Sony S1 Tablet

Sony is planning to release two tablets worldwide this fall. One of them, code-named “S1,” features a 9.7-inch display.

“If I want to differentiate it from others, do I release it tomorrow, or do I wait till I differentiate it?” Sony CEO Howard Stringer told Reuters in January. Sony chose to wait, and the two designs it came up with are indeed unique among the fray of current tablet offerings.

The S1 has a folded—or wedgelike—design that Sony believes will make it easy to grip for hours of comfortable use.

The S1 is shown here with its partner, the S2. It opens to reveal two 5.5-inch displays that can work together as one large screen or two separate screens—so that users can, for example, use the virtual keyboard on one side and browse the Internet on the other.

The two-tone S1 also features front- and rear-facing cameras.

Sony also has big plans for a cloud-based content environment. Over WiFi or mobile broadband, users will be able to access and download ebooks, music and other services, as well as access Sony’s PlayStation Suite of first-generation games.

In February, Sprint and Kyocera introduced the Echo, a dual-screen, Android-running smartphone. Like the S2, it features screens that can be used independently or in concert.

The displays on the Echo, as on the Sony S2, can be used to view a single, large image. There is, however, the issue of the seam in the middle.