Xperia Z2 Tablet - Initial impressions thread

[Aripex]

Xperia Blog is reporting that the Xperia Z2 Tablet is now shipping.

It would be good to collect initial impressions of the tablet from the early adopters. Please let us know your thoughts.

 

[SWFlyerUK]

Xperia Blog is reporting that the Xperia Z2 Tablet is now shipping.

It would be good to collect initial impressions of the tablet from the early adopters. Please let us know your thoughts.

Fast. Light. Slim. Fantastic screen and stereo speakers.

I thought the original tablet couldn't get much better, but it did!

Just waiting for my noise cancelling headset to arrive this morning so I can test it at work today!

 

[Aripex]

Fast. Light. Slim. Fantastic screen and stereo speakers.

I thought the origional tablet couldn't get much better, but it did! After using it for 24hrs, I've come to the conclusion it is a worthwhile upgrade

Thanks - how are you finding the speed versus the old tab? Is there a noticeable difference in your real world use (I'm not referring to benchmarks)?

 

[SWFlyerUK]

Thanks - how are you finding the speed versus the old tab? Is there a noticeable difference in your real world use (I'm not referring to benchmarks)?

There's an issue with the Xperia Live Wallpaper. With it active, the homescreen micro lags, but then again, it also happens on my Z Ultra so evidently a wallpaper issue.

With a static wallpaper there is a noticeable difference in the operation of the device. Pinch to zoom in Chrome is perfect, I experience micro lags with animations on the Z which aren't apparent on the Z2.

Early indications on the battery life are positive and GTA SA plays flawlessly on full settings with the Z2, but it stutters immensely on the Z.

The design feels even more premium in the hand. Sony has rounded off the edges slightly and given it's weight and thickness, is alot more comfortable to hold for long durations.

Software feels well rounded. There are a few tweaks such as the separate notification tray and quick settings that make it feel more like a tablet (rather than the ugly tray on the Z from 4.2.2+), you can now "Cose All" from the recent apps tray, with multiple small apps open there is an additional option called "Grid" which positions them randomly on the screen, smart back light control and noise cancellation, plus the new lockscreen. Swipe up from the home button there is now "What New" alongside Google Now which is a well designed app which gives you top music, video, apps and games.

The additional of the vibrator for haptic feedback is also pleasing.

Huge improvement with the camera too.

 

[watsonmf]

There's an issue with the Xperia Live Wallpaper. With it active, the homescreen micro lags, but then again, it also happens on my Z Ultra so evidently a wallpaper issue.

With a static wallpaper there is a noticeable difference in the operation of the device. Pinch to zoom in Chrome is perfect, I experience micro lags with animations on the Z which aren't apparent on the Z2.

Early indications on the battery life are positive and GTA SA plays flawlessly on full settings with the Z2, but it stutters immensely on the Z.

The design feels even more premium in the hand. Sony has rounded off the edges slightly and given it's weight and thickness, is alot more comfortable to hold for long durations.

Software feels well rounded. There are a few tweaks such as the separate notification tray and quick settings that make it feel more like a tablet (rather than the ugly tray on the Z from 4.2.2+), you can now "Cose All" from the recent apps tray, with multiple small apps open there is an additional option called "Grid" which positions them randomly on the screen, smart back light control and noise cancellation, plus the new lockscreen. Swipe up from the home button there is now "What New" alongside Google Now which is a well designed app which gives you top music, video, apps and games.

The additional of the vibrator for haptic feedback is also pleasing.

Huge improvement with the camera too.

Thanks a lot for your very thorough review. If you don't mind a question, how is the performance in Chrome when scrolling through a image heavy website (something like Google Image search or one of the news sites with lots of pictures)?

Thanks!

 

[SWFlyerUK]

Thanks a lot for your very thorough review. If you don't mind a question, how is the performance in Chrome when scrolling through a image heavy website (something like Google Image search or one of the news sites with lots of pictures)?

Thanks!

I just did a Google search for the word "Google" - the Z2 doesn't stutter, even when the images are loading or haven't fully loaded.

The Z stuttered only when the images where loading. When all images where loaded, both devices where smooth

The Z2 definably has the upper hand.

