It’s become conventional wisdom in the tech world that there isn’t really a tablet market. There’s a market for the iPad, and then there’s a tiny slice for everything else–an idea most recently trotted out in the Globe and Mail’s roundup of the devices. But if you are about to buy or purchase a tablet, the question you first need to ask yourself is not so much “iPad or the rest?” as much as “what is a tablet for?” It’s not solely an issue about products or ergonomics or, for that matter, even ecosystems – it’s about which vision of technology is most relevant to you. Should technology let you do new things? Or should it help you do what you already do, but better? It’s a question that’s been on my mind a lot after Sony lent me their entry into the tablet market, the plainly-named Tablet S. The device is, by most measures, a remarkable bit of gear, and if you are going to buy a tablet that isn’t either an iPad or a heavily discounted Playbook or Touchpad, this is likely the one to get. I say this because, especially as Android tablets go, the Tablet S is quite impressive. Not only is it more responsive than many of its Android counterparts, but it also comes with a few unique Sony innovations that are surprisingly useful. Apart from the pleasantly different design that resembles a folded-over magazine, the balance of weight makes it feel surprisingly light. The tablet also doubles as a universal remote, and can easily control almost any device in your home, from a TV to automatic blinds. The first time you use the latter feature, it feels a little like magic. But what becomes clear using the Tablet S is that it excels at doing the things you already do, but more efficiently. Web browsing is generally slick and, as on other tablets, vastly more natural than on a phone or laptop. More impressive, though, is its integration with Google’s various properties, and the native apps for Gmail, Google Reader and Google+ are each in their own way better than comparable solutions on the iPad. Helping the Sony tablet’s case is a surprisingly good video store, and a growing array of games available from the Playstation Store. Is it on par with the iPad, though? Nope–and it’s not really Sony’s fault. At blame is Google’s Android operating system which, while excellent on smartphones, just isn’t ready for primetime on tablets, and is still prone to inexplicable hiccoughs and pauses. It’s a situation likely to soon change with the arrival of the next version, nicknamed Ice Cream Sandwich. But in the meantime, the Sony Tablet S is akin to workwear: impressively efficient and practical in many respects, but somewhat lacking in elegance. The iPad, by contrast, is at its best when you’re doing things that were either impossible or implausible before its invention: flipping through an animated storybook, or perusing a magazine version of your social feeds. It’s not that you can’t do that on Android, exactly. It just works better on the iPad, especially since those applications were developed for it first. It is, on first glance, that old tired line: Apple is about the aesthetic and creative, and Google and Microsoft et al are about the practical. Perhaps, in this instance it’s true. Though rolling through Google Reader feeds on my iPad now feels clunky and slow compared to the native app on Android, I would still much rather use Zite or Flipboard on Apple’s device to sit back and enjoy reading. It presents the tablet consumer with a strangely emotional choice between what is enjoyable and what is efficient. Naturally, in the strict sense, it’s a false choice as neither machine exclusively does one or the other. But it does speak to the way in which buying a product now also means buying into a mentality and a way of doing as much as buying the thing you hold in your hand. So if you’re heavily invested in Google’s myriad software products, want a slick controller for all your gear, and are just focused on getting things done, the Tablet S, especially at a comparatively reasonable $399 for the 16GB model, should certainly be on your list. If, however, you are concerned with the tablet as a new form of computing–or perhaps even a new form in general–the iPad, despite its relatively steep price tag, remains the one to get.
