Roughly a month ago, Vaio indirectly revealed what was to be its next masterpiece: a high-spec, high-end hybrid tablet that’s supposed to be “designed for creative professionals”. No further details were leaked at the time, but at the Adobe Max 2014 event, the company finally revealed more about this rumored product.
The prototype tablet has no official name yet, but if the image above looks awfully familiar, perhaps it is due to the form factor and overall design bearing a striking resemblance to the Vaio Tap 11. In fact, Vaio technically regards the upcoming tablet as its official successor, from the basic block-type design to the keyboard’s layout, and right up to its standard digital pen. The only visual difference now of course is the slightly enlarged screen size, and new logos which are plastered all over the product.
But as similar as its looks may seem to be, it is the innards that evidently makes the big difference. The prototype shown in the announcement was powered by Intel’s quad-core Haswell processor and Iris Pro Graphics, with an SSD and a minimum of 4GB DDR3 RAM. Its 12.3-inch screen has a resolution of 2560×1704, at 250 pixels per inch. Being faithful to its build as a creative design/productivity tool, its screen provides more than 95% Adobe RGB color gamut coverage, as well as of course having its obligatory digital pen. Think of it as slightly enlarged Vaio Tap 11, but with the innards of a Vaio Z ultrabook.
Vaio restarted business operations as a separate commercial entity with the initial goal of continuing the distribution of Sony’s previous notebook PC models (prior to being sold off). The move may have preserved the product line, but it didn’t really solve the brand’s inherent problems, nor it had done anything much to deviate the new company from its former roots. With the announcement of its new tablet PC, we may see more of what the company really is, and how it would be different from now on as a separate brand.
Additionally, the Vaio tablet prototype shown has a thinness that is reported to be thicker than the Microsoft Surface 3, but thinner than the Vaio Pro 13. There were no specific measurement values due to the fact that it is still a prototype. VAIO also claimed that the new tablet would at least have a battery life that’s on a competitive level with that of the Microsoft Surface 3.
No finalized specific release dates are announced yet, and the VAIO prototype tablet may still undergo a few more tweaks and fixes before it would be commercially available.
