MWC 2013: Sony Xperia Tablet Z and Xperia ZL

Introduction

Even though Sony had no product announcement to make here at the MWC in Barcelona, its booth is drawing crowds. The already announced Xperia Z and ZL flagships are on display there, along with the international version of the Xperia Tablet Z.

The Xperia Z was the headliner at CES and is already available in some markets, even more to follow this Friday. Quite predictably though, the Xperia Z and the soon to be released Xperia ZL are still getting plenty of attention and people wait in line to play with them.

The real newsworthy piece of gear however is the Xperia Tablet Z. Both the Wi-Fi-only and LTE-enabledversions will become available before this quarter ends. Previously, the Xperia Tablet Z was announcedonly for Japan.

We spent some quality time at Sony's booth and managed to play with all of the gadgets. Since we already know everything there is about the Xperia Z, we'll be focusing on the Xperia Tablet Z and the Xperia ZL smartphone.

Sony Xperia Tablet Z

This is probably one of the highlights of the MWC 2013 even though the Sony Xperia Tablet Z was announced a few weeks ago.

The Xperia Tablet Z utilizes the same design as the Xperia Z flagship, inch by inch. It is a lot bigger, of course. The Tablet Z features a 10.1-inch LED-backlit 1920x1200 display and has the same IP57-certifications for water and dust resistance as the Xperia Z. We had some time to play with the screen and we came to believe it has better contrast and viewing angles than the Xperia Z display. Perhaps the LED-backlight gives the desire boost in the quality.

Sony advertises the Xperia Tablet Z as the slimmest slate so far with its 6.9mm thickness. While this is nice, what really stands out is the tablet's weight - just 495 grams. The Xperia Tablet Z feels so light in hands and yet so solid that it feels right from the first encounter. We were really impressed with the build quality in the same time, the light weight and ultra slim profile.

   
Sony Xperia Tablet Z in black

The Xperia Tablet Z is powered by the same Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset as the Xperia Z, but comes with an 8.1MP rear camera with 1080p video recording with HDR available on both stills and videos. It also features a 2.2MP front snapper, also capable of 1080p video recording. The rest of the specs include 16GB internal storage expandable via a microSD card slot, 2GB of RAM and LTE connectivity (depending on the model).

Sony will be offering the Xperia Tablet Z in black and white colors. The paintjob is exactly the same as the Xperia Z smartphone. The back of the slate uses a matte plastic that looks rather fingerprint-resistant unlike the glass Xperia Z.

   
Sony Xperia Tablet Z in white

The raw performance of the Xperia Tablet Z turned out to be quite similar to the Xperia Z's, with minor differences because of the higher display resolution.

AnTuTu

Higher is better

• HTC One22678
• Sony Xperia Z20794
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z20241
• LG Optimus G Pro20056
• Samsung Galaxy S III15547
• Oppo Find 515167
• Huawei Ascend P213358
• Google Nexus 1012695
• HTC Butterfly12631

Quadrant

Higher is better

• LG Optimus G Pro12105
• HTC One11746
• Sony Xperia Z8075
• HTC One X+7632
• LG Optimus G7439
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z7369
• Oppo Find 57111
• HTC One X5952
• Samsung Galaxy Note II5916
• Samsung Galaxy S III5450
• Meizu MX 4-core5170
• Huawei Ascend P24838
• LG Optimus 4X HD4814
• Nexus 44567
• Google Nexus 107385

Linpack

Higher is better

• Asus Padfone 2623
• Sony Xperia Z630
• LG Optimus G608
• Oppo Find 5593
• Sony Xperia Tablet Z428
• Samsung Galaxy Note II214.3
• Nexus 4213.5
• Meizu MX 4-core189.1
• HTC One X+177.7
• Samsung Galaxy S III175.5
• Google Nexus 10172.1
• HTC One X160.9
• LG Optimus 4X HD141.5

Sony will unleash the Xperia Tablet Z before this quarter ends.

Sony Xperia ZL

The Sony Xperia ZL has the same internals as the Xperia Z flagship. It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset with a 1.5GHz quad-core Krait processor, Adreno 320 and 2GB of RAM.

We're dealing with the same 5" 1080p display, 13MP stills and connectivity package as the Xperia Z. The Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean version seems identical too, with the promised upgrade to 4.2 later this year.

   
Sony Xperia ZL

Where the Xperia ZL falls short is dust and water resistance. Unlike the Xperia Z, the only protection the ZL gets is the shatter proof and scratch-resistant glass.

Having lost some, the Xperia ZL is quick to gain some: an infra-red port enables TV remote functionality and there's a hardware shutter key. The phone is a tad more compact too, even if a bit thicker and a few grams heavier. You can check out the head-to-head comparison below.

   
Sony Xperia ZL next to the Xperia Z

Up front, the Xperia ZL looks just like the Xperia Z, but the back is completely different. It's made entirely of glossy plastic and has a rather ugly lid at the bottom that covers the SIM compartment and microSD slot. The camera lens placement is also different.

The Xperia ZL costs less than the Z and is expected to hit several markets any time now.

As far as the raw performance is concerned, it's quite similar to the Xperia Z's. You can check its benchmark scores here. The phone is really snappy with buttery-smooth UI transitions and minor loading times.

by via GSMArena.com - Latest articles