Hands On: Sony's Ultra Thin and Light Z4 Tablet, M4 Aqua

BARCELONA—A 10-inch tablet refresh was conspicuously absent during Sony's IFA event, where the Japanese company announced its 8-inch Z3 Tablet Compact in Berlin. The wait will have been worth it for tablet fans who drool over svelte, featherweight slabs. At this year's Mobile World Congress, Sony took the wraps off of the Z4 Tablet, an Android-powered tablet that replaces the aging Z2 Tablet that debuted at last year's MWC.

We had a chance to go hands on with the Z4 Tablet and Sony's new midrange M4 Aqua smartphone.

At first glance, it'd be easy to mistake the Z4 for the Z2, or even the Z1 Tablet for that matter. Sony has settled on a very consistent, minimalist design language that hasn't changed much over the years. The Z4 Tablet measures just 0.24 inches thick and weighs just 13.72 ounces. That's the same thickness as Apple's iPad Air 2 and nearly 2 ounces lighter. Sony claims it's the world's thinnest 10-inch tablet, which I suppose excludes the 9.7-inch iPad Air 2. Like its predecessors, the Z4 Tablet will also be waterproof without any additional housings.

Sony also makes some grand claims about the 10.1-inch, 2K LCD on the Z4 Tablet, declaring the panel the world's brightest in its class. Pushing all those pixels is an octa-core, 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, which will be featured in this year's crop of Android smartphones. We ran some preliminary benchmarks on the LG G Flex 2, which also features the 810, and we came away mostly impressed.

Inside is a beefy 6,000mAh battery, which Sony says should be good for 17 hours of video playback. That's another lofty claim that we'll put to the test once we get the tablet into our labs for testing.

The Z4 Tablet will feature an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera and 5.1-megapixel front-facing camera. One notable exclusive feature for Sony devices is PlayStation 4 remote play, which debuted with the last generation of Sony's flagship smartphone.

The M4 Aqua is a midrange phone in name, but quite well-equipped when compared with the competition. Up front is a 5-inch 720p display that looked sharp and bright. Inside is an octa-core, 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 615, and the Aqua will run Android 5.0 out of the box. It'll be waterproof like Sony's other offerings, while a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera and 5-megapixel front-facer round out the features.

No word on pricing for the Z4 Tablet, but expect somewhere in the region of $500, as Sony continues to position its tablets in the premium space. The Z4 Tablet will hit retail shelves starting June this year. The M4 Aqua will cost 299 Euros and will debut this Spring, but don't hold your breath for a U.S. release.