Xperia Tablet S back on sale in the UK

Posted on 29 Nov 2012 at 17:37, by Tom Morgan

Sony's Xperia Tablet S is once again available to buy in the UK, weeks after the company pulled it from shelves to solve an issue with its splash-proof seal.

We got our first look at the Xperia Tablet S when Sony revealed it at this year's IFA show in Berlin, where its splash-proof design was a major talking point. However, the first production run suffered from a manufacturing flaw that meant small gaps between the 9.4in display and the casing, letting water inside.

Sony promised to repair or replace all the affected tablets that had already sold, and promptly pulled the remaining stock from stores. Around 100,000 tablets had been released worldwide before the flaw came to light.

Now the issue has been fixed, Sony has relaunched the tablet just in time for the Christmas rush, making it available to buy through Sony's online store. It carries over the unique tapered design from Sony's original Tablet S and is powered by an 1.4GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 processor and 1GB of RAM. As well as a 16GB model with integrated 3G SIM card slot (£429) there are three Wi-Fi only models to choose from: 16GB for £329, 32GB for £379 or 64GB for £449.

However, with budget tablets including the Kindle Fire HD and Nexus 7 costing half the price, and 10in competition from the likes of Apple's new iPad and the Nexus 10 launching while the Sony tablet was off the shelves, the Xperia Tablet S may struggle to find a place in the market in time for the holidays.