Sony Dash Review
Pros: Soft touchscreen, crisp and bright, Netflix, facebook, Twitter and AOD apps
Cons: No battery, crashes with too many apps, little slow, few apps to choose from,
The Sony Dash "Personal Internet Viewer" Isn't really a tablet. It's more like a “night-stand-internet-app-access-window”. I bought this right after the 2nd gen Dash came out so the price dropped from $199 to $139 with free shipping from Amazon Prime. It’s currently selling for under $100 on Amazon. The main reason I wanted this was for the Netflix streaming app and the built in alarm clock. I needed a new alarm clock and wanted something I could lay in bed with and watch Netflix movies so the Sony Dash killed two birds with one stone. I later found out it also has an Amazon’s VOD service (which is free with Amazon Prime) so my purchase feels very justified.
With all the tablets on the market the Sony Dash will hardly feel innovative but you get exactly what you pay for. A sharp, bright 7-inch touch screen (the screens on all Sony products are remarkable) with an easy to use interface. There is no OS running on the Dash, so everything you use will need to be “downloaded” as an app. This is the biggest inconvenience with the Dash because this must be done from a computer. You cannot add and subtract apps from the device itself. You need to go to Sony’s website, make an account, put in the unique code that comes with your Dash and then you can add apps like, Facebook, Twitter and Netflix. Every app you install, you can cycle them on a timer during the day. So your Facebook app will show the last few status updates of your friends, and then after 30 seconds cycle to your twitter feed. It’s a neat idea for a glorified alarm clock. There are also weather apps, customizable alarm clocks where you can wake up to videos or music or MP3s and a surprisingly useful and intuitive built in digital keyboard.
The power cord is long enough to plug into your wall and have plenty of slack to lay in bed and watch movies with it. I am very happy Sony had the insight to make this with a long power cord, otherwise I am not sure how useful this Dash would be. There is no battery backup though, so if you do reach the end of the slack on the power cord and accidently unplug it, the Dash will shut off and take forrreeeveeer to boot back up again.
A weird aspect of the Dash that does not make sense is there is no web browser. Why call it an “internet viewer” without any real access to the internet unless it’s through a pre-configured app? If there were more apps, this would not be such a large complaint but as far as I can tell, no one is adding apps to their “MyEssentials” Site where you need to add and remove apps. Another problem is internal memory- I had a problem with the Dash rebooting randomly as it sat on my nightstand. My conclusion was there were too many apps installed because when I removed a few, the problem went away.
I was happy with the $139 price point, but if anyone is looking for an alarm clock that you can also use to browser social media, watch movies and listen to music, the Sony Dash might be a good fit.
With all the tablets on the market the Sony Dash will hardly feel innovative but you get exactly what you pay for. A sharp, bright 7-inch touch screen (the screens on all Sony products are remarkable) with an easy to use interface. There is no OS running on the Dash, so everything you use will need to be “downloaded” as an app. This is the biggest inconvenience with the Dash because this must be done from a computer. You cannot add and subtract apps from the device itself. You need to go to Sony’s website, make an account, put in the unique code that comes with your Dash and then you can add apps like, Facebook, Twitter and Netflix. Every app you install, you can cycle them on a timer during the day. So your Facebook app will show the last few status updates of your friends, and then after 30 seconds cycle to your twitter feed. It’s a neat idea for a glorified alarm clock. There are also weather apps, customizable alarm clocks where you can wake up to videos or music or MP3s and a surprisingly useful and intuitive built in digital keyboard.
The power cord is long enough to plug into your wall and have plenty of slack to lay in bed and watch movies with it. I am very happy Sony had the insight to make this with a long power cord, otherwise I am not sure how useful this Dash would be. There is no battery backup though, so if you do reach the end of the slack on the power cord and accidently unplug it, the Dash will shut off and take forrreeeveeer to boot back up again.
A weird aspect of the Dash that does not make sense is there is no web browser. Why call it an “internet viewer” without any real access to the internet unless it’s through a pre-configured app? If there were more apps, this would not be such a large complaint but as far as I can tell, no one is adding apps to their “MyEssentials” Site where you need to add and remove apps. Another problem is internal memory- I had a problem with the Dash rebooting randomly as it sat on my nightstand. My conclusion was there were too many apps installed because when I removed a few, the problem went away.
I was happy with the $139 price point, but if anyone is looking for an alarm clock that you can also use to browser social media, watch movies and listen to music, the Sony Dash might be a good fit.
