Sony Xperia Tablet Z has recently been unveiled in Japan during an NTT DoCoMo sprint portfolio event. Quick reviews of the device have been drawing praises from gadget watchers, making spectators wonder whether the Xperia Z tablet could be a formidable competition to iPad 4, and eventually, iPad 5.

Light, waterproof, 10-inch NFC-enabled Sony Tablet

Sony Xperia Tablet Z has recently been unveiled in Japan during an NTT DoCoMo sprint portfolio event. Quick reviews of the device has been drawing praises from gadget watchers, making spectators wonder whether the Xperia Z tablet could be a formidable competition to iPad 4, and eventually, iPad 5. (Image: Sony)

Sony Xperia Tablet Z is present in Australia's MobiCity catalogue, with the price tag marked as "to be confirmed." There has been no reported date for international release, but an international acclaim remains possible for the lightest 10-inch tablet today.

Weighing only 495 g, the full-size Sony tablet packs a lot of power in its 6.99 mm ultra thin chassis, which is waterproof and dustproof. Xperia Tablet Z is fueled by a quad-core 1.5GHz CPU from Qualcomm with 2GB of RAM. Its 6,000mAh battery is optimized by the Sony Stamina Mode technology, which could reportedly make the tablet juice flow by 90 per cent longer than usual.

In a quick intro below, a Sony rep shows a sample of some very efficient NFC interaction between the Xperia Z smartphone and its tablet cousin. Its 10.1-inch Full HD display (1920 x 1200 p) is boosted by Sony Mobile Bravia Engine 2.

With Sony Music Unlimited and PlayStation Mobile in the Xperia Z ecosystem, Sony is challenging the current leads in the tablet game. (Samsung and Apple are watching.)

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Apple iPad 4 Dimensions vs Xperia Tablet Z

Apple iPad 4 is fueled by Apple A6X, Apple's latest 1.4 GHz dual-core CPU. It weighs 652 g at the minimum (Wi-Fi only). Ten grams is added to the Wi-Fi with cellular editions. The fine iPad 4th generation chassis is 9.4 mm thick, which is not really too bad, except now users can compare. The weight difference is also quite difficult to ignore.

The next generation iPad, believed to be the iPad 5, will reportedly address dimension issues. iPad 5 will reportedly be thinner and lighter with Sharp's IGZO technology. This only means the tablet competition for 2013 has not even begun

VIDEO: Xperia Tablet Z International Release Date Still Unknown, but Powers Reveal Themselves

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