June 17, 2013
Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback! I picked up the Sony Xperia Z tablet in black with 16GB storage during a recent business trip.I haven't been using a tablet regularly in the past 6 months, but when I last did it was the iPad 3. I've also used the Microsoft Surface RT (http://goo.gl/J4SBr) and several Android tablets namely the Acer Iconia A500 (http://goo.gl/NtnQ5), Asus Transformer Prime (http://goo.gl/MHX3h) and Nexus 7 (http://goo.gl/hIcSm) extensively in the past.I've generally been frustrated by the limitations, hardware and software wise, of tablets while of course appreciating their portability and, in most cases, excellent battery life (especially the iPad and the Surface RT).My current laptop is the Chromebook Pixel and phone the HTC One.One more preface before I jump into the review itself: I've given up on the hope of the tablet being a multi-purpose device that can truly replace a laptop which is something I've been wanting for a long time: Apple limits the iPad's potential in this area with the way iOS works, Windows RT (and 8) has a long way to go, Android even further. Hardware form factors are getting there (even if overall performance is still somewhat wanting) but the software that most tablets run on isn't ready for this scenario. Therefore I've approached this review by looking at the Xperia Tablet Z as a companion computing device rather than a primary one, which, I guess, is what most manufacturers intend them to be.The first thing one notices about the Xperia Z is how thin it is and then, when picking it up, how impossibly light it is. Power it up and the crisp, bright, colorful (but not over saturated) screen completes the picture - it is a work of art and Sony have outdone themselves from an industrial design perspective. Their material choices such as a soft touch back and ergonomic decisions such as rounded edges, power button placement put the finishing touches and, given that the tablet is water and dust proof, little covers conceal all the ports making the device appear almost seamless.It of course has front and rear-facing cameras. The front is very well optimized and suited for video chats and the rear one is of reasonable quality and more than does the job for document scanning and other things that one might need to use a camera on a tablet for.Out of the box it was running Android 4.1.1 a recent update pushed this up to 4.1.2. There are quite a lot of pre-installed apps, mostly Sony's media offerings and a few that they're promoting, almost all can easily be uninstalled. Sony has also applied a fairly light skin to Android and added a few features such as quick control menu for launching mini-apps (similar to Samsung) accessible from any home screen. I haven't found myself using these much but their presence is unobtrusive. One rather useful one is a universal remote that is pre-programmed to work with equipment from most major manufacturers and can be trained to learn the commands from anything with an IR remote. This is clever and useful.Sony has also changed the keyboard and while it is adequate I replaced it with Swiftkey which is much better but introduced an odd quirk of Android on tablets: when typing, especially with the split keyboard in thumb mode, it is all too easy to accidentally tap the keyboard input selection button located at the bottom right of the screen next to the notification bar and which brings up a menu, interrupting the typing experience. They should simply do away with this button as it is a fairly pointless feature. Note: a recent software update to SwiftKey has fixed this.Other than that the tablet has been a joy to use and plays to all of Android's inherent strengths as an OS while also (finally) giving it the hardware it deserves to be a prime time mobile computing device.Watching movies is a great experience on the 16:9 screen, the speakers are also very good with fairly unique placement at the bottom left and right with grills facing both down and to the side and offering discernible stereo separation. If outputting video (or using an external monitor) is something one wants to do with a tablet then this is where this one falters a bit. It supports one of the over micro-USB standards (MHL or the other one, I can't remember, too confusing) and wireless screen mirroring IF you have a recent Sony TV. I'm sure it also does DLNA but that's another standard that has never delivered on its promise.Speaking of standards that haven't delivered, the tablet also supports NFC.Redundant standards aside the Xperia Tablet Z is a great device. It runs extremely fast, with none of the lag that has previously plagued Android tablets, supports pretty much any media type you can throw at it, is so thin and light that you can take it anywhere without noticing and is priced to compete effectively with anything else of quality that's out there.The tablet app offering for Android has improved significantly from the last time I used a big Android tablet, it's still way behind iOS but the basics are more than adequately addressed.Anyone looking for a tablet and wants something that offers greater flexibility software-wise than iOS and with a very different hardware experience should give the Xperia Tablet Z strong consideration.