Review: Xperia Z4 Tablet, Incredibly Light
Thinner (6.1mm) and lighter than earlier Sony tablets, the Xperia Z4 Tablet is quite the beauty with its elegant profile. It’s quite amazing when you consider that the previous generations Z tablets were already remarkably thin and light, and still able to sustain a dunk in water. It’s powered by the Snapdragon 810 which fares better in a tablet than a phone.
Design
The Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet is as slim and even 10% lighter than the iPad Air 2. But that’s because the Z4 uses plastic. That being said, it’s well constructed, and has a nice anti-slip coating on the back. There’s the same rounded metallic corners as the Z3+ which provides additional durability and reinforcement.
As with the other flagship Sony Xperia range, the Xperia Z4 Tablet is waterproof. With its IP65/68 rating, it can withstand a brief shower or a dusty environment. Improving on last year design, the Z4 no longer requires flaps to protect the ports, making the headphone and micro USB more accessible.
The Xperia Z4 tablet also comes with a docking keyboard which turns the Android 5.1 interface into a desktop-esque environment with a taskbar. It’s an optional accessory that could be handy for those who prefers to use it as a laptop / netbook.
Hardware
The Sony Xperia Z4 tablet packs a 2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, Adreno 430 GPU, 3GB of RAM, 32 GB of internal memory with further expansion available through microSD. LTE / 4G support is available as an option.
Not surprisingly, performance is stellar. In fact, using it was a more pleasant experience compared to the Xperia Z3+ or other flagship phones sporting Snapdragon 810 processors. It could be the larger device allows for better heat dissipation, which was a problem on the phones.
The display is a 2560 x 1600 10 inch screen, with bright colours thanks to the triluminous display. It’s once again a 16:10 widescreen format, instead of the 4:3 format which is better for reading and is increasingly becoming more popular among tablets.
That being said, I had a great time using the tablet to read magazines (took the opportunity to try out Magzter Gold for a month), eBooks, etc. Perhaps it was a combination of the sharp screen, and the slim profile, I didn’t find the tablet to be as unwieldy as compared to other similar widescreen 10″ tablets.
What’s surprising to me is that unlike the Z3+, the battery life was rock solid on the Xperia Z4 tablet, despite having to power a larger screen area. However, I did not insert a SIM card and was only using a WiFi connection. Overall, the good battery life is a consistent opinion across other reviewers, with the Z4 easily reaching over 15 hours of screen on time.
Software
By the way, Sony’s pretty fast on the software front, and like the Xperia Z3+, the Z4 has been upgraded to the latest Android 5.1. It sports the usual Sony theme and their manufactured apps. If you have a PS4, you can try streaming games diectly from the Playstation 4 console to the tablet through PS4 Remote Play.
Price: $998 (LTE), $888 (Wi-Fi)
Xperia Z4 Tablet vs Galaxy Tab S2
I personally think these are the top two Android tablets at the moment, so here’s how they stack up. Prices for the Xperia Z4 tablet have came down slightly, with promotional prices and freebies thrown in.
| Features | Xperia Z4 Tablet | Galaxy Tab S2 |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Snapdragon 810 | Exynos 7 Octa 5433 |
| Dimensions | 254 x 167 x 6.1 mm | 237.3 x 169 x 5.6 mm |
| Weight | 393g | 392g |
| Display | 10.1″ 2560 x 1600 | 9.7″ 2048 x 1536 |
| Storage | 32gb with microSD | 64gb with microSD |
| Fingerprint Sensor | No | Yes |
| Battery | 6000mAH | 5870mAH |
| Price | $888 (WiFi), $998 (4G) | $698 (WiFi), $798 (4G) |
Verdict
The Sony Xperia Z4 is a strong contender for the best tablet in 2015, right up there with the Apple iPad Air 2 and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2. It is a great replacement to the Xperia Z2, which is of similar dimensions, while last year Z3 was a smaller 8″ tablet. There are many positive points ranging from light, thin, waterproof, great battery life, and excellent performance. It’s right up there with the top which leads to it being priced equally high too though.