by Phoenix, HSM team writer

Digital Paper is Sony’s next-generation tablet gamble.

Fresh on the heels of PS4’s worldwide success, Sony is posed to release its new baby, Digital Paper. For those in the know: Digital Paper is being heralded as the tablet to have. For those not so in the know Digital Paper is the next gen of tablets.

Sony’s new tablet, creatively entitled Digital Paper, is the lightest lightweight tablet out there, weighing a scant 357 gms (or 12.6 0z); and that is no mean feat, but possible as it uses some of the newest technology available. Digital Paper could be the first tablet to use a flexible e-ink display. Sony wanted to use a glass surface, but as we all know, glass is heavy and costly, and when in its thinnest form it becomes brittle. Glass had too many issues, but is the look Sony wanted. Sony had to find a way around this in order for the writing surface of  Digital Paper to have the appeal they wanted — and they did.

But that isn’t the only difference in the design and function between Sony’s next gen tablet and the other tablets on the market today.

Digital Paper is due to hit markets in May 2014, with a price tag of $1100. Sony’s display will be on a flexible substrate; it’s not quite rolling it up and putting it in your pocket, but it’s an important step in that direction. For E-ink tablets, Digital Paper is a properly big deal.

The display is 13.3 inches diagonally, which is virtually the size of a piece of paper. It will have a resolution of 1600 x 1200, with the ability to display a grayscale of 16 levels. This is all possible because of the plastic substrates that will be used. The manufacturing techniques use new materials and lower temperatures to create this surface. This keeps the cost down and creates a lighter and more flexible, resistant surface. This tablet will not be your average stiff board tablet. Just how much flexibility Digital Paper will actually have remains to be seen, but it will likely have more flex than, say, an iPad. Survival rates from sitting on it or dropping something onto it are reportedly very high. I wouldn’t count on it being rolled up and stuffed into a pocket or a poster tube just yet, however.

PDF seems to be the basic file format for Digital Paper so far, but it is said to come with software that will convert programs like Excel and PowerPoint to PDF files, like Word does. Other specs identified include a battery that holds a charge of three weeks(!), a 4GB internal storage and micro SD slot. Stylus input is present, which should be accurate and in high-resolution; whether there will be issues with latent e-ink refresh are yet to be seen. That in itself may be a nail-biter for some users. Digital Paper lets you handwrite notes on its surface, using e-ink. You can pull up files anywhere and share, save or sync them with whomever you need to, since they are stored to a repository. Wi-Fi is built in, and there is of course stylus input support.

For more info, reference here.

As it stands, Sony’s Digital Paper appears be the answer to the tablet world as PS4 has been to the next gen console world: simply ahead of the curve.

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