MWC 2013 Hands-On: Sony Xperia Tablet Z & Xperia ZL

The Sony Xperia Tablet Z has made an appearance at MWC 2013 recently. Seen as the bigger tablet sibling of the Xperia Z, the Xperia Tablet Z is waffle thin at only 6.99mm thick and weighs just 495grams. As comparison, the Xperia Z is thicker at 7.9mm. Design wise, the Xperia Tablet Z features the similar OmniBalance design that features all glass at the front with rounded rubberised frames at the sides and corners. Unlike the Xperia Z phone, the back features a matte finish instead of glass. It comes with 2 colour choices – Black and White colour and between the 2, the white version looks pretty elegant.

Let’s go into the specs starting with its display. With everything going Full HD, the Xperia Tablet Z joins the bandwagon with its 10.1″ 1920×1200 pixels resolution display that gives a pixel density of 224ppi. Powering the device is a Quadcore Qualcomm S4 Pro processor that runs at 1.5GHz, mated with 2GB of RAM and 16GB/32GB of storage that’s expandable with microSD. In terms of cameras, it comes with a 8.1MP rear shooter and a front facing 2.2MP camera which both can shoot 1080p HD videos. Just like the Xperia Z, the Tablet Z also shoots burst mode as well. It runs on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean and on-board it is powered with a 6,000mAh battery.

In the hands, the Xperia Tablet Z is really thin and it feels like holding a plywood rather than a typical tablet. Just like the Xperia Z, it uses a lot of flush cover flaps as it is also water and dust resistant with IPX5/57 rating. In theory, the Tablet Z should be able to shoot underwater videos as well. While the silver power button is located on the right for the Xperia Z phone, the Xperia Tablet Z’s power button is located on the left instead together with the volume rocker and notification light. At the bottom, the Xperia Tablet Z comes with 4 speakers with 2 speakers at each corner. Check out our quick hands-on video below along with some photos and sample photos/videos.

Sample Video and Photos from Xperia Tablet Z

Hands-on of Xperia ZL

Although there wasn’t any Xperia ZL officially on display, we managed to get a quick glimpse of the device at their accessories section. Compared to the Xperia Z, it is slightly thicker but comes with a nice textured back that looks pretty rugged. At the front, the Xperia ZL has a beam looking notification light and the front facing camera is located at the bottom. At the sides, the Xperia ZL’s volume rocker is placed above the power button and it comes with a dedicated camera button. Specification wise, the internals of the Xperia ZL is similar as the Xperia Z but it doesn’t come with water/dust resistance credentials.