Year 2011 is indeed going to be a year of tablets. The latest entrant in the segment is Sony. The company CEO, in his recent interview,
fired up the rumors that it may launch its Android tablet as early as this summer.
The company had hinted at its tablet ambitions earlier too, but this time over, it has given more concrete launch period. Apparently, the Japanese electronics giant is vying to capture No. 2 spot in the tablet market by the end of this year. We are relieved that at least Sony did not claim to come up with a yet another iPad killer. So far, we only have vague idea about the specs of the upcoming tablet, which is likely to come with 3D features. The tablet will run on 3.0 version of Android aka Gingerbread. The 9.4 inch tablet is expected to have Nvidia's Tegra 2 processor. It is also expected to have Sony' recently launched Qriocity media streaming function. Coming from the stable of Sony, the tablet is also likely to be a tough gaming horse.
However, Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer did not dish out the details about his company's products only. Albeit accidently, he also let it slip that Apple's iPhone 5 may come equipped with a much powerful 8 MP camera. Of course, the camera will be supplied by Sony. The rumor seems credible given that the smartphone market is now getting flooded with more and more powerful handsets. The phones with 4+ inches screen and 5 MP+ cameras are now becoming more of a norm and less of an exception.
While talking with the Wall Street Journal, Stringer said that its Sendai facility has been affected by the recent natural catastrophe in Japan. The company manufactures image sensors in its Sendai facility and the CEO went on to say that the supply of image sensors to its partner companies may be delayed due to this reasons. Incidentally, he used Apple as an example, though the company currently does not supply any such sensors to Apple. Since, the tentative unveiling date of iPhone 5 is drawing nearer, we just have to wait to see if the rumor turns out to be true.