- Conclusion Get the lowdown
- Features How they compare
- Performance Real world benchmarks
- Differences Technical showdown
- Reviews Word on the street
- Competition Others to consider
- Discussion Answers and opinions
Compare with...
- Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1
- Apple iPad 3
- Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF300
- Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1"
- Asus Eee Pad Transformer Infinity TF700
- 9.4"
- 64 GB
- WiFi 3G
- Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
Released September, 2012
Rated 76% by by The Verge (Sep, 2012)The Xperia Tablet S is fast and responsive, and is particularly adept for playing games — I'm getting really good at Shadowgun as I test more and more tablets, and it's as smooth and impressive on the Xperia Tablet's display as any I've tried.
by TrustedReviews (Nov, 2012)It’s light too at just 308g (0.68lkbs) – less than half the weight of the iPad 3 - and with a thickness of 7.2mm it’s mighty thin too.
Conclusion Which is better for you?
Features Key features of the Sony Xperia Tablet S compared to the Apple iPad mini
“9.4
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
Rated 76% by by The Verge (Sep, 2012)It's the same size and resolution as the previous Tablet S, and it's still a very good display.
7.9”
iOS 6
Rated 100% by by tina (Jan, 2013)love the nice slim look, not heavy when you traveling a must have when youre always on the go and need the internet.
screen size
9.4"
7.9"
Xperia Tablet S by The Verge (Sep, 2012)The 9.4-inch display is surrounded by a big, glossy black bezel, with a Sony logo placed above the screen and to the left.
iPad mini by Crabigail-Cassidy--Crabby-Abby (Nov, 2012)It makes this the perfect device to use as an ereader because it can be held in one hand, yet it has the full functionality of a full size iPad minus advanced retina display.
screen resolution
Xperia Tablet S by The Verge (Sep, 2012)But at the end of the day, the $399 Xperia Tablet S is double the price of the Nexus 7, a tablet with virtually identical specs (even the screen is the same resolution, though it's smaller), Google's latest and greatest OS, and the promise of timely updates in the future.
iPad mini by Fatmir-Sadiku--Fatmir (Dec, 2012)I cannot imagine what a package like this will look like with retina display, looking FWD to that (this one looks very good too, not retina but much better than the Ipad 2).
memory
| 0 GB | 1 GB | 1 GB |
camera resolution
| 0 MP | 1.2 MP | 2 MP |
Xperia Tablet S by The Verge (Sep, 2012)Both are exactly what they need to be, and nothing more: the rear camera takes decent shots in a pinch, and the front camera is fine for video chat.
iPad mini by Jason-Baker--Jason-Baker (Nov, 2012)The iSight 5 megapixel camera takes great pictures and shoots decent movies for what it is.
processor
Xperia Tablet S by TrustedReviews (Sep, 2012)You now get a quad-core Tegra3 chip, up from the dual-core of the original Tablet S. You only get 1GB of RAM, though, and no 3G option.
iPad mini by Scott-Showalter+ Processor: A5 (dual core) vs. A6X (dual core with quad core graphics) - same as the new iPod touch, but not quite as powerful as the latest iPad, yet it doesn't need to be because the iPad mini display totes a quarter as many pixels!
Performance Real world tests of Sony Xperia Tablet S vs Apple iPad mini
cpu speed
Xperia Tablet S by The Verge (Sep, 2012)Nvidia's Tegra 3 processor is inside most of the tablets I've tested in the last six months, and they pretty much all work the same.
battery life
10 hour
10 hour
Xperia Tablet S by The Verge (Sep, 2012)I watched an entire season of How I Met Your Mother (23 20-minute episodes, a little less than eight hours), plus a couple of Breaking Bad episodes and one of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, before the battery finally croaked — that's about 10 solid hours of watching movies.
iPad mini by alspachslOn my first charge I got over 15 hours of usage (which included a lot of internet surfing and video watching) and on my second charge I already have over 5 hours of usage and 62% battery charge left.
Differences What are the advantages of each
Advantages compared to the Apple iPad mini
| More cores | Quad core | vs | Dual core |
|---|---|---|---|
| Twice as many cores; run more applications at once | |||
| More storage capacity | 64 GB | vs | 32 GB |
| 2x more storage capacity; Holds more music, movies and photos | |||
| Bigger screen | 9.4" | vs | 7.9" |
| Around 20% bigger screen | |||
| Supported card formats | SD, SDHC, SDXC | vs | None |
| Supports supported card formats | |||
| Supports multitasking | Yes (Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich) | vs | No (iOS 6) |
| Somewhat common; Run multiple apps at once | |||
| Significantly higher resolution rear camera | 8 MP | vs | 5 MP |
| 60% higher resolution rear camera; Can be used like a point-and-shoot camera | |||
| Supports Adobe Flash | Yes (Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich) | vs | No |
| Somewhat common; Many games and videos on the Internet require Adobe Flash | |||
| Significantly faster processor | 1.4 GHz | vs | 1 GHz |
| Around 40% faster processor; run computation-intensive applications, such as photo editing, faster | |||
| Has an open source operating system | Yes (Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich) | vs | No (iOS 6) |
| Somewhat common; Allows you the freedom to use your tablet however you like | |||
| Supports face unlock | Yes (Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich) | vs | No (iOS) |
| Somewhat common; bypass PIN entry, easier to unlock with one hand | |||
| More RAM | 1 GB | vs | 0.5 GB |
| Twice as much RAM; Better able to run big apps with lots of content | |||
| Higher resolution screen | 1280 x 800 | vs | 1024 x 768 |
| More than 30% higher resolution screen | |||
Advantages compared to the Sony Xperia Tablet S
| Much faster Bluetooth | 24 Mbit/s (Bluetooth v4.0) | vs | 3 Mbit/s (Bluetooth v3.0) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8x faster Bluetooth | |||
| Lighter | 308 g | vs | 585 g |
| Around 50% lighter | |||
| Smaller | 135 x 200 x 7 mm | vs | 240 x 174 x 12 mm |
| 2.6x smaller | |||
| Thinner | 7 mm | vs | 12 mm |
| Around 40% thinner | |||
| Slightly higher resolution front camera | 1.2 MP | vs | 1 MP |
| Around 20% higher resolution front camera; Video chat with other people | |||
| Marginally newer | Nov, 2012 | vs | Sep, 2012 |
| Release date 1 months later | |||
Reviews Word on the street
Sony Xperia Tablet S | Apple iPad mini | ||
 |  
| 
| |
|---|---|---|---|
Competition What else you should consider
 | 1 | Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 Faster sunspider 0.9.1 benchmark |
 | 2 | Apple iPad 3 Highest resolution screen |
 | 3 | Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF300 2-way tie: Has a microphone jack |
 | 4 | Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1" 5-way tie: Biggest screen |
 | 6 | Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 2-way tie: High resolution front camera |
 | 7 | Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 7-way tie: Supports Flash |
 | 8 | Sony Tablet S 6-way tie: Supports face unlock |
