Gadgetory

hey guys ash here and today I'm going to be taking a look at the Sony Xperia said three tablet compact so here we have it guys the biannual evolution of the Xperia line of tablets Sony find themselves in a precarious place within the market and even though their devices are often of stunning design and great build quality they don't seem to penetrate the market in the way that sony hope to the compact line compact they blend together higher-end hardware in a smaller package which is rarely seen in the market these days and now sony hope to bring this to their tablets right off the bat we find ourselves with an 8 inch device which is somewhat surprising as past generations have been larger we can see that they are trying to bring over the same success they have had with the compact line of smartphones to their tablet but this reduction in size also comes a much lighter tablet weighing in at only 210 grams and it's only six point four millimeters thick this provides a remarkable feeling in the hand and to be honest I'm more inclined to have a tablet that is this thin rather than the phone as a larger footprint give a tangible existence of solidity it's really nice however we have to consider whether Sonia are only reacting to a changing market where smaller more portable tablets are becoming more popular what are they looking for with this tablet does the use of compact mean we'll see a larger brother soon we have the standby button followed by the volume rocker underneath we have the headphone port on the top of the right which is the only exposed port on the device on the opposite we have a singular item and that is the magnetic connector for an aftermarket charger and accessories this is followed by the expansion slot finally we have the microUSB charger on the bottom it's a glossy and highly reflective panel on the front with a nice matte soft touch plastic on the back the tablet presents a dark sleek almost monolithic slab of technology it looks good almost anywhere the sharp distinct square cuts anyone's eye line and is complemented by an almost invisible surrounding frame this is where Sony have achieved a nice balance between functionality and design any ports that you normally find are hidden with flaps covers call it what you will but compliments one of the tablets mein unique selling points that is the IP 65 68 certification which we shall delve into more later other notable inclusions in the hardware spec are Bluetooth 4.0 with support for low-energy MHL 3 / microUSB along with support for USB host and OTG it has an plus support which is potentially great news for other products that use that protocol the display is a TFT LCD panel with a 1920 by 1200 resolution this means 283 PPI and yes it's a 10-point multi-touch panel personally I think the screen is pretty awesome yes is essentially a resolution which is common to a lot of devices nowadays and you may question it for premium device in 2014 but regardless the screen looks great the viewing angle is good with no color shift however we do see a contrast shift of varied angles so NIMH included a few display technologies which presents a good choice for those who are looking for one there's your triluminos display which enhances the color gamut allowing you to see subtle nuances and shades of colors there's the X Reality engine which is meant to enhance sharpness and contrast I have yet to make our mind up on whether the X reality engine is actually making a substantial difference as playing native resolution footage it's going to look great either way it doesn't ruin it either by adding more sharpness or contrast than is needed the best thing is choice it doesn't stop there either and that is because you get further options to suit your tinkering needs for instance we have the pleasure of adjusting a three-point white balance there's an ambient light sensor which can adjust brightness depending on light levels and is also a smart backlight control which can prevent the screen from sleeping if you're still looking at it further along to this we have glove mode which seems to raise the sensitivity of the panel with this mode turned on I could at times almost hover above the screen and it will register my presses with a big circle finally the display features are complemented with a double tap to wake which is slowly making its way around to more and more devices powering the whole thing we have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 which again is very common it has a quad-core Krait 400 processor clocked in at 2.5 gigahertz I can't say this is going to be an issue whatsoever slowly we are getting to a point where technologically we are content differentiation will be the software and the ecosystem the package offers what will be interesting to note is the indirect benefits that the CPU chip will bring these would be things like efficiency quick charging and more this is complemented with the Adreno 330 GPU which if you're into mobile gaming you won't have a problem I found every game that I tested work the tree and breezed through without a stutter games are looking better these days and with each GPU iteration we see more optimizations and additions this is an exciting space to watch the tablet comes with three gigs of RAM again fairly common in 2014 but for a tablet it's pretty nice as you can see with the majority of apps running we still have plenty of RAM left all of this performance needs a stable supply of power and the battery we find in a Zed 3 is a 4500 milliamp battery compared to devices in a similar physical footprint the Nexus 7 has a 3950 meal out battery and a new Nexus 9 has a larger 6,000 milliamp battery but for the Zed 3 it's pretty impressive considering just how thin the device actually is and these days battery life can be greatly enhanced with optimization which is where the choice of this hardware now might make sense Sony has implemented a few tricks to help eke out a little more battery low here we see reserve and stamina mode reserve mode lets you turn off any functionalities you don't need in your stamina mode this mode gets rid of any functionality not needed such as radios and I'm pretty sure for my testing that applies some sort of CPU on the clock with this sony claimed a 2-day battery life overall I have to say that it was pretty great with the amount of usage I was able to fit into a single charge cycle the z3 tablet compact is equipped with two front-facing speakers which is a great move it still surprises me that manufacturers still place a single speaker on the back and as a tablet this makes even more sense considering it's primarily a media consumption device the speakers sound good and it can be pumped up to a fairly loud volume it's Sonne you've included a number of options to tailor the sound to your needs I think this is a great move it's a personal gripe of mine as I feel Audio sometimes not given the attention it deserves this becomes even more important as many of our devices are often used as a primary music players for the front-facing speakers we have the option for s force front surround which is meant to virtually reproduce realistic surround sound it's okay and works well given the nature of the small speakers you find on tablets I feel that it reduces the mids and does give the impression of a wider soundstage for the headphones we have the surround sound VPT these are additional profiles for our listening experience it doesn't do anything special and if you're into your audio at all you probably want to leave this off otherwise we have an EQ and clear Audio plus this is meant to optimize the sound settings this doesn't make any discernible difference on your onboard speakers but makes a big difference or some headphones by kicking up the high frequencies some of you may like it depending on your headphones but it wasn't for me finally and funnily enough we have