Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact

What is the Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact?

The Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact is the large-screen sibling of the Xperia Z3 mobile phone, offering a similar waterproof design but with a tablet form factor. It's blessed with a wafer-thin waterproof casing, a quad-core 2.5GHz chipset, a Full HD screen and an 8.1-megapixel rear camera for photography and video capture. It also features NFC for wirelessly exchanging data at close quarters.
Although the early crop of Android tablets were big 10-inch affairs, the Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact – as the long-winded name suggests – is slightly easier to slip into your bag at the beginning of your morning commute. Its 8-inch screen puts it in the same bracket as the Nexus 7, LG G Pad 8.3 and iPad mini 3, all of which are small-scale slates that are ideal mobile travelling companions.
Related: Sony Xperia Z5 vs Z4 vs Z3: What can you expect if you upgrade?

SEE ALSO: Best Tablets Round-up

Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact – Design

Sony's designers have clearly found their signature look, as the Xperia range has remained largely unchanged in style for a couple of years now. The company favours sharp, straight edges and a mixture of metal and plastic, and the Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact inevitably follows suit.
At 6.4mm it's almost impossibly thin for a tablet, and by keeping the overall weight down – it tips the scales at just 270g – Sony has created a device which won't put any undue strain on your wrists. There's no discomfort to be had holding it with just one hand, which makes it ideal for when you're riding on public transport and need another arm free to steady yourself between bumpy stops. The weight's been kept down by not using much metal in the construction – unlike the Xperia Z3 phone, the Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact only has metal corners, with the material which runs around the edges actually just metallic-effect plastic.

The back of the tablet is plastic as well, which doesn't look as premium as the glass used on the Xperia Z3 phone, but has the positive effect of making the device less likely to slip out of your hand and onto cold, unfeeling concrete. Its matte texture also improves grip, but such safety comes at a cost – the overall effect is less striking that the aluminum-encased iPad mini, and it also picks up marks and scratches a little too readily for our liking.
In terms of buttons, Sony has kept things simple here. The power and volume keys are located on the right-hand edge of the Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact, right in the middle so they're easy to reach during use, as that's where your fingers will naturally rest. Elsewhere you'll find the microSD slot – and SIM card slot if you've opted for the cellular version – behind a panel, and a similar compartment on the bottom edge for the micro-USB socket.
Both of these panels must be carefully re-sealed after use to ensure the device maintains its water-resistant talents. If you're worried about water getting in after repeated removal of the USB charge panel, you can buy the optional charging dock, which tops up the tablet via two pins on the left-hand side.

Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact – Screen

The display is a 1200 x 1920-pixel Triluminos panel with a pixel density of 283ppi. It's impressively punchy and colourful, with excellent brightness and good readability in direct sunlight. The glass is supposedly shatter-proof and comes equipped with an oleophobic coating to prevent the build-up of unsightly fingerprints. We naturally weren't brave enough to test the former, and the latter seems like a rather hollow boast – after only a few minutes of use the screen was awash with smudges and greasy prints.
While it's true that in terms of pure pixels the Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact's display is trailing behind those seen on its rivals, you never really get the feeling that you're missing out. Text is sharp and images look clear and defined, so unless you're planning on taking a magnifying glass to the screen, you're unlikely to pine for additional pixel density. Viewing angles are also excellent, with the picture remaining clear and legible regardless of how you hold the tablet.

Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact – Software

The Xperia X3 Tablet Compact comes with Android 4.4.4 KitKat installed, which means it's ever-so-slightly behind Google's own Nexus range, which has just been updated to Android 5.0 Lollipop recently. However, Sony's aiming to upgrade the entire Z3 family early next year, so you won't be out of the loop for very long should you decide to invest in this device.
As usual, Android sits beneath Sony's own custom user interface, which comes with a wide range of benefits and some not-so-welcome elements. Features such as tap-to-wake, screen recording and the ability to organise your app drawer based on certain criteria are baked into the OS here – these are features which aren't currently available in 'stock' Android. However, while such embellishments are definitely a bonus, they come with some drawbacks – the chief of which is the unnecessary duplication of functionality and the sheer volume of bloatware apps which can't be uninstalled.

