It debuted at the 2002 Paris Auto Show and was built at BMW's US plant in Greer, South Carolina, and starting with the 2009 model year, the second generation Z4 is built in Regensburg, Germany.
The design of the first Z 4 was created by Chris Bangle, and as for the mechanics, the engines for the car were taken mainly from and.
BMW E85 Roadster
This small size, which is larger than any other sports car in the world, embodies the typical characteristics of a roadster:
- sports dynamism;
- high-performance motors;
- outstanding suspension and rigid chassis;
- innovative technologies;
- and last but not least the design of the Roadster, which makes this car unique;
Originally only available in convertible bodystyle, the Z4 was available with a wide range of engines ranging from a 2.0-liter 4-cylinder to a 3.0-liter 6-cylinder.
Four years after its world premiere, in 2006 the Roadster was updated. The restyled model received minor changes to the exterior body design and was fitted with new electronic features as standard. In addition, a new 6-cylinder N52 engine was available on the car.
Specifications BMW E85 Roadster
Engine | Volume. cm³ | Power, hp | Torque, Nm | |
2.0i | 1995 | 150 | 200 | |
2.2i | 2171 | 170 | 210 | |
2.5i | M54B25/N52B25 | 2494/2497 | 192/177 | 245/230 |
2.5si | 2497 | 218 | 250 | |
3.0i | M54B30 | 2979 | 231 | 300 |
3.0si | N52B30 | 2996 | 265 | 315 |
BMW E86 Coupe
The BMW Z4 Coupe was originally unveiled as a concept car at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2005, and a year later, the company unveiled new version bodywork in New York.
The soft top has been replaced with a steel wide rear curve, giving the coupe a powerful and elegant body design. The Z4 twin variant was endowed with impressive performance and was developed at the highest level of automotive engineering.
This version of the body was available in one modification - 3.0si and was equipped with a 6-cylinder N52 engine with a capacity of 265 hp, which is able to accelerate the coupe in 5.7 seconds from zero to 100 km / h, the same power unit is installed on the roadster .
BMW E89 Roadster
The 2nd Generation Z4 is a classic BMW roadster with more power and style than ever. was launched in 2009 and is the only vehicle in its segment that combines the classic proportions of a small retractable roof car with seating closer to the rear axle, rear wheel drive and a retractable hardtop.
In 2013, the E89 was updated. The car gets a new "Valencia Orange" paint job, new 17- and 18-inch alloy wheels and a contrasting black roof (the latter option is available as an option).
The top version is the sDrive35is, which is equipped with a 340 hp six-cylinder engine. and "M package".
Video review of the BMW Z4 E89 from the "Big test drive"
Specifications BMW E89 Roadster
Motor | Volume, cc | Power, hp | Torque, Nm | |
sDrive18i | 1997 | 156 | 240 | |
sDrive20i | N20B20 | 1997 | 184 | 270 |
sDrive23i | N52B25 | 2497 | 204 | 250 |
sDrive28i | N20B20 | 1997 | 245 | 350 |
sDrive30i | N52B30 | 2996 | 258 | 310 |
sDrive35i | 2979 | 306 | 400 | |
sDrive35is | N54B30 | 2979 | 340 | 450 |
BMW G29
It was originally introduced in 2017 as a concept car. Serial production of the car will start in 2018.
Unlike its predecessor, the car will have a soft top and be equipped with three engines.
powered by the powerful Snapdragon 810 platform
At MWC 2015, Sony introduced only two new products in the mobile device segment - the M4 Aqua smartphone and the Z4 Tablet, which we immediately got to know better. A detailed study of the presented smartphone is yet to come, and in this article we will talk about the fourth tablet in the Xperia series. It has been noticed that in mobile devices Sony alternates the output of large and small devices, so after the Z3 Tablet Compact, a large ten-inch tablet saw the light.
Specifications Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet (SGP771)
- Model Number: SGP771
- Single-chip system: Qualcomm Snapdragon 810
- CPU: 4x Cortex-A57 @2GHz + 4x Cortex-A53
- GPU: Adreno 430 @600MHz
- Display: IPS, 10.1″, 2560×1600, 299 ppi
- RAM: 3 GB
- Internal memory: 32 GB
- Support for microSD cards (up to 128 GB)
- Mobile networks GSM, WCDMA, LTE Cat 6 (optional)
- Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac MIMO (2.4 + 5 GHz)
- Bluetooth 4.1, GPS/A-GPS/Glonass/BDS
- Cameras: 5.1 MP front, 8.1 MP rear
- Micro-USB (supporting MHL 3.0), Nano-SIM (optional), 3.5mm headphone jack
- Battery capacity: 6000 mAh
- Operating system: Google Android 5.0.2
- Size: 254×167×6.1mm
- Weight: 389g / 393g (Wi-Fi/LTE versions)
Sony Xperia tablets have always been among the most expensive tablets on the market, and the specifications of the Z4 Tablet fully reflect why this is the case.
Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet | Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet | Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 | Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014) | iPad Air 2 | |
Screen | IPS, 10.1″, 2560×1600, 299 ppi | IPS, 10.1″, 1920×1200 (218 ppi) | SuperAMOLED, 10.5″, 2560×1600 (287 ppi) | PLS, 10.1″, 2560×1600 (299 ppi) | IPS, 9.7″, 2048×1536 (264 ppi) |
SoC (processor) | Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 (4x Cortex-A57 @2GHz & 4x Cortex-A53) | Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 @2.3GHz (4x Krait 400 cores) | Samsung Exynos 5 Octa (4 cores @1.9GHz & 4 cores @1.3GHz) | Apple A8X @1.5 GHz 64-bit (3 Cyclone cores) + M8 co-processor | |
GPU | Adreno 430 | Adreno 330 | Mali-T628 MP6 | Mali-T628 MP6 | PowerVR GX6650 |
RAM | 3 GB | 3 GB | 3 GB | 3 GB | 2 GB |
Flash memory | 32 GB | 16 to 32 GB | 16 GB | 16 to 64 GB | 16 to 128 GB |
Memory card support | microSD (up to 128 GB) | microSD (up to 128 GB) | microSD (up to 128 GB) | microSD (up to 64 GB) | - |
Connectors | Micro-USB (MHL-enabled), 3.5mm headphone jack | dock connector, | Micro-USB (with OTG and MHL support), 3.5mm headphone jack | Micro-USB (with OTG and MHL support), 3.5mm headphone jack | Lightning dock connector, 3.5mm headphone jack |
cameras | front (5.1 MP; 1080p video) and rear (8.1 MP; 1080p video) | front (2.2 MP; 1080p video) and rear (8.1 MP; 1080p video) | front (2.1 MP; 1080p video) and rear (8 MP; 1080p video) | front (1.2 MP), rear (8 MP, 1080p video shooting) | front (1.2 MP, 720p video) and rear (8 MP, 1080p video) |
Internet | Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac MIMO (optional 3G and LTE) | Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac MIMO (optional 3G and LTE) | Wi-Fi, 3G (optional LTE) | Wi-Fi (optional 3G and LTE) | |
Wireless modules | Bluetooth, GPS/Glonass/BDS, NFC | Bluetooth, GPS/Glonass, Infrared, NFC | Bluetooth, GPS/Glonass/BDS, Infrared, NFC | Bluetooth, GPS.Glonass | Bluetooth, GPS |
Battery capacity (mAh) | 6000 | 6000 | 7900 | 8220 | 7340 |
Operating system* | Google Android 5.0.2 | Google Android 4.4 | Google Android 4.4 | Google Android 4.3 | Apple iOS 8.1 |
Dimensions** (mm) | 254×167×6.1 | 266×172×6.4 | 247×177×6.6 | 243×171×7.9 | 240×170×6.1 |
Weight (g) | 393 | 424 | 467 | 544 | 451 |
average price | T-12260248 | T-10729481 | T-10964274 | T-10498126 | T-11153496 |
Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet Retail Deals (Wi-Fi Version) | L-12260248-5 | ||||
Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet Retail Deals (LTE version) | L-12260250-5 |
* at the time of preparation of the corresponding article
** according to the manufacturer
Sony's large-format tablet doesn't look much different from its predecessor from a year ago. Increased to the current display resolution. The asset is still the most powerful SoC of the Snapdragon line, which has changed several generations since then. The infrared port and the branded dock connector were excluded as unnecessary, thanks to which the weight of the tablet began to fit into 400 g, which is very small for a ten-inch device. The rest of the characteristics remained without significant changes.
Design
The Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet comes with a charger only. We received the tablet without it, in a plain white box, so let's move on to the exterior. A black modification came to us for testing, a white version is also on sale.
The Xperia Z4 Tablet can be distinguished from the Z2 Tablet at a glance by the size of the display margins. The previous version was recognizable by its pronounced landscape orientation, which made it look somewhat disproportionate. Z4 Tablet has become a little shorter and wider and, accordingly, more attractive.
With the new margin sizes, the device can be comfortably held with one hand on either side, aided by the low weight. Other large tablets are not so thought out in this regard. The manufacturer's logo and the placement of the front camera makes it clear that the device, after all, is designed more for landscape orientation.
