Reviews
Surprising power
TheZ3TabletCompactmight
be thin, but it certainly doesn’t
leave you wanting in the
specifications department. A
2.5GHz Snapdragon 801
processor is one of the best
around and it’s paired with a
speedy Adreno 330 GPUSony Xperia Z3
Tablet Compact
Games&movies
The front facing speakers make the Z3 TC an
for... immersive gaming or movie-watching deviceI
f you want to buy a premium, small Android
tablet, what do you choose?The Nexus 7 (2013)
is nice, but not really premium in price or design.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 with its gorgeous
AMOLEDscreen?Again,agooddevice,butit
doesn’tfeelreallyhighquality.Inissue45we
reviewed the slightly larger Nexus 9, giving it a
maximumscoreof5/5.Butthegamehasjust
been changed. Enter the Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet
Compact.
From the minute you unbox the tablet and hold
it in your hand, you know that it’s something
special. Quite often when we review devices, we
talk about the feeling of quality that comes with
weight and density. The Nexus 9 is a primeexample of this approach: it feels solid and
thereforeitfeelswellmade.TheXperiaZ3Tablet
Compact comes at it from a completely different
angle–it’sincrediblylight,unbelievablythinand
exceptionallyfinished.Noteverybodyisafanof
the ‘OmniBalance’ design theme that Sony has
been perfecting since the original Z phone, but
there’s no denying that the
Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact offers one of the best
implementations of it to date.
Turned on with the now traditional power button
on the right of the device in the style of a watch
crown (or by double-tapping on the screen when
configured), the tablet immediately demonstrates
another of its most impressive features – theFeature-packedandstylishlyslender,Sony’snewtabletisaNexus9killer
EDITOR’S
CHOICE8-inch, 1920 x 1200 Triluminos display sitting
between front-facing stereo speakers. It has taken
a while for Sony to really deliver on its potential
when it comes to displays (the original Z and Z1
were particular lowlights), but it finally seems to
have got it right. The screen is clear, sharp and,
like the Xperia Z3 itself, incredibly bright.
The tablet runs Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box
with a Lollipop update promised at the start of- Sony’s customisations of Android are subtle
Waterproof case
You might not want to use your
tablet in the bath or the pool,
but with the Z3 Tablet
Compact you can, courtesy of
its IP65/68 rating. That means
of course that you are safe out
in the rain tooDock connector
One of the downsides of a
waterproof device is that
normally the charging port is
hidden behind a cumbersome
flap. Fortunately, as with most
Sony devices, the Z3 Tablet
Compact has a dock
connector. The Sony DK39
dock is certainly a
worthwhile investment