The Sony Xperia M2 is the follow up to the popular mid-range
handset that saw the company trying a number of different suffixes and
hoping one stuck for those that don't want to spend a lot of money.
When
you pick up the Xperia M2, you're instantly struck with that opinion.
It's not a phone with a lot of style when compared to the likes of the
Xperia Z2, but at the same time, it uses the same design language well.
The
Omnibalance look (which mostly boils down to the unique power key) is
in effect here, and does lend an element of premium packaging to
proceedings, bringing a much better phone than the still-popular
predecessor, the Xperia M.
The
only reason that it doesn't feel overly premium in the hand is that
it's a slightly chunkier beast, coming in at 8.6mm compared to the razor
thin 6.4mm thickness of the Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet, for example. It's
also got a slightly smaller screen than the other premium phones on the
market, and that display is packed with fewer pixels. If you've never
spent a lot of time with a phone that uses an HD screen, then you might
not see the problem, but the qHD offering here is definitely sub par
compared and looks a little washed out and overexposed.
Still, when it's shipping for under €220 (around £180 / $300
/ AU$335) and can run 4G, Sony thinks that such things won't matter -
and I'm inclined to agree. The phone is solid, has a 4.8-inch screen and
an 8.1MP camera that uses a lot of the same trickery as it's more
powerful brothers. The
Exmor RS sensor helps boost the low light performance, and the general
speed with which things are done seems pretty good considering it's only
running a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chipset, which is a little low even
for a phone at this price. It's essentially running the same chipset as the Moto G,
an arguably better phone that costs nearly half the price. Sony is
trying to chip away at this price lead by bundling in a number of extras
(three movies from its store do help somewhat, although the fact you
get six with the new Z2 phone and tablet is slightly galling) and 30
days free trial to Sony Music Unlimited. The
Sony Xperia M2, while carrying the same Omnibalance design language
that extends to similar amounts of covers to protect the ports, oddly
isn't waterproof as well, which begs the question of why some of those
are there.
They do keep the body looking sleeker, but it
would have been a great selling point to say you could put the M2 in
the dishwasher. The
dedicated camera key is pleasing too, and shows that Sony is still
staying true to its promise of keeping this on most Android phone to
make it easier to shoot a quick snap when you need to. The
camera app is also pretty well-stocked as it offers the likes of HDR
mode as well as the more gimmicky features like TimeShift Burst, which
does give the impression that the M2 is a solid part of the Sony family.
The Xperia M2 Dual has Dual SIM with Dual Call support (but without the LTE connectivity)
Android 4.3 Jelly Bean (planned upgrade to Android 4.4 KitKat)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chipset with quad-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A7 processor, Adreno 305 GPU and 1GB of RAM
8MP camera, single LED flash, 1080p video recording, dedicated hardware shutter key
VGA front-facing camera with video recording
8GB of built-in storage, expandable via the microSD card slot
Active noise cancellation with a secondary microphone
2,300 mAh battery; STAMINA Power Saving Mode
Main disadvantages
Resolution is relatively low for this screen size
No Android KitKat on launch
Non user-replaceable battery
The Sony Xpria M2 sounds quite convincing on paper. A modern
midranger, almost by the book. The OmniBalance design Sony introduced
with the Xperia Z back in 2013 rules out a removable battery, but we
guess that's the price to pay for looks and feel above the pay grade. Sony Xperia M2 live pictures
The lack of KitKat will likely be sorted soon enough - the Xperia M2
update is already in development and should be out in the summer. That
leaves us with the issue of screen resolution. Now qHD certainly sounds
on the low side when spread across a 4.8" diagonal but the truth is,
it's probably enough for many. We are sure a lot of you will go for size
over pixel density - especially at the right price.
We'll get to that but first things first. Take the jump to our hardware checkup.
User interface
The Sony Xperia M2 comes with Android 4.3 out of the box, while the
company has promised the Android 4.4 KitKat update is already in the
works. The software package looks very much the same whatever the
Android version and that's why everything would feel and seem so
familiar if you've ever used a recent Sony smartphone.
The lockscreen is the usual affair - it supports widgets (one per
pane), while the rightmost pane will fire up the camera. There are a few
available default widgets, but you can always get more from the Play
Store. Also third party apps oftentimes come with their own set of extra
widgets.