The front camera is located in the center, which is convenient. At the same time, the manufacturer's logo is neatly aligned to the edge of the display. On the opposite side is a charging LED indicator. Such an interesting arrangement of the front panel elements distinguishes only large Xperia tablets, in the Z3 Tablet Compact everything is less original.
With the latest Sony Xperia devices, the tablet has other design elements in common - contrasting glossy shockproof plastic corners. In addition, the Z2 Tablet side silvery edges were perpendicular to the body, and now the profile of the tablet is slightly convex on all sides.
The back panel of the device is made of soft-touch plastic. This material provides excellent grip and good fingerprint resistance. But if greasy traces still appear, they will have to be scrubbed longer than usual.
In the left corner is the rear camera lens. Flash is not provided. Nearby is the NFC pairing zone. On the top edge, the headphone jack barely fits into the case.
On the left, a silvery power button contrasts with the dark case. It protrudes a little more than the neighboring volume buttons, so it's more convenient to use. But the rocker is quite embossed, there are no complaints about it either.
The microphone was brought up. In principle, this is correct, since no one will bring a ten-inch tablet to their ear for a conversation, and when communicating via video chats, the upper edge is not obscured.
Behind a long flap are the microSD and Nano-SIM slots (in the LTE version). If you pull on the plastic tip protruding into the slot, the sticker is removed from the device. It contains the serial number and other information about the device. In this way, Sony provides the necessary information and does not spoil the appearance. In the Xperia Z2 Tablet, all this information has been stretched on a silver edge, and the new solution looks more elegant.
Hidden here is a small yellow button to force the device to turn off. The SIM card is installed in a removable tray.
On the right side is the Micro-USB connector, and next to it is the opening of one of the two stereo speakers. They provide high sound quality and a decent volume margin, at the level of expensive mobile devices.
The implementation of speakers is far from the only advantage of the Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet. This device has absorbed all the successful changes made to the design of the line over the past couple of generations. As a result, we got a light, comfortable and beautiful tablet. And it's IP65 and IP68 rated, which means it's fully protected from dust, sea waves, strong jets, and can be submerged to depths of up to 1m for long periods of time. Will further testing make the same impression?
Screen
The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface, resistant to scratches. Judging by the reflection of objects, anti-glare properties of the screen, maybe a little worse than Google Nexus 7 (2013) (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected in the off screens of both devices (Sony Xperia Z4 - on the right, then they can be distinguished by size):
Both screens are dark, but the Sony screen is still slightly lighter (its brightness in the photo is 115 versus 109 for the Nexus 7). The tripling of reflected objects on the Sony Xperia Z4 screen is very weak, which indicates that there is no air gap between the outer glass (it is also a touch sensor) and the matrix surface ( OGS type screen - One Glass Solution). Due to the smaller number of borders (glass/air type) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better with strong external illumination, but their repair in case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be changed. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (very effective, slightly better than the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much more easily, and appear at a slower rate than in the case of ordinary glass.
With manual brightness control, its maximum value was about 450 cd/m², and the minimum 3.8 cd/m². The maximum value is quite high, and, given the good anti-reflective properties, the image on the screen should be clearly visible in bright daylight. In complete darkness, the brightness can be lowered to a comfortable level. However, Sony promised a 40% increase in brightness over the Xperia Z2 tablet, but in reality it is only 50 cd/m², or 12.5%. That is, the fact of consumer fraud takes place. Automatic brightness control works according to the light sensor (it is located to the left of the front camera). In automatic mode, when the ambient light conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. The operation of this function depends on the position of the brightness control. If it is at its maximum, then in complete darkness the auto-brightness function reduces the brightness to 14 cd / m² (normal), in an artificially lit office (about 400 lux) it sets it to 260 cd / m² (too much), in a very bright environment (corresponds to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) increases to 450 cd / m² (to the maximum, which is what you need). If the brightness slider is at half the scale (it is very non-linear - after 50% the brightness goes up sharply as the setting is increased), then the screen brightness for the three conditions above is as follows: 12, 170 and 450 cd / m² (suitable values). If the brightness control is set to minimum - 6.8, 80, 450 cd / m². Eventually auto-brightness function works absolutely adequately. Significant backlight modulation appears only at a very low brightness level, but its frequency is very high, about 10 kHz, so no flickering of the screen is visible under any circumstances.
This screen uses IPS type matrix. Micrographs show a typical IPS subpixel structure:
For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.
