I have to first start out this review by saying that unlike the other big blogs, we were not given a Sony Dash to review. So today, I headed on over to Best Buy where I bought a Sony Dash and I point this out to show our love here for Sony products and our commitment to you, our readers. Also, as to be expected, it took nearly 30 minutes to get what I wanted at Best Buy because god forbid anyone having a clue about products.

Ok. I’ve now spent about a good two to three hours with this product and I must say that I get it. I see what Sony was going for and what that final vision was. I’ve read on random blogs and on Facebook and such that the question is: why get the Sony Dash when there is an iPad? First, this is completely bogus. One unit is a table while the other is a stationary unit for the house that also has apps. In the end, these are two completely different units. The idea of the Sony Dash is the following: This unit can be in your bedroom, in your kitchen or wherever else. From there, the Sony Dash can display your Twitter and Facebook feed, it can show you your stocks, weather and news and even stream Youtube, Netflix and Amazon on Demand videos. Music streaming is brought to you buy Pandora and few other companies. I must also point out that Pandora does run on the background as well so while your Twitter feed might be up, you can rock away to your Pandora. Awesome.

Hit the jump for the complete Sony Dash Review.

The Package

Let’s back up now and start from the beginning. The first thing that I like about the Sony Dash is the packaging; it’s simple and clean. On the front, there is an attractive and simple picture of the Sony Dash that draws your eyes to it. The back states some of the things the product does and has some pictures to go along with that. This might seem like an odd thing to bring up, but hear me out. One of the things that Sony does with its products that it targets them to US/Japan/France usually. For anybody who has picked up a Sony case or headphones, they know that there is just so much writing on those packages that it’s beyond distracting. It’s just a clutter of words and it takes away from the experience of a simple product. The right box can have a big impact; just ask anybody who has bought an Apple product.

Main Setup

Once you plug in your unit it powers up to a beautiful display. There is an intro video that plays which is designed to give you an overview of the product. I actually like this a lot for of two reasons. Sometimes people grab what seems like a cool gadget but end up not understanding it and return it. This intro video captures your imagination and ties it in with the product. The clarity of the screen really kicks in and shows people the beautiful hardware Sony has put under the hood of the Dash.

The set up process is very simple. With its all-touchscreen interface, you select your location, click on your wireless network, use the keyboard that pops up for your password, and voila; within 2 minutes, your Dash is set up. There is a software update that needs to be done as soon as you start it up which takes about 10 minutes. You don’t really need to do anything during this time; just watch it while the bar goes across and reboots and does it one or two more times. No big deal. It just kinda sucks when you’re ready to play with it already. Once that is done, you’re brought to your home screen.

The home screen works in the following way: you are able to have up to 10 channels on the Dash, and within each channel, there is room for up to 10 apps. From the menu, you can select the given channel you wish to be in and those apps begin to cycle through. More on that in a minute.

On your right hand side, you will always have your weather, alarm and digital clock which is handy. From there, if you click on the weather (which displays just that days weather), it will take you to a full screen weather view that shows the entire weeks forecast. You can add up to 5 zip codes to your weather feed. On the main screen, the weather app will cycle between them. Once you click on the weather logo and go to full screen, you can then scroll through the different zip codes and see the given destination’s week forecast. Simple and clean.

If you choose to click on the clock, the Dash takes you to a full screen that can display two different time zones. It will also show you if an alarm is set on either of those time zones and display the weather. Again, if back on the main menu and you click on the alarm clock time, then it takes you to the alarm clock setup.

The alarm setup is actually very interesting; it’s a breeze to make it work. You can have multiple alarms and you can easily customize your clocks. If you would like it to repeat, you choose which days, and you can choose if you would like it to play a sound or music from your music or video list. More on this soon, too.

App Section

Now we jump back into the apps. At first, I was very skeptical of the fact that there was actually 1,000 apps available for the Sony Dash but surprisingly, there really is. In my mind, this is both its biggest strength and weakness. Some of the apps on the Dash just don’t work too well; they make the unit seem bloated and slow while others make it shine. Anybody familiar at all with the App Store or Android market will attest to this. Either way, you are able to bring up the App Store by simply clicking Themes & Apps, leaving you to browse and download new apps. One little issue I had with this is that in order for you to download the apps (and as far as I can tell, all are free unless you need an account like Netflix or Amazon on Demand), you need to visit Sony’s website (the URL is given on your Sony Dash screen) and register yourself an account. Again, it takes you out of the process of just wanting to click things. However, I can understand. I prefer looking at the apps on Sony’s website. It will be faster on your computer than on your Dash. While online, you can click on the apps you want to download, enter them in the given channel you wish and voila, your Sony Dash will mimic that. Keep in mind that you can do all of this from within the Sony Dash, but for me, online was simpler.

As I stated before, you have 10 channels that you can create. Best of all, you can name these channels. For example, I created one called Social Networking and it displays just two apps: my Twitter and my Facebook. Once you select a given channel on your Dash, the Dash will cycle through those given apps. I find it cool that you can tell it to either stay on a certain app for a given period of time or stay on it permanently. In case I want to view news, I created a News Channel. All the apps in there are news related; I selected around 8. I have set each of those to cycle every 45 seconds while I have my social networking channel set to stay on each app for 2 minutes.

