It may well be the middle of April where half of us take the week off and the other half turns up to work, but products are still get released and sent to stores, with Sony’s Tablet Z2 the next to hit shelves.
Following up last year’s aptly named Tablet Z — we didn’t get a Tablet Z1, as the Xperia Z1 phone was basically a mid-year upgrade just before the Z2 was announced — the Z2 is an upgraded Z1 with even more tech goodness to make people happy they waited the extra few months until this model was on its way.
Evolving the monolithic design just enough, the Z2 marks another year for Sony releasing an Android tablet, with the new model taking some of the features from last time, such as the 10.1 inch Full HD 1920×1200 screen, water and dust resistance, and Android.
Where it gets a change is the new processor, taking an update to the same chip used in the Samsung Galaxy S5, HTC’s 2014 One, and yes the upcoming Xperia Z2. That chip is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, a quad-core chip clocked at 2.3GHz and running alongside 3GB RAM, either 16 or 32GB of storage, and supporting more through a microSD slot.
Android 4.4 “KitKat” runs here, no doubt with Sony’s Xperia overlay running atop, with wireless connectivity supported through 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, with infrared offered for controlling your remote.
But there are also some new tricks, such as some built in digital noise cancellation technology which could — in theory — makes any pair of headphones noise cancelling enabled without having to spend extra.
That idea is something we’ve been itching to see in a product for a long time, and could mean that any pair of headphones — from the pair that ships with the Xperia Z2 Tablet to the $400 KEF headphones which we wish we never had to take off — will work with noise cancelling on an aircraft, an idea that is so intriguing, we just want to try it out now.
“The Xperia Z2 Tablet represents the best of Sony’s technologies coming together to create the slimmest lightweight tablet matched with a unique and premium user experience,” said Sony’s John Featherstone, Managing Director of Sony Mobile Communications in the Oceania region.
“Designed for ultimate portability and coupled with its premium waterproof design, it’s perfect for all Australians whether at home or on the go.”
Depending on the model you look for, 4G is an option in this generation, with Telstra grabbing the tablet first, though a WiFi only model will also be available from retailers.
Pricing for the Z2 Tablet starts at $599 for the 16GB WiFi model, with $699 grabbing the 32GB WiFi model, and $749 bringing you back to 16GB but throwing both 4GB and WiFi into the equation. Telstra will also be offering the tablet on plans.
Available next week, you’ll see it in stores from April 29. It should go nicely with that Xperia Z2 smartphone that also should be wandering up any time now. Any time now.
