Sony has a long history of producing handsome products, but the company has had some trouble gaining market share. According to analyst reports, it's been trailing behind most handset manufacturers, despite the launch of its Xperia Z and ZL smartphones. But it's latest device, the Xperia Tablet Z, could help the give the company a bit of a boost, at least in the tablet sector.

The Xperia Tablet Z is Sony's diamond in the rough. It’s a beautiful tablet with clean lines and a feather-light chassis. It makes devices like Apple’s fourth-generation iPad feel antiquated just by its weight alone. But looks and feel aren't the only factors that can carry a gadget through to success. In Sony’s case, it’s competing in a market teeming with OEMs that are in a race to the bottom—the idea being that the cheapest tablet could sell the most units. But Sony is taking the opposite approach by producing a higher-end tablet at a premium price (a $500 price-point, to be exact). It's always been Sony's modus operandi to offer stylish products at a higher price than others, but whether it will be successful in the Android market remains to be seen. Will Sony see success with the Tablet Z? Let's find out.

Design



















Specs at a glance: Sony Xperia Tablet Z Screen 1920x1200 10.1-inch TFT Color LCD (224 ppi) OS Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean with Sony Xperia UI CPU Quad-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 RAM 2GB GPU Qualcomm Adreno 320 Storage 16, 32, or 64 GB NAND flash, expandable via microSD Networking 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, DLNA, optional 4G LTE Ports Micro-USB, headphones Camera 8MP rear camera, 2MP front camera Size 10.47" × 0.27" × 6.77" (266 × 6.9 × 172 mm) Weight 1.09 lbs. (495 g) Battery 6000 mAh Starting price $499.99 for 16GB, $599 for 32GB Sensor Ambient light sensor, GPS, thermometer, barometer, proximity sensor, gesture sensor, RGB light sensor Other perks Waterproof, MHL capable

The Xperia Tablet Z is a 10.1-inch beauty. It has some professional flair with its all-black casing, but its thin chassis gives it a youthful look. There is also a bit of space in between the screen and the edge of the body, so you can pick up the tablet without worrying that you'll accidentally activate something on-screen. When you turn off the screen, the difference between the screen and the edge of the tablet are indistinguishable, which is just another example of Sony's subtle design prowess.

At 495 grams, the tablet is one of the lightest devices we've held in a long time. At 0.27 inches thick, it even beats out the iPad in thinness. The Tablet Z feels good to hold, too. It’s easy to prop up against your knees as you lie back in bed to read, and its thin profile makes it a pleasure to carry around. We found it much easier to hold one-handed on the train ride in to work than an iPad. Of course, it’s still 10 inches wide, so you’ll need to account for that space in your bag.

The Tablet Z is also IPX5/7-qualified waterproof, which means you can take it with you into the shower to watch Arrested Development as you scrub away the day. Sony says that the device can handle up to three feet of water for up to 30 minutes without any cause for concern. We tested this feature last, just in case it was all false advertising. Happily, it was not.

Keep in mind, we did not have three feet of water to test this with and instead opted for a bathroom sink. I was a bit skeptical about dunking the Tablet Z, let alone leaving a faucet running over it. After about 20 minutes, I took the device out of the sink to dry it off. The water droplets slipped off as if the tablet had been covered in Ultra-Ever Dry. The touchscreen still functioned properly.

I noticed that if the display is on while it's under running water, it will interpret the pressure from the faucet as touch, which makes the app that's on-screen appear to have a mind of its own. I "accidentally dropped" the tablet into the faucet as it was filled with water while the device was playing an episode of Arrested Development on Netflix. The app first muted the sound and then paused the video; I can't tell if it did that automatically or if it registered the water as a finger telling it what to do. Either way, I suppose you won't have to worry about your tablet running out of battery life underwater.

Additionally, there are removable covers for each port to keep the water out. However, they tend to get in the way of general use, and it can actually become annoying to have to open them each time you need to access a port. For instance, some of my charging cords for the micro-USB port don't go in all the way. Because the port is placed on the bottom side of the device, it makes it difficult to casually sit with in landscape mode as it’s charging. The cord has a propensity to fall out as well.

As far as input goes, the Xperia Tablet Z features the aforementioned micro-USB slot, a headphone jack, and expandable storage via microSD. The tablet is MHL capable, which means you can hook up the device to an HD television and mirror it via HDMI with a compatible connector. It also features a 2MP front-facing camera and an 8MP rear-facing camera. Its power button and thin volume rocker (which I thought was a pop-out SIM slot at first glance) sit on the device's side. There's a notification light residing near the power button as well. You'll want to turn that off from within the settings menu because it's bright and highly distracting when you're trying to fall asleep.

Lastly, there are stereo speakers built into the bottom two corners of the device. I could watch movies and listen to music when the tablet was near me, but I wouldn't suggest using the Tablet Z as a replacement for a boombox. However, there are several options in the settings that can boost sound. Clear Phase automatically adjusts the sound quality of the internal speaker, while xLoud enhances the loudness of the speaker. You can also use the tablet's S-Force Front Surround 3D function, which virtually reproduces 3D sound. After these settings were turned on, the Tablet Z definitely produced a richer sound.

Display

The Xperia Tablet Z features an LED-backlit LCD display with Sony's Bravia Reality Display engine, essentially a post-processing engine that enhances photos and videos. You can turn this off and on from within the settings, but it didn't appear to make much of a difference to my naked eye. (I tried photographing it to show the difference, but the differences still seemed too subtle to show through.)

The tablet features a 1900x1200 resolution with 224 ppi. Its main rivals, the Nexus 10 and fourth-generation iPad, offer a 2560×1600 display at 300 ppi and a 2048×1536 display at 264 ppi, respectively. The device’s pixels-per-inch number is paltry on paper when compared to its competitors, but its display was nonetheless sharp and bright. I enjoyed reading Kindle e-books on the Tablet Z every night, and movies were easy to watch at any angle thanks to the gapless display.

On the highest brightness setting with the Bravia Reality Display engine engaged, the Xperia Tablet Z exhibited warmer colors than the third-generation iPad's high-contrast colors. Still, in general, the iPad is much brighter and its text is much crisper. You can physically see that the latter has more pixels in the image below. (Unfortunately, I didn't have the Nexus 10 on hand to do a side-by-side comparison.)

I also took the tablet outside in the sun to see if I could get some reading done—I even sat near the sprinklers since I knew the tablet would be safe. The Tablet Z is easily usable in broad daylight. Just be sure to use the white background on your e-book app of choice if you're planning to read out on the lawn.