Sony Mobile Australia has finally brought the Xperia Z4 Tablet to Australia, and we’re glad it’s here. Announced earlier this year at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, it’s been a long journey for the Z4 Tablet, and when we received a review unit last week, we knew an Australian launch couldn’t be too far away, and now it’s here.
Sony’s Xperia Z4 Tablet is a 10″ tablet that weighs around twice as much as the average phone, which means its light as can be, at just 393 grams, and yet it packs in a 10.1″ 2K display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, and a claimed 17 hour battery life when playing back videos. There’s 3GB of RAM on board, and up to 32GB of storage (though the system will eat a bit of this).
Perhaps the best feature, though, is the availability of the unassuming BKB50. What’s that? It’s the Bluetooth keyboard that you see pictured above; paired with the Z4 Tablet, it basically transforms into an Android-powered netbook, and while it takes a little bit of adjustment to get used to the smaller keys and spacings, it’s remarkably powerful and fast to type on.
In fact, I typed this announcements post on the Xperia Z4 Tablet, and it was just as quick as typing it on the desktop. Bam.
If that wasn’t enough, Sony has made this thing IP68 rated, with a cap-less USB port, so there’s no rubber flaps to fiddle with to make sure the waterproofing works (though there IS a flap for the SIM & MicroSD slot, you don’t need to access that nearly as often). Watching movies or reading books in the bath? The Z4 Tablet has your back.
Sony has announced that the tablet will go on sale today nationally through Telstra retailers for $888 outright for the 32GB LTE model, and it will be available on a plan from $62 a month which includes 4GB of data on Telstra’s national 4G network. If you buy from Telstra, you can claim the BKB50 Bluetooth Keyboard, valued at $299, via redemption while stocks last.
If you don’t need LTE, the WiFi only variant will go on sale at the end of September through Sony Kiosks, Sony Centres and Sony Online for $799.
We’ll have a review published soon. In the meantime, let us know what you’d like paid particular attention when we review, and we’ll do our best!
This is a let down.
I’ve been struggling along with my aged HP Touchpad, ever since the Z3 only came out in a compact model, waiting for a new tablet.
Now it’s only available from Telstra!
It’s going to have their crapware preloaded, they’re going to postpone updates like they do with everything… Grrrr
It’s not even listed on Sony’s on line store.
To top it off, it looks like the free keyboad is only available to people who sign up for a plan.
Don’t know how they (Telstra) can say it’s available. Order placed 2 Sep, and now on to 7th call on 23 Sep (and multiple email notifications) trying to sort out even where my order is. Next call is ACCC
I walked in to buy one in a Telstra store about 2 or 3 weeks ago and was able to do so, however the cost of getting one on a plan sufficient enough to get the free keyboard was too difficult to justify, seeing I already had a Samsung Tab S 10.5 with Samsung Keyboard case under contract.
Just picked mine up today.
I was able to get it bundled into my Datashare plan for and extra $45 with 1GB added to the plan and it’s eligible for the free keyboard.
That works out to be only $1080 and to buy the Tab and KB would cost me $1070, looking at Static Ice.
I’m OK with that price. Now if only it wasn’t filled with crapware and stuck on 5.0.2 till Telstra decides to release 5.1.1.
Extremely tempted. Nice hardware, but that price is just a bit over the top. $62 a month with 4GB LTE isn’t terrible, but the outright price is just too high. 64GB iPad Air 2 with LTE for $899 seems better value.
If I hadn’t replaced my Nexus 7 with a Mi Pad and the Microsoft Keyboard I’d probably buy one. I’ll continue to carry a little Optus wifi pocket modem thing for connectivity.
Price is steep apple steep however best tablet offering in awhile now spec wise.
$888 for 32GB LTE ?
$799 for Wifi ?
Repeat after me Sony “I am not apple and people are not daft enough to pay silly money for my tablets”.
File under “it might be quite good when the price halves”.
u made my day
I miss the pogo pins. I would have loved to put this tablet in a dock to charge… now i still need a cable. Anyone here loved the Xperia z tab1/2. The omission of the pogo pins breaks the idea I had for this tablet. That said, decent enough battery life…