SONY XPERIA TABLET Z

Sony opts for a minimalist rectangular design for the Xperia Tablet Z, which is pretty much just a larger version of the Xperia Z smartphone. The no-nonsense design actually works well in tablet form as, thanks to its ultra thin 6.9mm side profile, it’s light too at just 495g.

One minor concern with the chassis is that it has a fair bit of flex, which can be somewhat unnerving. However, it has the same glass fibre polyamide OmniBalance design that runs around the edges, so it should be able to survive a few knocks and drops.

Like the Xperia Z, the Tablet Z boasts an IP57 rating, which means it’s dust resistant and waterproof. However, this also means that all ports are sealed by a pull-tab when closed, which can be quite fiddly to open.

The Tablet Z runs a close-to-default version of Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean with a few of Sony’s tweaks. For example, the top left corner of the screen has a bar where you can slot four of your favorite apps for quicker access. You also can use Sociallife, a content aggregator that shows posts from the various social networking sites in a Flipboardlike style.

The 10.1-inch display of the Tablet Z comes with a lower resolution of 1,920 x 1,200 pixels, which falls short of the displays found on the iPad Air, Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition and Excite Write. The display delivers excellent contrast with deep blacks and vivid colors.

Running under the hood are a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 quadcore 1.5GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 6,000mAh battery. The matte black finish provides

extra grip.

DIMENSIONS