Back to the positive side for a moment, the Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact makes the most of its Sony heritage by including the option to be used as a screen for your PS4 games console. This allows for the kind of off-TV play that the Wii U has popularized, and means you can happily game away while someone else hogs the television set. The setup process is easy enough and games look amazing on the tablet's rich and colourful screen, but there's noticeable latency, and games rarely run as smoothly as they do on the actual console.
Sadly, Sony – like rivals Samsung and HTC – has seen fit to flood the tablet's internal storage with apps and digital stores which essentially replicate what Google's own options already cover. So in addition to Google Music and Google's exhaustive selection of songs and albums available for purchase via the Google Play store, you have Sony's own music repository and music player. It's the same deal for apps and movies.
Choice is always welcome, of course, but doubling up in this fashion can lead to confusion on behalf of the user – especially as you'll have to enter your credit card details twice to use both Sony and Google's digital stores.

Internal storage of 16GB is included, of which 11.20GB is available to the end user – the rest is occupied by other elements which can't be removed, such as the OS itself and those pesky pre-installed applications. You'll want to expand this total fairly quickly if you're looking to download a lot of games, music or films, and the Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact is capable of accepting microSD cards of up to 128GB in size.

Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact – Performance

Nestled within the Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact's svelte frame is a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset clocked at 2.5GHz. It's supported by 3GB of RAM – the same amount seen in many leading smartphones these days – and consequently is more than able to deal with any task you can throw at it.
During our benchmark tests, we discovered that the Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact offered impressive performance when set against rival tablets. A Quadrant score of 19,819 places it at the upper end of the Android tablet market, while Antutu Benchmark awarded it a score of 42,642. 3DMark, a benchmark which tests the 3D graphics capability of a wide range of hardware, delivers a ranking of 18,224. That's below the 30,522 score posted by the Nvidia Shield Tablet, but still a more than respectable rating.

Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact – Camera

The Xperia phone range is famed for its superb cameras, so it might be a little disappointing to discover that the Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact comes with just an 8.1-megapixel snapper and lacks any kind of flash.
The quality of the images taken on this slate aren't dismal by any means, though, and it's a perfectly acceptable substitute for those times when you don't have a proper camera – or a superior-snapping mobile phone – to hand. A front-facing 2.2-megapixel camera is there for when you need to make video calls, and performs its job admirably.

Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact – Battery Life

Despite its impressively thin frame, the Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact comes with a 4500 mAh battery that should prove roomy enough for most users to make it through an entire day without running out of juice. During our tests we found that a day of moderate video playback, web surfing, game-playing and email-answering left the device with around 20 per cent of battery life remaining at bedtime, but a less aggressive usage pattern should result in a day or two of stamina.
Tasks such as watching HD movies and playing intense 3D games – both of which not only tax the processor but also require the screen to be active for long periods of time – are the two activities most likely to drain your battery faster than usual. If you're planning on doing both in excess, be sure to carry a charger around with you when you leave the house.

The Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact has a fast-charging feature which enables you to top up around 60 per cent of the battery in 30 minutes – as we noted several times during our test period, this came in very handy indeed. We forgot to charge the device one night and found that it was perilously low on power the next morning, but it mattered little. Just 30 minutes on the plug while we consumed breakfast and the Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact was ready to tackle a full day of use.

Should I buy the Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact?

There's no denying that the Xperia X3 Tablet Compact is one of the most attractive Android tablets available right now, and the fact that it combines aesthetic charm with some powerful internal tech and an excellent screen doesn't hurt, either. The ability to stream PS4 games to the tablet's screen is another big selling point, although you shouldn't expect the exact same experience that you get on your television.
The Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact is a fantastic slice of Android tech, but with so many low-cost challengers now entering the market, the £330 price point could be an issue. For less cash, Nvidia's Shield Tablet offers superior performance and access to Nvidia's 'Netflix for games' GRID service. And for a measly £129 you can get the excellent Tesco Hudl 2, which was just named Best Value Tablet in the TrustedReviews Awards.

Verdict

The Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact is an attractive and powerful Android tablet which comes with some neat exclusive features, but the price could be a sticking point when you consider how many decent low-cost alternatives there are.
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Scores In Detail

• Battery Life 7
• Design 9
• Performance 8
• Screen Quality 8
• Software & Apps 7
• Value 6