Naturally, you can protect your lockscreen by Face, Pattern, PIN or Password unlock, in ascending order of security. The lockscreen and its options
The Xperia M2 lets you add or remove homescreen panes (you start with
five) and set any of them as default. You can't have more than seven
panes at any given time though, nor can you change the order they're in. Adding stuff to the homescreens is very easy
Adding stuff on the homescreen is easy, as it is the customization.
You can set various live and static wallpapers, add widgets and
shortcut, or change the UI theme. Available UI themes • download more themes
The notification area features a few toggles (Sound, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi
and Brightness by default). There's also a quick shortcut to the
settings menu. The toggles are customizable and you can choose between
16 different quick toggles and have up to 10 of them visible in the
notification area across two rows of shortcuts. You can even opt out of
having the Settings key, which is nice. The notification area and settings
The app drawer is laid out across multiple pages and you can sort the
apps manually, alphabetically, by the most used or most recently
installed. The menu with those settings is accessible via a swipe from
the left edge of the screen and you can also search apps and even
uninstall apps from there. The app drawer
The Xperia M2 uses the stock Android task manager that lets you
switch between recently opened apps, as well as terminate them with a
side-swipe.
The so-called "small apps" are also available in the Xperia M2 and
are accessible via the task manager. They are similar to Samsung's Mini
Apps, and pop up tiny widget-like applications on your homescreen, which
you can move around and use without having to open the full-fledged
app. So far, there's a default set of nine: Active Clip, Chrome
Bookmarks, Browser, Calculator, Calendar, Gmail, Timer, Notes, and Voice
Recorder. You can launch only one instance of a Small App, but you can
open multiple Small Apps simultaneously. The task switcher • Small Apps list • Small apps in action
You can download more Small Apps off the Play Store or use the option
to turn your favorite widgets into Small Apps. Just hit the Plus key at
the top of the list and choose a widget.
Finally, Google Now integrates with your Google account and can
access your daily routine, internet searches, email, etc. and give you
information relevant to your interests and daily needs. Google Now
It provides traffic information to your work or home, knows the
scores of sports teams you follow and gives you the weather forecast for
your location. It's great for at-a-glance info, but can handle voice
input as well. It also has a dedicated homescreen/lockscreen widget.
The user interface is buttery smooth, there is no visible lag or long
loading times. The Sony launcher is lightweight and, combined with the
snappy chipset, you'll get great UI experience. The upcoming Android 4.4
KitKat and its optimizations might even make things even faster.
The lightest, slimmest and water-resistant-est tablet on the market
The Sony Xperia Tablet Z is a super-light device designed to
take on the iPad with a quality screen and innovative features - but is
the price too high?
But when it comes to tablets, the
world of Android is a funny old place.. There have been plenty of
pretenders, but not really one that stands out when it comes to market
share in the way the iPad does. And it's a wrong Sony is determined to
put right with the Xperia Tablet Z.
Sony has tried before - the Xperia Tablet S,
Sony's most recent foray, was a decent if uninspiring effort. But as
with others, it failed to stand out in a world full of challengers. Time
for the Sony Xperia Tablet Z to improve on this.
The
first thing we noticed when we took the Sony Xperia Tablet Z out of its
box was how beautiful it was. We don't want to sound gushing, but as
gadget lovers, we have unboxed a lot of devices. Yet it's on only a few
occasions that we've taken something out of its box and instantly been
smitten with it.
We're thinking of the way we felt with the first iPhone (and the iPhone 4), the Nexus One, the iPad 2
and the HTC One. Certain devices just have the power to evoke a strong
reaction that makes you feel instantly transfixed. The Sony Xperia
Tablet Z definitely comes under that category.
But it won't come cheap. The 16GB Wi-Fi-only model will set
you back £399/US$499.99/AU$539, the 32GB Wi-Fi version costs
£449/US$599.99/AU$649 and the 16GB LTE/4G model is priced at £499/AU$679
(US price not currently available).
That's exactly the same as the equivalent iPad 4, and roughly what you'll pay for a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1.
Make no mistake, Sony is making a statement here: "Our products are
just as good as Apple's, so don't expect them to be cheaper."
Design I'm not a fan of jagged edges on
tablets. If there's a button or some other physical feature that sticks
out from a tablet's body, I tend to notice it. And by "notice it," I
mean hate it. The iPad's buttons are guilty of this, and I was pleased to see that Apple corrected this admittedly small oversight with the iPad Mini.
