TECH REVIEW: Sony Xperia Tablet Z

<p>Sony have developed themselves a pretty spectacular tablet, one that can definitely rival its competitors and possibly blow them out the water, which is good as Sony claims that the Xperia tablet z is water resistant.</p> <p>by Newsdesk | 10 December 2013</p><p></p><p> </p><p><img src="http://www.thegayuk.com/communities/8/004/009/928/388/images/4603031706.jpg" width="460" height="324" alt="Sony Xperia Tablet Z" title="Sony Xperia Tablet Z"/></p> <p>First thoughts</p><p>Sharper, slimmer and faster than most of its competitors the Xperia Tablet Z does excel – and will keep you happy for most of your tablet needs.</p><p></p><p>With so many tablets around, the choice has always seemed that if you want a quality unit, consumers are limited to just Apple products - but Sony could snatch Apple’s crown with this tablet. As we pick the sparkling unit out of the box we note that the Xperia Tablet Z is much easier and lighter to hold than the iPad. </p> <p><img src="http://www.thegayuk.com/communities/8/004/009/928/388/images/4603031707.jpg" width="460" height="460" alt="Sony Xperia Tablet Z" title="Sony Xperia Tablet Z"/></p> <p></p><p>Features and Performance</p><p>On taking it out of the box we were surprised how good it actually looks – it has simple, clean sleek lines and its thinness feels good in the hands. A squarer affair than Apple’s rounded edges, for all purposes Sony’s tablet is a shiny black rectangle, which may not be everyone’s taste, but fits perfectly with Sony’s design ethic.</p><p></p><p>Oh and it’s slim. Did I mention its tiny dimensions? It’s currently the thinnest tab on the market. To give you an idea, the iPad is 9.4mm, Sony’s Xperia Tablet Z is a mere 6.9mm. Overall the tablet is longer and wider at 266mm x 172mm (10.5 x 6.8 inches) compared to the iPad at: 241.2mm x 185.7mm (9.5 x 7.3 inches). Which makes the unit perfect for widescreen viewing of your favourite movies and is the resolution any good? Well some purists might tell you that the screen resolution isn’t as good as some other pads or tablets, but we weren’t disappointed. </p><p></p><p>Now we’re told that the Sony Xperia Tablet Z is water resistant, so this is a tab that you can certainly take into the bath with you. Providing you have all the ports sealed with their waterproof plugs you will be ok. However it is very disconcerting to dunk your precious new tablet into water – but hey in for a penny. Sony claims you can submerse your Xperia Tablet Z in one metre of water for up to 30 minutes.</p><p></p><p>The Sony Xperia Tablet Z is powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, clocked at a hearty 1.5GHz. With 2GB of RAM, your pad will be kept running at goods speeds and without too many glitches.</p><p></p><p> </p><p><img src="http://www.thegayuk.com/communities/8/004/009/928/388/images/4603031708.jpg" width="460" height="460" alt="Sony Xperia Tablet Z" title="Sony Xperia Tablet Z"/></p> <p></p><p>Improvements</p><p>There are a few little bugbears here – its screen, like most tablets and pads attracts fingerprints like mad, although on consideration it is slightly better than other tabs in the market. From a design point of view, I’m really not sold on the waterproof port plugs, they feel clunky and cheapen the product and feel like they may break off over time. Also because of its slimness the tablet does feel like it could snap, where other products might survive – for instance if you were to accidently sit on it. </p><p></p><p>It’s super fast, highly glossy and feels like the grown up’s tablet, which is sure to turn heads in the styles department and has options for you to grow the size of your storage with the use of SD cards.</p><p></p><p>The Positive</p><p>Light</p><p>Great screen size </p><p>True stereo sound</p><p>Sleek Design</p><p>Water resistant</p><p>Grow your strorage size with SD slot</p><p></p><p>The negatives</p><p>Average battery life</p><p>Charging takes an age</p><p>Not as powerful as its competitors</p><p></p><p>Pricing</p><p>£99 on Vodafone Mobile Broadband price plans for £32 per month including 2GB of data</p><p></p><p>Our Rating</p><p>★★★★</p><p></p><p></p><p>Specifications</p><p>Size: 172mm by 266mm</p><p>Thickness: 6.9 mm</p><p>Screen size: 10.1 inches / 256mm </p><p>Weight: 495g</p><p></p><p>Display & Camera</p><p>Back camera: 8.1 Megapixel</p><p>Front camera: 2.2 Megapixel</p><p>Display type: TRT Colour LCD</p><p>Resolution: 1920 x 1200</p><p></p><p>Storage: 16GB or 32GB</p><p>Memory: 2GB</p><p></p><p>Headset jack: Yes</p><p>Memory card slot: Micro SD </p><p>USB type: MicroUSB-AB</p><p>FM radio: Yes</p><p>Stereo internal speakers: Yes</p><p></p><p>Battery </p><p>Charing time: 6.5 hours</p><p>Standby: Up to 890*</p><p>Music listening time: Up to 110 hours*</p><p>Video playback time: Up to 9 hours 50 mins*</p><p></p><p>* Manufacturers figures</p><p></p><p>Available to buy <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CGFWH0S/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=B00CGFWH0S&linkCode=as2&tag=th052-21">online here</a></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p> </p>