Gadgetory

both Samsung and Sony make high-end Android tablets but which one is better I'm Taylor Martin this is PocketNow and this is a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition versus a sony xperia tablet z what happens when two smartphone manufacturers with two distinctly different design languages tried their hand at the most high-end tablet possible two very different tablets are made the question remains which is the better tablet this time we're taking a look at the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition and Sony Xperia tablet Z let's find out which is the better buy from their internals to their outer shells the materials used to compose their chassis to the resistance to the elements these two tablets truly have very few likenesses the Xperia tablet Z like its smaller relatives the Xperia Z Z 1m z ultra pairs hard edges sharp corners and an expansive flat back the inset metallic trim lines all four edges and is protected by a grippy matte finished plastic everything about its build quality feels superb and premium the Note 10.1 while it certainly feels higher quality than its Galaxy Tab and Galaxy Note tablet brethren is not as premium the faux leather backing is nice but doesn't scream quality like other like priced tablets it's plastic chrome trim is lined as to resemble the pages of a closed notebook however Samsung has managed to pack more into a smaller package the tablet Z is anything but modest in size at 266 millimeters wide it's markedly wider than the new Note 10.1 by 22 point nine centimeters only 0.6 millimeters separate them in height yet the tablet Z is incredibly thin 6.9 millimeters the Note 10.1 is a full millimeter thicker smaller it may be but lighter it is not the Note 10.1 measures 540 grams while the tablet Z is 45 grams lighter external differences are only the beginning of the contrast between these two tablets in February when the Xperia tablet Z was announced its internals were acceptable it's powered by the Snapdragon s4 pro a 1.5 gigahertz quad-core Krait CPU and Adreno 320 GPU it has 2 gigabytes of RAM 16 or 32 gigabytes of fixed storage for the micro SD card slot and 8.1 megapixel primary camera and a 22 watt hour six thousand milliamp hour battery the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition is less reserved filled with some of the markets most recent and impressive specifications it's powered by Samsung's in-house Exynos octa-core 2 quad-core CPUs one clocked at 1.9 gigahertz and the other at 1.3 it has three gigabytes of RAM 16 32 or 64 gigabytes of fixed storage for the microSD card slot 8 megapixel camera and a 31 watt hour battery at 80 to 20 milliamp hours the tablet seat comes with NFC the Note 10.1 does not but it does have Wi-Fi AC whereas the tablet C does not and both come with IR blasters along their top edges and the displays the Note 10.1 Super Clear LCD has a higher resolution 2560 by 1600 pixels and therefore a higher density of 299 PPI the tablet sees 10.1 inch reality display has a resolution of 1920 by 1200 pixels and a density of 224 PPI it's not quite as sharp which really only matters when you're dealing with content higher than 1080p but the tablets these colors are more accurate it has slightly better contrast and marginally darker blacks though the Note 10.1 does offer wider viewing angles there's not much else to say beyond the fact that they're both great each tablet however has a unique trick up its sleeve the tablet Z carries a rating of IP 57 for dust proofing and water resistance it can survive a dip in water for up to 30 minutes at a depth of 1 meter the Note 10.1 comes with the S Pen and inductive stylus which utilizes a Wacom digitizer and comes with its own feature set so which of these two tablets takes the crown and hardware neither actually the tablet Z has a higher quality build and resistance to water and dust it also has a more accurate display but the Note 10.1 comes with the S Pen is more compact as more powerful internals and has a higher resolution display we'll call it a draw the firmwares on these two devices aren't all that similar either the note 10.1 as we all know by now is running the most current version of Android version 4.3 of course that's beneath all of Samsung's alterations meaning it only has a loose resemblance to stock Android visually the software on the Xperia tablet Z shares a lot more in common with the native Android UI though it's still running Android 4.2.2 the tablet C uses very dark Grey's with slight deviations from stock Android the major changes on the surface at least are Sony's icons widgets and wallpapers position of the notification shade and other slight modifications such as animations or the appearance of the recent apps page TouchWiz on the note 10.1 is much brighter and more vibrant it uses light grays and various UI elements such as the notification shade and Settings app virtually no UI element has gone untouched by Samsung's developers the Settings app is tabbed and paginated the home screens and pages of applications endlessly scroll in a carousel like manner and the notification shade spans the entire display appearances aside what each brings to the table however isn't radically different though the Note 10.1 has a notable leg up both devices offer floating applications which is particularly useful on a display this size press the recent apps button on the tablet Z and seven pre-installed small apps as Sony calls them anyway are available pressing the expand button in the far left corner will show more and tapping the plus icon will allow you to download more from Google Play or turn your favorite widgets into small apps the selection of floating applications called pin windows on TouchWiz aren't as broad and you can't create your own on the fly out of your favorite widgets you're accessed by pressing the S Pen button and hovering it over the display select pin window and draw a rough outline of the size of the window you want and then select one of the seven applications the difference here is that floating applications on the Galaxy Note 10.1 can be open to top 2 more applications using the multi window feature and multiple floating applications can be opened at once on the note only one can be opened at a time on the tablet Z it's a tough call here we don't mind the software on the Xperia tablet Z like pure stock Android it's lightweight with its fair share of value adds and there's something to be said for that but even while TouchWiz is an over encumbered UX the optimizations and ability to run to full application side by side far outweigh the frequent performance troubles it brings it's simply a better UI and UX for a tablet performance the most part seems comparable between both tablets the standard subset of actions was back and forth between the tablet Z and Note 10.1 sometimes opening applications was faster on the Z sometimes switching apps or returning home was quicker on the note 10.1 and vice versa but there are some things that we can quantify the Note 10.1 has an additional gigabyte of RAM meaning it can keep more in memory through switching multiple applications the tablet Z will run out of memory first forcing it to close some apps while the Note 10.1 can keep them open both tablets also handle graphic intensive gaming exceptionally well and performed well in benchmarks speaker performance is a place neither tablet is particularly great the tablet Z isn't bad but its speakers are rather tinny and although they're difficult to entirely cover on accident' they're quite easy to muffle the same can be said of the Note 10.1 but its speakers are far louder and produce a more full sound battery life is still a bit uncertain for the Note 10.1 while we've done our fair share of testing we haven't quite put the tablet through its paces just yet but the tablet Z fared pretty well in our full review lasting through an entire weekend on a single charge it's 22 watt hour battery manages to power the tablet with sufficient stamina and incredibly well on standby especially with the power saver mode turned on the Note 10.1 with its 31 watt hour battery easily manages to last two days on a charge but of course for heavier usage you may need to charge more often the camera situation is effectively the same as it always is when it comes to tablets although fitted with 8 megapixel cameras their performance is second-rate both devices provide images which are filled with noise black detail sharpness contrast and accurate colors we give the image tinting edge to the Galaxy Note 10.1 but rest assured neither tablet takes great photos what we want to know is at the end of the day which tablet would you choose for us it's pretty straightforward we can make better use of the 10.1 inch display on the Galaxy Note 10.1 with its s-pen and multi window features but that doesn't mean the tablet Z is a bad choice both tablets are on par with one another in most areas or offer a fair trade-off where they're not if you spend a lot of time around water or dust go with the tablet z from sony if you need more multitasking features get the note 10.1 that's all we have time for so if you enjoyed the video be sure to let us know by clicking the thumbs up button below and subscribing to the channel be sure to leave a comment for your favorite tablet of these two in the comments below and find us on Twitter Facebook and Google+ at pocket now I'm Taylor Martin you can find me on twitter at casper tech and i will see you next week