As another example of the speed. If I open the Play Store and immediately swipe right to bring out the navigation tray. The Z2 is instant and the animation is smooth. The Z lagged and instead of showing the tray, it just appeared out of thin air.

 

[Felimenta97]

Could you do a system dump for us all? PM me if you need any tutorials and can't find one (it's pretty easy, but you might need help). Just app, priv-app and framework folders needed.

Sent from my SGP311 using Tapatalk

 

[Aripex]

Thanks SWFlyerUK.Did the noise cancelling headphones come in the box by any chance?

 

[SWFlyerUK]

Thanks SWFlyerUK.Did the noise cancelling headphones come in the box by any chance?

There weren't any headphones in the box. I ordered the Noise Cancelling headphones from Handtec but they didn't show today as expected so it'll be Monday.
@Felimenta97 Not at a PC currently, but I don't see why it would differ from the leaked Z2 dump.

 

[Felimenta97]

There weren't any headphones in the box. I ordered the Noise Cancelling headphones from Handtec but they didn't show today as expected so it'll be Monday.

@Felimenta97 Not at a PC currently, but I don't see why it would differ from the leaked Z2 dump.

Boot animation, remote control thing, and maybe you have a build with the new media apps (do you?)

Sent from my LT26i using Tapatalk

 

[HarpingOn]

Bah. My pre-order is delayed because I ordered the damn case with it.

Wanted it to be protected from the get-go, but it seems if I want the tablet, I could have it this week, but the whole order, with the case, means it's all on back order.

Bggrit.

 

[Zeblade]

Man I was all set to order this and just surfing around found a Ipad mini 2 64gb $400. Brand new full warranty no refurbished. My kids have apply stuff not me. I never even looked at Ipad. For ME this little thing has the best battery life of any Android I have ever had. The only reason I got it was I could jailbrake it. Got the 7.06 on it just before they put out 7.1. Why they dont let people just theme and ad widgets I have no clue.

I do have another android (kinda older). Its just I was looking at $499 16 vs $400 64. I can still sell this and make money. I miss the live wall paper yet I always turned it off thinking its sucking battery lol. Then I find out some of the games that had those extra effects that only Nvidia could run. The ipad mini retina has all those effects. Hmm I bet that 801 chip would have no problems running any nvidia THD game.

If the Sony was just cheaper I would have got that. Not here to sell anything. I would rather have the Sony.. just love Android. But just wanted to share....I love this site.

 

[bbarou]

Just got mine.

Initial impressions:

It's so thin and light , it's almost uncanny.
Build quality is OK but the use of plastic feels a bit cheap for a device in this price range.
Way to many useless and unremovable apps for my taste (Facebook and Google+ first come to mind)
Tap does not always register. I often have to tap twice. This is a deal breaker. Does anyone experience the same thing?
The covers for the SD and USB ports look weak.
It also could have used a rotation lock switch .

This is me bitching otherwise it looks like a great devices except for the part where touch doesn't always register (faulty unit?)

I'll make a system dump (non root) and post it in he development thread this afternoon.

Edit: Grammar

 

[Felimenta97]

Initial impressions:

It's so thin and light , it's almost uncanny.
Build quality is OK but the use of plastic feels a bit cheap for a device in this price range.
Ways to many useless and unremovable apps for my taste (Facebook and Google+ first come to mind)
Tap does not always register. I often have to tap twice. This is a deal breaker. Does anyone experience the same thing?
The covers for the SD and USB ports look weak.
It also could have use a rotation lock switch .

This is me bitching otherwise it looks like a great devices except for the part where touch doesn't always register (faulty unit?)

I'll make a system dump (non root) and post it int he development thread this afternoon.

Edit: Grammar

The touch issues could be related to a faulty unit or maybe a not so perfect FW. If it is related to that, could be fixed. I think the first fw of the Tablet Z had the other way around: Too sensitive screen. And really, REALLY thanks about the system dump

Sent from my SGP311 using Tapatalk

 

[Trooper_Max]

Initial impressions:

It's so thin and light , it's almost uncanny.
Build quality is OK but the use of plastic feels a bit cheap for a device in this price range.
Way to many useless and unremovable apps for my taste (Facebook and Google+ first come to mind)
Tap does not always register. I often have to tap twice. This is a deal breaker. Does anyone experience the same thing?
The covers for the SD and USB ports look weak.
It also could have used a rotation lock switch .

