Sony Tablet P on sale in UK

Sony’s Tablet P is now available to buy in the UK.

Sony’s new pair of tablets, the S and P models – the P is the one on the right of the picture – were revealed back at the start of September.

The Tablet P is the more novel of these Android offerings, as it offers something truly different from the standard slate – even if it does rather borrow the idea from the 3DS.

It actually consists of two 5.5 inch displays which fold closed like the Nintendo handheld, although these screens are far bigger than the 3DS.

The idea is more portability and flexibility, as the two screens can be used together to form one larger display for web browsing, or they can be used separately to run two different apps simultaneously.

For example, the user can run an email client on one of the displays, and a virtual keyboard to type with on the other.

It’s a clever little idea in theory, but exactly how useful the extra portability conferred by the device will be is debatable. Surveys have previously determined that a large number of iPad users rarely take their tablet out with them anyway.

The Tablet P boasts some smart hardware aside from the twin screens, including a 1GHz dual core processor and twin cameras (the main snapper being a 5 megapixel camera).

However, all this – and the Sony name – comes with a price, £499 to be precise. An ambitious asking price which doesn’t convince us that Sony will be shifting too many of these tablets.

Although given slow sales, that price tag may well drop soon.