year ago

    Placing bets on PS4 running Android as it's OS!!

  • Nuronv #10 1 year ago

    "Report: PlayStation tablet detailed"

    should read

    "Report: Sony to release tablet"

  • captain_Carl #11 1 year ago

    They're not stopping developing core games though. Sony have a huge amount of first party developers making awesome core games. This is just something else entirely. You're an idiot if you think it's detracting from your games

  • scaramanga10 #12 1 year ago

    >>A September launch is mooted with a $599 price tag attached – that's $100 more than an iPad and $300 more than a PlayStation 3.

    I doubt this tablet will be Wi-Fi only. 16GB with 3G is $630, and who knows how much GBs of memory this thing will have.

    Either way, I'm guessing in time these Android tablets will play NGP games a couple years from now as the Playstation Suite integrates NGP specs as quad-core ARM chips become common. The recently announced quad-core Tegra 3 easily surpasses NGP specs. Incorporating the Playstation brand into the ubiquitous ARM universe seems to be the next big thing. We'll definitely see a ton of "Playstation Certified" phones and tablets down the road.

  • Dizzy #13 1 year ago

    More money down the drain.

  • KrazyFace #14 1 year ago

    @salentino86
    You're talking as if Sony and MS only make games/games machines. You do know that they do a "few other things" right!?

  • Widge #15 1 year ago

    The thing is maintaining Suite and PSN. Is PSN Store going to carry on? Will NGP have Suite and PSN on it, or will we see PSN replaced by Suite as some big cross platform store encompassing phones, tablets and consoles?

    And when is Dizzy going to start dev work on Suite?

  • Goffee #16 1 year ago

    No, no, no, no - dumbest idea ever! And Sony were 2 out of 2 on cunning plans so far this year!

    No market, death through RSI, uncomfortable, damages the brand - wrong on so many levels. http://bit.ly/h0j7a2

  • Murton #17 1 year ago

    I dunno, I like the idea of tablet computing but it seems that companies are in an arms race to build the fanciest most functional tablet and as a result the selling price is higher than a laptop which vastly outguns it in terms of both spec and function. Tablets should be about delivering a small set of functions very well in a portable format while remaining affordable.

    600 dollars over there means the better part of 500 quid over here, to put it into perspective I could buy a upper mid-range laptop, a 40 inch HDTV, two HD consoles or build a high spec desktop PC for that sort of cash, or if I move away from tech it's almost a month's rent for my two bedroom flat and more than a year's worth of electricity bills.

    Of course, nobody in their right mind will pay that price, most people who want one will probably get it from Carphone Warehouse free or discounted when they take a 3G data contract. The question that Sony need to be asking is this, is there room in the market for a gaming tablet alongside your actual handheld console? I'm a bit skeptical personally.

  • drxym #18 1 year ago

    If it comes with free 3G for PSN functionality (i.e. you turn it on and it locates the local partner operator and signs on automatically) this thing will sell by the metric shit tonne. Assuming Apple doesn't get there first. And yes before anyone says, it's economically and technically feasible assuming Sony have the vision and will to see it through.

    And if it doesn't have free 3G then well... $599 is a lot to pay for a tablet. I think even Apple will find it hard to justify such a high price when this year's tablet onslaught kicks off.
    Edited by drxym at 17/02/11 @ 10:14

  • BigDannyH #19 1 year ago

    Arrgh! People don't buy these things to play games, they buy them to use the Internet. Don't do it Sony!

    Games on the iPad are generally crap. Or at least they are once the novelty wears off.

    iPad = t'internet
    iPhone = phone MP3 toilet t'internet
    Xbox = games
    PS3 = blu-rays occasional awesome exclusives
    Wii = gathers dust

  • Mkwone #20 1 year ago

    Looks like the tec the Gadget show was showing last year i believe. I think it's a type of OLED screen that's flexible so can be rolled, folled etc.

    Possible this:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcAm3KihFho

  • DirectAim #21 1 year ago

    BigDannyH, your 100% correct! It's exactly the same for me!

  • dingo75 #22 1 year ago

    Fantastic. With the news the other day that Sony scrapped their PS4 design and put the project on hold indefinitely, one of the last bastions of hardcore gaming is about to jump the shark. From here it's all touch-screen casual. Mark my words.

    PC will win this in the end and return to its former glory being the platform for the hardcore!
    Casuals will waggle and touch shit on their touch-pads in the meanwhile.

  • Dolly #23 1 year ago

    Would be a great alternative to the Ipad if you could link your current PSN account to it.

    As you most likely won't be (Like the Xperia play), then it doesn't interest me one little bit.

    Edit: clarified re: Xperia play
    Edited by Dolly at 17/02/11 @ 11:01

  • Katanax #24 1 year ago

    Just because access to the PS Suite is enabled on a new piece of hardware being manufactured by Sony it DOES NOT make it a PlayStation device!

    Lets not kid ourselves here - With the news that the PS Suite is completely separate to services offered by PSN on the PS3, PSP and the NGP, there is no way in hell it can be classed as a PlayStation device. It's a standalone app providing access to classic games optimised for the Android platform so Sony can take a share of Smartphone gaming revenues. Simple as that.

    Please EG, I know it's a gaming site, but headlines like the above only serve to confuse and fragment the perceptions of a percentage of your readership.

  • actionfitz #25 1 year ago

    @BigDannyH

    True Dat.