Sony S1 and S2 screenshots leaked

With Sony's anticipated S1 and S2 tablets preparing for an autumn release, the company has been busy readying support documents, some of which went public prematurely this week. S1 and S2 tablets According to the screenshots – grabbed by Carrypad from Sony's support site before their hasty removal – the Sony slabs will ship …

[ZillaOfManilla]

why

Proprietary cable connection!!! really, why are tablet manufactures going down this route, when all the phones are going standard USB? Just lob a decent charger in the box damn it.

[John Riddoch]

I'll tell you...

Because it's Sony. Sony are incapable of shipping anything standard, whether it be charging connectors or memory sticks.

This was the main reason which put me off a Sony phone a while back; I refused to consider getting a Walkman phone as I didn't want to buy a Sony memory stick when I had a perfectly good micro SD card I could put in the phone.

[Anonymous Coward]

What a crock

Let's see.

Talking about Sony itself (PS3 example):

- Standard 2.5" hard drive

- Standard USB ports for connecting USB drives + keyboards etc

- Standard bluetooth support

- Standard USB mini charging for controllers.

That's just off the top of my head.

Sony Ericsson (which isn't Sony but Sony itself doesn't make phones anymore as far as I know) X10 mini pro:

- Standard microSD card

- Standard USB micro charging

- Standard sim card

So, while it may not have been in the past, Sony are capable and indeed do create devices with standard connectors.

[Jay 2]

Other howlers

I'm a bit of a Sony fanboy, but their use of their own proprietary stuff over what everyone else seems to be using really annoys me. Some other examples...

MicroMV

ATRAC

Ever changing MemoryStick names/sizes/etc

Until fairly recently using MemoryStick in cameras instead of SD like everyone else

UMD

[David Evans]

Not the only ones

Samsung do the same, the Galaxy Tab has a proprietary connector. Its very annoying.

[dave 76]

really? is that your only complaint?

I hope you are similarly outraged at every laptop manufacturer on the planet who all ship their laptops with proprietary power connections. USB would be nice but if the proprietary connection allows rapid charging I am all for it.

If that is all you have to complain about then Sony are onto a winner.

[Wize]

I've seen some laptops that even talk to their PSU

I had one Dell refusing to work with a different power supply even though the connector was the same. It was so you didn't put a low current supply on a high drain device.

Was an off the shelf connector, but the machine would probably refuse any non-dell supply.

[mike 32]

FAIL

A proprietary power connector? Are they serious?

If I had any possible, imaginable use for a tablet, Sony would have just removed their offering from ANY consideration with that proprietary connector.

IDIOTS!

[Anonymous Coward]

WTF?

Is that cheap looking tat, the foldy thing?

Looks like a PDA from 1990...

[DJ 2]

Yet another cable connection type.

Why can't they stick to one of the USB standards and stop pissing around.. Jobs stop snickering boy!

[DrXym]

At least they look different

Not sure I like the clam shell design at all (what happens if you need to run your finger from one screen over to the other?) but the wedge like tablet might be quite nice. The chunky end gives it a nice slope and doubles up as something to hold it with. A bit like the Notion Ink device.

[Gene Cash]

proprietary adaptor

Yup, that's Sony for ya! And why I stopped buying their crap about 15 years ago, no matter how pretty it is.

[OrsonX]

let me be the first* to say...

"Proprietary cable connection"

*doh!

[Wanda Lust]

That'll be....

Autumn 2012 according to world of Playstation Vita & Elop-y-loola Nokia W7 phoneware.

[Charlie Clark]

Adapter

@everyone

I understand the wonderfulness of a standardised USB micro connection - but there is one major mechanical floor - they are easily bent or broken off. The connector in the pictures reminds me of the Ericsson connectors which were a secure fit but never likely to break anything. But that doesn't explain the power brick. Probably want to be able to draw higher current than standard for quick charging. Would be nice to see a micro USB connection on the case but I do understand the desire to put a proprietary connection on as well.

[John 62]

Sony Ericsson connectors

I had an SE phone for a couple of years and the connector was all right until the prongs on the charger wore through most of the copper bit on the phone side.

Then again, my iPhone gets clogged with lint or something from being in my pocket a lot and it says my Belkin FM transmitter/charger is not optimised for iPhone all the time.

[Anonymous Coward]

It's impossible to tell from these photos (or CGI concepts)...

But is could htat there will be both a main power connector and USB, having a fast charge device at home, and tricle charge in the car, at work,... would provide the best all round charging options.

Also having A&B USB connectors would be great, allowing it to work as slave to a PC, but master to a camera for taking a good look at you latest snaps.

[Dick Emery]

Not the only company doing this

I brought into the Asus tablet club. What we get is a puny cable that is woefully short with a special connector that ONLY fits the Asus pad and dock. This is used for charging and will at some stage provide USB hosting (But the release of such vaporware still eludes us several months on from release). However can you buy the cable on it's own? Or a Longer cable? Can you bloody hell! Instead you have to fork out a ridiculous amount for a new charging unit in order to get another (short) cable. The only good thing about it is that you can run an extension using a bog standard USB cable. But if you break the cable or charger that will be $50 please.

A lot of companies seem to be shafting people on proprietary accessories.