The Sony Xperia Tablet Z's thin, somewhat
prickly volume rocker juts out from its left edge and while this makes
it easy to find, it's also not the most pleasing piece of plastic to
accidentally run your finger across.
Now that's thin.
Josh Miller/CNET
I'm also not a fan of the Z's hard plastic edge design. While I'm sure
it helps protect what is otherwise a fairly flimsy body, it's a bit too
thin and unyielding for my tastes.
Luckily, those are really the
only physical design gripes I have with the Tablet Z. It's otherwise
impressively light and incredibly thin for a 10-incher; however, those
who equate "premium" with metal-embossed backs will be disappointed by
the Tablet Z's brushed plastic posterior, which seems all-too eager to
take on oily fingerprints.
Along the left edge, above the volume rocker is a circular silver
power button that, like its spindly neighbor below it, sticks out from
the tablet's body. However, thanks to its rounded frame, it's able to do
so without any annoying physical unpleasantness. Speaker grilles adorn
the bottoms of the left and right edges: a location choice I haven't
quite seen on a tablet before.
The Tablet Z's body feature three
distinct ports: a headphone jack, MHL connection, and a microSD port.
All three can be covered by attached door flaps that seal each port shut
when closed, transforming the tablet into an effectively waterproof
device.
Josh Miller/CNET
The
doors to the port were a bit difficult to open until I noticed a small
slit on the bottom of each I could force a fingernail into. That's kind
of a criticism, but I understand why Sony maybe didn't want the doors on
its waterproof tablet to be easily removed.
Features
There
are several reasons why we became instant fans. Firstly, looks: the
Sony Xperia Tablet Z doesn't try too hard. There are no uber fancy bells
and whistles here. To all intents, it's a simple black rectangle. But
what a rectangle it is. Highly glossy glass on the front made from
toughened, scratch-resistant glass.
It looks (intentionally) like a larger version of Sony's already stonking Xperia Z
phone with one minor difference - the back of the tablet isn't glass
like the phone, but a more matt-style polycarbonate makeup. And aside
from the standby and power buttons on the side, there are no others. As
per Google's direction, all navigation is done via the screen's software
buttons.
Then there's the thickness. Or, rather, the
lack of. This is currently the thinnest tablet on the market - and it
really shows. If you think the iPad 4 is respectable at 9.4mm (0.37
inches), then you'll really be blown away at the Sony Xperia Tablet Z's
6.9mm (0.27 inches).
In
terms of overall footprint, it's slightly different, clocking in at
266mm x 172mm (10.5 x 6.8 inches) compared to the Apple offering's
241.2mm x 185.7mm (9.5 x 7.3 inches). But the other thing you'll notice
is just how light it is.
Weight is one of the tricky
ones, with frequent complaints that tablets such as the iPad become too
heavy to hold for long periods of time. The iPad 4 tips the scales at
662g (1.46lbs) and even the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 is no feather at
600g (1.32lbs). The Sony Xperia Tablet Z trumps them both at 495g
(1.09lbs).
This really is one of those devices you have to experience to appreciate. Pictures and YouTube videos just don't do it justice.
Added to that is the fact that the Sony Xperia Tablet Z, like the Sony Xperia Z phone, is water and dust resistant.
This
is a tablet you can comfortably take into the bath and not worry about.
It's slightly disconcerting doing so, since every fibre of your being
is telling you not to dunk it in the water, but provided you make sure
the waterproof plugs are in the sockets, you'll be fine.
In
fact, the only way this doesn't work is when trying to swipe
underwater. The screen registers all kinds of movements, so you have to
take it out and dry the screen to really get it to register screen taps.
Mind you, if you're likely to be playing Fruit Ninja underwater, you
probably need to have a word with a doctor. For watching movies in the
bath or at the bus stop in the rain, you'll be fine.
If
you try and run water on the display, get ready for a panic, as it
registers a million taps and opens every app under the sun, making you
worry that the tablet has a plug open and water is getting inside. It's
not, stay cool.
However, we do wonder if waterproofing
this tablet is anything more than a gimmick. Yes, you can use it in the
bath without worrying, or get egg on it while cooking. It makes it feel
more rugged, indeed.
But do you need a tablet to do that?
Without the covers it might feel like a more slick product, and that's
something we would love to see. It could possibly do away with the
angular corners too, which is a real design problem in our eyes.
