Sony may have avoided getting into the whole Windows Phone thingy, but they will get a solid slice out of Windows 8, it appears. I have to remind you that back at CES this year, the company showed off a hybrid tablet with Windows 8, a sliding design that’s shown below. The device could be used as a tablet with the screen down or the screen could slide up and a QWERTY keyboard would be available.

Samsung had a similar device in the making, but in the end it didn’t reach the market… or maybe it’s still being adjusted for Windows 8. ASUS launched the Eee Pad Slider last year and the concept was greatly praised, so it would be a pity to limit that design to the Android world. Although Sony’s hybrid was a prototype at CES, the guys of Pocketnow found an ad for a similar product, the Vaio U Series, that looks like that device just got closer to a store release.

The device is placed in the U Series, that Sony reserves for its portable computers. The ad shows an USB port on the right side of the hybrid, a front facing camera at the top right, a Home button on the left side and mouse buttons in front of the keyboard. A nub mouse is also placed in the center of the keyboard and speculations say this is clearly a Windows 8 model. Will this model manage to sell more units than the relatively popular ASUS Eee Pad Slider?