This is me bitching otherwise it looks like a great devices except for the part where touch doesn't always register (faulty unit?)

I'll make a system dump (non root) and post it in he development thread this afternoon.

Edit: Grammar

I just got mine yesterday, and thought I had a few times with it not registering touches, but upon further testing, I think I was just missing the navigation buttons. I enabled the show touches option in the developer options and they seem to all register for me unless I'm on the very edge, overlapping the bezel. It does seem like the target areas for the navigation buttons are pretty small though and black navigation buttons blend right into the bezel. I'm confident this can all be addressed in firmware/software updates. Hopefully yours is too.

Overall I'm loving it - it's so light! The screen is a fingerprint magnet, but I can live with that since it looks great. The sound is great too - really everything I expected. I didn't order any accessories, but am now thinking the charging dock will be much more convenient than fiddling with the flaps to charge it. I am glad it is waterproof though, so I don't really have to worry about dropping it in the tub or pool.

~Troop

 

[jonlad1]

I'm torn between the Galaxy tab pro 10.1 and the Z2

Can anyone post about their battery life? How is build quality? Any lag moving around the interface?

 

[Diamondback]

I agree on that screen issue. It seems like the navigation buttons only work if you completely hit them. If you miss them by a small margin they don't register. That's probably a software thing though. Apart from that.... Wow what a tablet, it's so thin and light. I really really like mine so far.

 

[bbarou]

I'm torn between the Galaxy tab pro 10.1 and the Z2

Can anyone post about their battery life? How is build quality? Any lag moving around the interface?

I just got mine yesterday, and thought I had a few times with it not registering touches, but upon further testing, I think I was just missing the navigation buttons. I enabled the show touches option in the developer options and they seem to all register for me unless I'm on the very edge, overlapping the bezel. It does seem like the target areas for the navigation buttons are pretty small though and black navigation buttons blend right into the bezel. I'm confident this can all be addressed in firmware/software updates. Hopefully yours is too.

Overall I'm loving it - it's so light! The screen is a fingerprint magnet, but I can live with that since it looks great. The sound is great too - really everything I expected. I didn't order any accessories, but am now thinking the charging dock will be much more convenient than fiddling with the flaps to charge it. I am glad it is waterproof though, so I don't really have to worry about dropping it in the tub or pool.

~Troop

After playing a bit with it, I have the exact same impressions: the navigation buttons are easily missed. The dead zone around the bezel is too large, and for some reason I often touch a few pixels away from my target. It's definitively not hardware related. But it bugs me, if it stills bugs me a week from now it'll go straight back to Sony.

About the battery life , I charged it to full yesterday afternoon, played with it for about 4 hours in the evening, mostly web and HD vids, It got 70% battery life left. It discharged 1% overnight . Too early to tell but looking good so far.
It feels very snappy. I did have one severe slowdown (once just opening a new tab in Firefox the whole tablet froze for like 10 seconds ) , it never happened since and it running butter smooth.

It's so slim and light that it's quite hard to hold actually. I struggled a bit to find an easy was to hold it with one hand whereas my old Iconia A500 (twice as thick and almost twice as heavy) feels more natural although more straining. Even with two hands the square edges are not comfortable.
I put the Z2 in my Iconia case for the time being, it does not fit perfectly but is much easier to hold.

Aside from the unremovable apps, as always, I'm quite positively surprised with the Sony ROM, it's very pleasant to use.

Nice touches: multi color notification led, front speakers are loud and clear, IR blaster (although the app sucks)


Now all I really want is root access...

 

[jonlad1]

Awesome!

They should arrive in Australia next week, looks like I'll have to get one

Please keep dropping thoughts on it when you feel the need!

I'm sure the touch issue will be resolved with an update.

CM11 would be freaking amazing on this!

 

[Gnopps]

Review and benchmarking

A Polish site has published a review. Though I don't understand Polish the benchmarking results look very good; this tablet scores top in most, but not in the SunSpider Javascript benchmark where it is outperformed by others. Playing a HD-movie at 55% brightness gave a battery life of 12,5h. For normal usage the battery lasted about 3 days:

http://www.benchmark.pl/testy_i_recenzje/sony-xperia-z2-tablet-test/strona/21973.html