We're
not totally sold on the dust resistance either. Yes, it means that dust
won't get in beneath the screen, which used to be one of our main
bugbears on devices of old. But the Sony Xperia Tablet Z does have a
ridge all the way around the edge that seems to attract lint. You can
clear it with a blow or a blast from a vacuum but it'll just come back.
And don't get us started on fingerprints - this is a magnet for them.
And
the screen is another area you'll want to know about. We weren't bowled
over by the displays on more recent devices such as the Samsung Galaxy
Note 10.1 or Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 because of their resolutions.
The
trouble is once you've experienced a sharpness like Apple's Retina
displays, nothing else can really live up to your expectations. We used
an iPad mini
recently and it felt almost third world that we were able to spot
pixels on websites and ebooks, even if it was less of an issue with
photos and videos. The same could be said of Sony's Xperia Tablet S.
But
there are no such issues here. The Sony Xperia Tablet Z sports a Full
HD display - 1200 x 1920 pixels spread over its 10.1-inch screen, giving
a pixel density of 224ppi.
It's not the sharpest out there - that honour is held by the Google Nexus 10 and its staggering 299ppi for the larger tablet and 323ppi on the New Nexus 7 - but even still the Sony Xperia Tablet Z excels with it's clever screen processing technology.
We
spot pixels for fun and can categorically say that this is a super
sharp display that we were more than impressed with. And surprisingly in
side by side comparisons, it bested the Google Nexus 10 and was every
inch the equal of the iPad 4 - beating the latter when it comes to movie
watching simply because it has a more widescreen ratio.
On
top of that, Sony's equipped the Xperia Tablet Z with its Mobile Bravia
Engine. A lot of the time this is all smoke and mirrors, using fancy
new titles that add little to the experience. Not so much here, though.
The Sony Xperia Tablet Z looks absolutely phenomenal, with photos and
videos popping out of the screen brilliantly.
Even on
just normal tasks, like web browsing, the colour is spot-on. It's not
too bland but also not overly colourful, which is a criticism sometimes
levelled at Samsung. Whites look warm on the Sony Xperia Tablet Z,
rather than yellow.
There is little here we can
criticise, other than the fact that the screen is sometimes too bright.
We had the Sony Xperia Tablet Z set to auto-brightness, but found
ourselves often having to manually turn it right down to the lowest
possible setting. Maybe Sony thinks we're all half blind, but sometimes
less is more.
One
other observation we must point out here is how much better the screen
viewing angles are on the Sony Xperia Tablet Z compared to the
smartphone equivalent. On the tablet, it's an LED-backlit LCD panel,
while the Xperia Z phone ships with a TFT display.
The
phone screen is sharp and bright, but look at it anything other than
dead-on and it looks more washed out than an old pair of jeans. You
won't find this on the Tablet Z, where the viewing angles are much
better, although the iPad does have a superior contrast ratio based on
general usage.
It's good to see, since this could have
been a massive Achilles' heel, especially because you'd be more likely
to share content with friends on a larger screen, watching movies
together and so on.
If you're a fan of movies, a microSD
card slot is another big bonus here. Sony has stuck two fingers up at
Google and its move to cloud-based alternatives, forcing people into
32GB or less of onboard storage.
It
means that you can buy a 16GB model and easily bump your storage up by
an extra 64GB without breaking the bank. It's a big issue. Google
assumes people are happy to stream from the cloud, but bearing in mind
the space an OS and bloatware can take up and the fact that you have to
install apps onto the internal memory, by the time you've added a few
big ones like the GTA games, a couple of HD movies and a few songs, your
allowance is shot.
And if you're on a plane or a train
and want to stream from your collection of 30,000 tunes, you're out of
luck unless you've previously decided which ones to download to the
device. That's why we remain fans of SD card slots, even if you disagree
in some of the comments sections.
Powering this beast -
and making sure your movies all play without lag or stutter - is a
Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with a quad-core 1.5GHz Krait CPU. Add to
that 2GB RAM and you're on fire.
Some
early reports have claimed there is a slight lag on certain tasks such
as swiping from screen to screen, though the same posters have added
that installing another launcher such as Nova or Apex fixes the issue.