Some of my favorite apps are Facebook, New York Times and Twitter. These are exactly what you expect. They include your status updates (yes, you can update your status and use the comment features), news stories, and tweets. These are simple, clean, and to the point. Some apps that amazed me were Pandora and Netflix (I can’t say anything about the Amazon on Demand since I don’t have an account). First, the Pandora: It’s exactly what you’re used to. Select an artist and it plays. If you have previous playlists and such, it will detect those as well (Again, this is kind of annoying but easy enough. When you click on Pandora, it tells you to visit Sony’s website to link your Sony Dash with your Pandora account). But this is what you would expect from the Pandora app. What I find fantastic is the capability for Pandora to play in the background. On top of your Dash is a wide button that states “MENU/SNOOZE”. Click that while in Pandora and you will be taken back to your  main screen while Pandora plays in the background. This is fantastic for when you’re in the bedroom or in your kitchen with your Dash. Another app that really blew me away was Netflix. Once you click on the app, it displays a code like all Netflix devices do and you go on their website to register the code. Within a minute, you’re up and running. What’s more fantastic is that it instantly shows your instant queue list;  you click it and it’s done. I was just watching Serenity, and wow. Big props go to Sony for the quality of this screen. I will get into the hardware more towards the end. The video looks superb on the screen. I could have easily sat there and watched all of Serenity; I might do that tonight in bed. You also have all of the regular features like pause, fast forward and rewind. Also, streaming on a G network was seamless. My Tivo unit is G and it stutters with Netflix but this little guy played it with no problem. That’s thanks to fantastic hardware.

There are a few other built in apps that I will mention along Pandora and Netflix. Slacker is another music streaming service. After selecting the built-in Video feature, you can see that there is currently a feed of just Michael Jackson videos, as well as Netflix, Amazon on Demand, YouTube, and blip.tv. This is another wow moment. With the Pandora/Slacker/Michael Jackson (video) feeds, you can tap the screen to bring up your normal controls. but watch the top right. You can add these to your alarm clock as well; your alarm clock can play the given Pandora set that you’ve created. Better yet, if you want to wake up to Michael Jackson’s Thriller video, you can set video for your alarm clock as well and this was just great. I’ve tested out and it works seamlessly. I’m going to be waking up to Billy Jean tomorrow.

In conclusion, the native apps for the Sony Dash work superbly while some of the others are a little more finicky and not as polished. This is not a good nor a bad thing; it’s just the way app stores work on all platforms.

The Hardware

Hardware is where the unit really shines. The screen is just gorgeous. Photos, videos and apps look superb on it. I just love the way Netflix videos look. The touchscreen itself is fantastic. I’ve been a little spoiled with touchscreen from Apple so I sometimes get very frustrated with some of my other touchscreen units because I look at my iPad or iPhone and compare them. The Sony Dash, however, is a winner. The speaker quality is also great for how small it is. Will you be using this during your next party? No (unless you run the audio out of the unit to your receiver/speakers), but for the room or kitchen, it’s great. Now, I’ve heard people complain that the wireless is B/G and not B/G/N. Although from a geek’s perspective it sucks that it dosent have N, it honestly dosent need it. Like I said, video and music stream just fine on it. Plus, nerd lesson 101: Wireless N is only good for streaming content between two devices, because even Wireless G can do between 54MPS and 108MPS. Nobody has the internet speed to support that, anyway.

This brings us to what’s lacking on the Sony Dash. I was a little curious when I saw there was no memory stick input and only 256MB for internal memory. How am I to add my own music or photos? In short, you can’t. To put your photos on it, you have to stream them from Flickr or Photobucket. For your music, you have to use some of the apps I mentioned earlier. Streaming from my own computer is something I would have loved and the ability to input a memory stick with photos would have meant that this could have been my digital frame as well. I personally don’t upload to Flickr, so this news was a damper, as was the fact that there is no music streaming. However, I can understand that the device is only $199. Maybe there can be a Sony Dash Pro with memory stick input and streaming capabilities. (Side note: you can stream photos to your Sony Dash, but you have to do it through a USB cord. However, in my opinion, that’s an ugly way).

I cannot help but think, and I know I’m beating a dead horse here, but it would have been awesome if the login the Sony Dash required was your PSN. For those who have a PSP or PS3, great. Done and done. And for those who don’t, great, this gets them one. Like I’ve said, Sony needs one unified service and PSN is that. Why not get everybody to sign up for only PSN instead of having a PSN account for some things and a Sony Connect account for others? Plus, how fantastic would it have been to have the PSN store on here and to be able to download comics, movies and shows on your Sony Dash? It makes PSN more valuable to the user and developers and makes the Sony Dash more desiring to the buyers when they see they have access to so much content.

Final Thoughts

The Sony Dash is a very interesting device that offers a lot of capabilities that are great to have around the house. Instead of turning on your phone or computer for the weather or music, your Dash can be right there to display those and much more. Is the product perfect? No; personally, the fact that I cannot put a memory stick directly into the device made me think twice, but the video apps won me over. What the Dash can do, it does it with flare, and that’s why I think every techie needs to have a Sony Dash in their house. If you want to see your social networks, weather, news and videos in one simple and beautiful touchscreen device, the Sony Dash is for you. If you want an modern alarm clock and modern unit next to your bed to wake up to, the Sony Dash is for you.

Update:

I cannot really stress how beautiful this LCD is. From every angle, the picture looks superbly vivid and colors stay true to their nature. Also, if you have any questions, feel free to hit us up on Twitter, Facebook or comment here and I’d love to respond back to you.