By Gerard S. Ramos / Lifestyle & Entertainment Editor
IN the days leading up to Sony’s scheduled September 2 appearance at the 2015 IFA—or the Internationale Funkausstellung, the consumer electronics and home appliances trade show held annually at about this time in Berlin, Germany—the tech media, old and new, have been filled with leaks of products that the global consumer electronics giant will supposedly unveil.
Not surprisingly, the leaks have been focused—not just largely but solely—on Sony’s Xperia brand of smartphones because, well, this tool of wireless communication and productivity has become so deeply embedded in our everyday lives that we would feel quite lost and terribly out of sorts should we absentmindedly leave it at home, or, worse, should it be spirited away from our clutches by some nefarious creature.
Given the already show-stopping smartphones that have made their market debuts since the start of the year, touting everything from screens with curved edges to genuine leather backs to Quad HD displays, the tech media and everyone else have been curious—and judging from the flurry of leaks, make that incredibly curious—about what Sony could bring to the smartphone table to shift the ongoing conversation from the competition.
Well, how about the first-ever 4K display to come in a smartphone form factor? That, according to the leaks, is the conversation-changer that Sony will be unveiling at the IFA: apart from the Xperia Z5 Compact with a 4.6-inch 720p screen and the standard Xperia Z5 with 5.2-inch 1080p display, there is the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium, which allegedly will boast of a 5.5.-inch display of such jaw-dropping high resolution, packing 800 pixels per inch to make competitors weep in the edges—this, on top of such step-ups as a reported 23-megapixel camera with a 0.03 second autofocus and 5X digital zoom and an all-metal body (for all the new Xperia Z smartphones) that retains the brand’s iconic boxy OmniBalance aesthetic.
Of course, we’ll know more soon not long after this piece goes to print.
For now, our attention is on the Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet, a 10.1-inch device powered by Google’s market-leading Android OS (Lollipop version) that was launched in March, and comes at the heels of last year’s smaller but nonetheless solid and well-received Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact. The company’s latest tablet offering is now available in gadget stores around these parts, although unlike in other markets, it comes not bundled with Sony’s companion Bluetooth keyboard accessory that makes the Xperia Z4 Tablet a serious laptop replacement.
As with all of Sony’s Xperia-branded products, the Xperia Z4 Tablet bears the company’s OmniBalance design, which is “focused on creating balance and symmetry in all directions.” Indeed, give them a cursory glance and one will find it difficult to distinguish the difference between Sony’s latest tablet offering and its elder 10.1 siblings (the original Xperia Tablet Z from 2013 and the Xperia Z2 Tablet from last year). But, yes, there are differences: not only is it only 6.1-millimeter thick but it is also lighter at 393 grams. It is as slim as the iPad Air 2 but even lighter (Apple’s flagship tablet seems downright overweight at 444g). And while the Xperia Z4 Tablet retains the water- and dust-proof chops of its siblings, it has been able to do so without having to seal off its microUSB port and 3.5-mm headphone jack with the flappy covers of earlier iterations.
The clean lines that fans have come to expect from Sony’s Xperia brand continue with the Z4 Tablet, with its metal spine unfettered by anything except for that signature metal power button that is just perfection, the sliver of a volume rocker that protrudes just so, and the flap cover that seals away the slots for the nano SIM and the microSD card. Meanwhile, the backside of the tablet is done in a premium polycarbonate material that looks great and isn’t quite the fingerprint magnet, while giving this ultra-slim device a reassuring grippy feel.
The front is, of course, defined by the Xperia Z4 Tablet’s 10.1-inch display with a pixel resolution of 2560 x 1600 and a sharpness of 299 pixels per inch (bettering the 264ppi offered by Apple’s iPad Air 2). The screen is, in a word, fabulous. Powered by Sony’s Triluminos display and X-Reality Engine technologies for its award-winning Bravia TVs, media consumption on the tablet is an utterly immersive joy—much brighter, with a wider color gamut, richer colors and blacker blacks. No doubt the thick bezels that frame that brilliant display will have their critics, and while Sony could’ve shaved off a few millimeters from all sides, the bezels do provide just the space for your fingers to rest on when holding the tablet in both hands. Also, Sony has managed to relocate the speakers from the back to the front in such a way that you would barely know they’re there.
See those slivers that bookend the lower part of the display? That’s where the sound now emanates from, and the speakers provide enough volume to make watching your favorite TV show or blockbuster movie possible even when you forgot to bring along a headphone. (Be forewarned though: Do so in a café or restaurant, or during a plane ride at the risk of supremely annoying the people around you.)
Inside, the Xperia Z4 Tablet is powered by a 2.0GHz octa-core Snapdragon 810 processor, 3 gigabytes of RAM, an 8.1-MP rear camera, a 5.1-MP front-facing shooter, and a hefty 6,000mAh battery that, according to Sony, will allow 17 to 18 hours of video consumption. In real-world, day-to-day use—in our case that includes a repeat episode or two of Downton Abbey; some social-media stuff, general browsing, intermittent e-mail and Google Hangouts messaging on either Wi-Fi or Long-Term Evolution; a good chunk of an ebook, plus editing a document or three—the battery was able to last us for the better part of a day.
With a design that is decidedly modern and exquisitely classic at the same time, an excellent hardware selection that gives it both muscle and moxie, and the niceties that Sony adds on top of the Android experience (PS4 Remote Play, anyone?), the Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet is the best tablet in the market today. Period.
To know more about the latest tablet hotness from Sony, point your browser to https://goo.gl/pfjxH5.