We
didn't notice much lag on our unit, and we really rinsed the Sony
Xperia Tablet Z as much as we could. Occasionally it would take a couple
of taps of the home button to go back to the main screen, but it wasn't
often and it tended to be during CPU-intensive tasks. Either way, if
those reports are true for some, it's to do with Sony's launcher rather
than a hardware issue, so Sony will be able to fix this with an update.
We
did notice that the screen isn't as responsive as we'd have liked. When
browsing the web in portrait mode it bounced all over the place at
times, and we want something amazing - really amazing - in a tablet that
costs this much,
Powering the Sony Xperia Tablet Z
you'll find a 6,000mAh power pack. While huge, it's not the biggest out
there, bearing in mind the iPad 4's is nearly double the size at
11,560mAh and the Galaxy Note 10.1 offers up 7,000mAh. We'll go into how
it performed in the Battery section of our review.
Charging
is done via a micro USB connection, which means you can use any other
chargers you have lying around the house too, though you have to have a
wall socket, since it won't charge off a laptop. Hard luck.
We
won't lie, the act of charging is a pain. For one thing, you have to
take the waterproof cover out each time (this is the downside of having a
waterproof tablet) - unless you're using the pricey official dock with
charging contacts - and although high quality and secure, we can't help
but wonder how long they will last.
Add to that, this is
not a quick charging device. Where you can plug an iPad in for a 10
minute power blast and be confident you'll gain a bit of juice for a
quick jaunt, the Sony Xperia Tablet Z takes forever to charge up. We
found it's definitely an all-night job. Slow doesn't come close to
describing it.
Just how waterproof is it? According to Sony,
the Tablet Z can be submerged in up to 3 feet of fresh water for up to
30 minutes without sustaining damage. I was hesitant to actually test
this out on my review unit until I'd actually spent enough time with it
to write most of the review. I guess I just wasn't all that confident in
how effective it would be at staying dry.
It's this waterproof.
Josh Miller/CNET
However,
I did use a kitchen faucet hose to spray the tablet down from every
conceivable angle and left it submerged in half a foot of water for a
good 10 minutes. After a quick wipe-off with a paper towel, the tablet
worked normally.
Getting (Ex)mor from your mobile cameras
The 8-megapixel back camera has been outfitted with Sony's Exmor R
technology, which is purported to allow you to take good pictures in low
light.
Only the Tablet Z's back rear camera includes Exmor R.
Josh Miller/CNET
According to Sony, the lens circuitry is arranged so that the light
sensors are in front, with the lens wiring in the back -- the opposite
of a traditional lens setup. Without the circuitry blocking the lens,
theoretically, the sensors will be able to detect more light. More light
equals more information and hopefully more lifelike shots.
While the Z's back camera does technically allow more light to come
through compared with a traditional nonflash tablet camera, it still
fails to produce nice-looking shots in low light. Low-light shots look
incredibly dithered and usually greenish, and personally, I'd rather
just use a flash. There's potential for the technology, but it seems to
suffer from the same problems it's supposed to fix.
A low-light shot taken with the Z's rear camera.
Eric Franklin/CNET
A similar shot taken with the Nexus 10's back camera.
Eric Franklin/CNET
Shots taken in normal lighting conditions look fine, but not
exceptional. The front camera is a cut above most tablet front-facing
shooters and delivers better-than-decent still shots and smooth video
for conferencing.
Software features If you're at all familiar
with Sony's suite of tablet apps, you won't find many surprises here.
Sony's movie and music marketplace apps, Video and Music Unlimited,
respectively, make returns.
Video Unlimited offers rentable and
purchasable SD-only movies and TV shows, but no streaming capability.
Thankfully, Google Play picks up the slack with streamable or
downloadable movies and TV shows; most in HD. Music Unlimited is pretty
much the same idea, but for music. Walkman is Sony's music-playing app
with built-in features for getting info and lyrics about the song from
the Internet and features a number of sound equalizer options. With Play
Memories Online, you can store your videos and photos in the cloud and
view them across multiple devices.
Josh Miller/CNET
Sony's remote control app and IR blaster make a return, and I was able
to set it up to use as my Samsung TV remote in seconds. Once
configured, the tablet can be used as the universal remote for your cable, satellite, Blu-ray player, or pretty much any home theater device.
Using DLNA, you can also "throw" content from the tablet to a networked TV or compatible set-top box, including an Xbox
360 or PlayStation 3. While pictures are sent quickly enough, streaming
even short videos from the tablet to my Xbox 360 produced video that
would play for a few seconds before pausing and buffering periodically.
