Straight out of the box we are smitten by the Xperia Z2 Tablet. It is the thinnest and lightest 10in tablet you can buy – noticeably thinner and lighter than the iPad Air, which is itself famously easy to hold and carry.
The Xperia Z2 Tablet weighs just 426g – or 439g if you opt for the LTE version. It's exceptionally thin, too, at just 6.4mm. Again, that's thinner than the iPad Air and any other 7in or 10in tablet you can name. And it matters, not just for reasons of tablet oneupmanship.
Holding the Xperia Z2 Tablet feels great, despite the large, 10.1in display, and for lengthy periods of time in standing, sitting and lying positions. Previously we have preferred 7in tablets such as the Nexus 7 or iPad mini, simply because the bigger tablets feel to bulky to hold when watching movies or reading books.
But you could spend hours using the Xperia Z2 Tablet without wrist-strain, even when reading in bed. That's a big win. It doesn't, of course, solve the problem of having to carry your 10in tab in a bag where a Kindle-sized 7-incher can slip into a coat pocket – but the trade o of larger screen to weight and bulk feels like a deal worth making with the Xperia Z2. And you can just sling this tablet into a bag, too.
The Xperia Z2 Tablet is waterproof and dust resistant. It's built to last and feels so, constructed principally of metal and glass, but with a rubbery outer coat around the back and on the corners. That rear cover provides grip but does get grubby with fi ngerprints, though.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and your views may di ffer, but we think the Xperia 2 Tablet is a good-looking device, too. It's a simple, stylish device. A slice of black or white tech sharing the same rounded corners and metal frame as the Sony Xperia Z2 smartphone but – to our eyes at least – looking somewhat smarter for larger scale.
Our complaint is functional rather than stylistic, in that the bezel is a little larger than we would like. We presume that this is a trade-o in return for the incredible thinness (not a phrase ever used about your author). It's available in black or white. We tested – and prefer – the black Xperia Tablet Z2.
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Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet review