the ability to adjust microphone sensitivity coming from using vanilla Android for many years something like this can go a long way many times I've gone to gigs and cursed at the fact that my audio was distorted the camera and his every tablet compact quite frankly is a downgrade from his phone counterpart there's an 8 megapixel shooter on the rear with an exome or RS sensor and a 2 point 2 megapixel front-facing camera from my testing I have to say that the camera is perfectly OK for general shooting and video it was a really loud environment as zany as that performance was the tablet cooked well the audio was not distorted at all so we have no distortion but at the same time I can say that the auto adjustment of the mic was probably a bit heavy-handed I could hear it going up and down you do have the option for manual adjustment though I did have the steady shot function enabled and I couldn't notice the effect on tablet when filming it but looking back at it after it actually surprised me it wasn't bad at all a slight negative though is that at times you will notice a bit of warping going on we have many novel modes some were quite fun and entertain friends but with most I question their longevity if you're the kind of person that does use the camera on your mobile device on a regular basis this could be a nice option to enhance the normal static shot there are even downloadable camera modes which can only be a good thing right at 100% crop the images are short weren't particularly great especially in low-light which often resulted in a blurry picture the sensor is unremarkable for what it is but works great for a quick point-and-shoot type of a device my only negative about the camera is placement where it is on a device makes you inclined to use it in a portrait orientation and this isn't how I normally take images every time I went to take a picture holding in landscape in my hand I had my finger get in the way quite regularly the Sony UI offers a clean almost stock like experience with a handful of additions there are nice animations to give the UI a sense of polish and the notable software additions are the various Sony services and apps such as music limited walkman movies and more they're designed a well and work well to the design language is consistent and doesn't change anything too drastically which is a-okay in my book being a gamer I was most looking forward to the PlayStation suite of apps the PlayStation app lists your console if it's on the same network displaying its name and status you can either launch remote play or second screen functionality second screen allows you to use your tablet as a controller to navigate menus and where applicable to use your tablet as a second screen remote play on the other hand allows you to stream your ps4 straight to your tablet there are on-screen controls with haptic feedback which would suit navigation and perhaps slower-paced in your game this is all well and exciting but it gets better you can also pair your duel shop forward to the tablet via bluetooth from my testing it was awesome I tested a few games and it all worked well as you expect it to I enjoy a remote play for my Vita but having a bigger screen with the great controller is something else entirely it did experience stutter at points where Awards getting slightly far away from my room to put overall the response is quick and I couldn't notice much lag twitch shooters aren't recommended though the Dual Shock 4 when paired via bluetooth could also control your tablet I was able to navigate my way through the interface and for games that support a gamepad the DualShock 4 worked a treat playing mobile games with the gamepad has completely recontextualize game to me this is a great alternative to playing should you already have a dual shock for the Zed 3 is an enthralling prospect for those who are into gaming the Sony UI is actually not bad to use I have discovered one slightly jarring aspect and that's the keyboard it provides good personalization options such as having a number role but what I do find slightly off-putting is that the visual feedback of the predictive text for some reason is slightly delayed to the actual text that you're typing the responsive typing is fine however so no problems there but this does make it feel slightly slower than it is it's not a massive issue and will be completely non-existent if you're a user that uses another keyboard so here we are the big moment this is Sony's biggest USP over its Xperia line of devices and over the years we have seen other companies follow suit the IP 65 68 certification allows it to be submerged in water for 30 minutes at 1.5 meters of depth this is specifically with fresh water so make sure you don't show off in front of your friends around salt water having the freedom and not being restricted by waters completely striking technology inherently has made a shun away from any form of liquid so having this available on a such precious piece of equipment it's quite relieving I can't say that I would intentionally keep it out during the rainstorm though they have produced a stunning looking tablet that feels great in the hand and hardly weighs anything I mean it weighs less than some phone the past generations have featured larger displays which makes sense when you consider the software feature set it's presented the access to various Sony services are all about media consumption and I know a few people who are initially disappointed when I showed them the tablet but this will be your call undoubtedly so whether you're a fan or not or smaller displays the Sony Xperia z3 tablet compact brings the best of both worlds into a package that is sufficiently able to work in both scenarios the software features it brings offers great entertainment value with the integration with the numerous Sony services if you're into mobile gaming I know you'll love this tablet I know our newfound love for mobile gaming now I have a crate gamepad to play it with but it's more than that it's the PlayStation integration that plays heavily into my love for gaming it's not only software though the hardware feature set offers great practicalities with an uncompromised design both functionalities complemented one another and as a result we have a tablet that looks great and that will stand up to more than most other tablets overall the tablet has been a surprising sleeper hit for me I wasn't expecting much when I heard of the device let alone opening the box but after spending some time with the device and utilizing it in a normal manner I'm going to like it quite a lot I spend most of my time with vanilla Android and I have to say that the additions that Sony about it aren't garish by any means it's not even a software app star-like it's the small touches such as being able to change the white balance having those audio options and even be able to flash themes it's that and lows more that sits well with me the only thing I question is the form factor of this device I want a bigger screen sure it's compact and brings Portability with a great suite of apps but for me I just want a larger device I mean your Marg may vary but despite that I think it's an incredibly beautiful looking device and it's just yeah I was impressed with the battery life it gave me lasting quite a few days on standby and even when it wasn't the screen on time it gave me what is 4500 milliamp battery I would have no problem in wreck men in this tablet overall this is a great addition to the plethora of Android tablets we find ourselves with it's hardware and software choices make it one of the best around and so I have no hesitation in giving this tablet our editors choice award so there you have it guys that was the sony xperia z3 tablet compact stay tuned to android authority for more great videos from all the team take it easy and remember we are your source for all things Android