Something that's probably attributed to the Tablet Z's slow Wi-Fi speed.
Josh Miller/CNET
Hardware features
The Tablet Z houses a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU, 2GB RAM,
and includes support for 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4GHz and 5GHz) Wi-Fi,
Bluetooth 4.0, and GPS, as well as a gyroscope and an accelerometer.
The Z is one of the few tablets to include NFC capability and while it
does work, its area of functionality -- located at the official NFC
logo on the back -- is so small that I spent minutes attempting to line
it up with the Nexus 10
just to push a single picture. Also, even after the picture zoomed
away, I found it sometimes necessary to keep the two tablets touching
for a few seconds or the procedure failed. A few times it even stopped
working altogether, until I quit and then restarted the gallery app.
Pushing from the Nexus 10, however, was easier and faster and didn't
require me to keep the tablets touching any more than it should.
Josh Miller/CNET
I like what NFC technology has to offer, but let's please not start a
trend of including it just to check it off the front-of-the-box specs
list. Let's make sure that when we want to beam something to another
device, we can do so quickly and easily, without any hassle. There's no
real point in including this cool, convenient tech if I can't enact it
with a simple quick bump.
Performance The
Xperia Tablet Z is a good, but not great performer. It's great at
running games, and its screen is impressive-looking; however, apps take a
bit too long to load and Wi-Fi speeds are lackluster.
Josh Miller/CNET
Battery life
Considering
the Sony Xperia Tablet Z has a smaller 6,000mAh battery, we weren't
holding out much hope for it. But we were pleasantly surprised in
general use.
The first palpitation came when we unplugged
the unit and noticed it went down from 100% to 99% in less than two
minutes without being used. But after that, it stabilised well.
With the screen on auto brightness, we watched three 30-minute episodes of The Inbetweeners,
browsed the web for about 30 minutes, streamed four songs and one four
minute video to our TV and played a little bit of Solitaire for 10
minutes or so.
After
all that activity, the battery was down to 70%. When the screen is on
playing video, the battery loses juice slowly. When the screen is on for
browsing, it seems to eat through battery life quicker.
In
standby, the battery went down about 2% an hour when not in use, but
the Sony Xperia Tablet Z has one great trick up its sleeve - Stamina
Mode. We first saw this on the Xperia Z phone, but it really comes into its own on the Tablet Z.
Stamina
Mode works similarly to the third party Juice Defender, where it
disables the Wi-Fi and 3G radios when the screen is off, then turns them
back on immediately when you turn the screen on again. You can select
various apps to 'whitelist' and that then enables them to carry on carte
blanche.
It's
not ideal on a smartphone because you'll then have to whitelist loads
of apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, which kind of renders
it useless, but you can get away with not whitelisting anything on a
tablet and find the experience isn't diluted too much.
In
fact, we enabled Stamina Mode, put the Sony Xperia Tablet Z in a bag
and forgot about it. When we took the tablet out eight hours later, it
was only down from 100% to 98%, which is a phenomenal result.
We
imagine fitting a larger battery would have eaten into the size and
weight plus points, but it's not going to last as long as some of the
competition - for instance, the iPad will outdo it on battery life, as
well as myriad other devices. It's a mid-range competitor that you'll
probably want to charge every day or two, and there are some tablets out
there which can boast better performance than that.
The GoodThe Sony Xperia Tablet Z offers a refreshingly thin and light design, with great gaming
performance, and a sharp screen. The MHL connection, impressive
waterproofing, and expandable storage are notably appreciated extras.
The Bad$500
for 16GB of storage is a heavy price hike compared with Sony’s previous
tablet entry, and the tablet’s poor network performance and slow app
loading cuts into its value. The low-light camera feature isn’t as
effective as a traditional flash.
The Bottom LineThough
awash in features, the Xperia Tablet Z's $500 price is a decidedly
bitter pill to swallow when a better, cheaper alternative exists for
$100 less.
SONY
SGP311U1/B Xperia Tablet Z, Android Jellybean, 10.1”, 16GB, Wi-Fi - See
more at:
http://www.thetwistergroup.com/store/customer/product.php?productid=SGP311U1%3C%3EB%20Z58772&source=pg#sthash.Zc1ZvcR3.dpuf
