Back for its third attempt at a tablet, Sony has brought along Xperia Tablet Z, a high-end Android tablet. See also: The 7 best tablets with expandable memory.
Priced at £399 it costs the same as the cheapest iPad with a Retina display and a little more than the Google Nexus 10 – two of its main rivals. See also: Sony Xperia Z review.
The Xperia Tablet Z shares its design and style with the Xperia Z and although it doesn't have a glass clad rear cover – instead it has a smooth rubbery surface – it's still dust and waterproof. Now you can catch up on your TV shows in the bath or take the tablet to the beach. Take a look at Sony intros SmartWatch 2.
It's a seriously thin device; at 7mm it's the thinnest we've seen and is even thinner than its smartphone counterpart.
The Xperia Tablet Z comes with the kind of decent specs you'd expect when spending £400 on a tablet.
It did reasonably well in our benchmarks but in day-to-day use we noticed some performance issues which is our main grip with the Xperia Tablet Z.
Firstly the web browsing is somewhat laggy and we also saw occasional jerky homescreen transitions which is unusual.
The screen looks great but the resolution isn't quite as high as the iPad or the Nexus 10.
Like the iPad, Sony offers the device in a Wi-Fi only model and one with additional 3G or 4G mobile data. Storage is limited to 16 or 32GB but the device has a microSD card slot.
Apart from its robust credentials the Xperia Tablet Z has some other features which most tablets don't offer – including an NFC chip, high resolution cameras and an infrared transmitter to control devices in your home like your TV.
Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is the operating system of choice with Sony's user interface. It's recognisable as Android which highlights including the 'small apps' which work like windows on a desktop PC and the app dock at the top of the screen.
We found battery life to be very good, lasting us on average a few days before needing a charge.
While we really like the Xperia Tablet Z and recommend it for its unique features, the iPad is a more well-rounded choice for the same price and the Nexus 10 offers a similar experience for less cash. We award 4 stars and a recommended award.