The screen has good viewing angles without hue inversion and without significant color shift even with large deviations of the gaze from the perpendicular to the screen. For comparison, here is a photo in which the same images are displayed on the screens of the Nexus 7 and Sony Xperia Z4, while the brightness of the screens is initially set to about 200 cd / m² (on a white field in full screen), and the color balance on the camera is forcibly switched to 6500 K Perpendicular to the plane of the screens is a white field:
Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field. And a test picture:
The colors on the Sony Xperia Z4 screen are oversaturated, the skin tones are heavily redshifted, and the color balance is noticeably different from the standard. Now at an angle of about 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:
It can be seen that the colors have not changed much on both screens, but on the Sony Xperia Z4, the contrast has decreased to a greater extent due to strong black highlights. And the white box:
The brightness at an angle for both screens has noticeably decreased (at least 5 times, based on the difference in shutter speed), but in the case of the Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet, the brightness drop is slightly less (brightness in photos 233 versus 224 for Nexus 7). At the same time, the color tone has changed slightly. The black field, when deviated diagonally, is highlighted very strongly and acquires a purple or red-violet hue. The photos below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is the same for the screens!):
And from another angle:
When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is very good:
Contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is high - about 900:1 . The response time for the black-white-black transition is 21 ms (11 ms on + 10 ms off). The transition between grayscale 25% and 75% (according to the numerical value of the color) and back in total takes 33 ms. The gamma curve constructed from 32 points with equal intervals over the numerical value of the gray tint did not reveal a blockage either in the highlights or in the shadows, and the approximating exponential function turned out to be 2.15, which is close to the standard value, while the real gamma curve deviates slightly from a power dependence:
The tablet does not have any dynamic adjustment of the brightness of the backlight depending on the nature of the displayed image, which is very good.
The color gamut is noticeably wider than sRGB:
Let's look at the spectra:
They are very atypical. As they write on the Sony website, in this screen (with the name Triluminos) LEDs with a blue emitter and a green and red phosphor (usually a blue emitter and a yellow phosphor) are used, which, in combination with special matrix light filters, makes it possible to obtain a wide color gamut. Unfortunately, as a result, the colors of images - drawings, photographs and films - oriented to the sRGB space (and the vast majority of them) have an unnaturally high saturation. This is especially noticeable on recognizable shades, such as skin tones. The result is shown in the photo above.
The balance of shades on the gray scale is bad, since the color temperature is much higher than the standard 6500 K. The balance is distorted, of course, due to an excess of blue and green components, which at the same brightness reduces power consumption. True, the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) is less than 10, which is considered an acceptable indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, the variation in color temperature and ΔE is small, which has a positive effect on the visual perception of color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since the color balance does not matter much there, and the measurement error of color characteristics at low brightness is large.)
This tablet has the ability to correct the color balance by adjusting the intensities of the three primary colors.
Which is what we tried to do. The result is data signed as Corr. on the charts above. As a result, we significantly reduced ΔE and set the white point to 6500 K:
However, at the same time, the maximum brightness decreased to 316 cd / m², the contrast also decreased accordingly, and such a correction did not reduce the oversaturation of colors.
If the image on the screen of this tablet still seems insufficiently saturated and juicy to someone, then you can turn on the corporate mode X-Reality for mobile. In this mode, saturation and contour sharpness are programmatically increased, and there are fewer distinguishable gradations of shades in the area of saturated colors. There are also Extreme brightness mode, in which the color contrast is further enhanced.
Let's show alternately (you need to click on the pictures) all three modes on the test image:
Switch off:
Let's summarize. The brightness adjustment range of this screen is wide, and everything is in order with anti-glare properties, which allows comfortably use the tablet both on a sunny day on the street and in complete darkness. Permissible to use mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works absolutely adequately. The advantages also include an effective oleophobic coating, the absence of flicker and air gap in the layers of the screen, good black field uniformity and high contrast. Disadvantages - strong highlighting of black color when the gaze deviates from the perpendicular to the screen surface. Everything is bad with color rendition, because colors are oversaturated (skin tones are especially affected) and the color temperature is very high. The presence of appropriate adjustments allows you to adjust the balance to almost perfect, but at the expense of a significant decrease in brightness and contrast, and the problem with oversaturated colors still remains. Taking into account the importance of the characteristics for this particular class of devices (and the most important thing is the visibility of information in a wide range of external conditions) Screen quality is high. However, for those who want to watch movies and view/show photos on a tablet, we advise you to refrain from buying devices with a Triluminos screen, at least until Sony introduces an sRGB mode (and judging by the trends, it is more likely , will close the mobile unit, which will do everything right).
Operating system
The Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet runs on Google's Android 5.0.2 operating system. When testing, we used the base firmware build 28.0.A.267, for which no updates have been received. From 32 GB internal memory only 22.2 GB is available to the user, that is, almost a third is eaten by the system. And this, apparently, is the “merit” of the firmware itself, since the set of pre-installed software is small.
Sony limited itself to working on a proprietary interface in accordance with the requirements of "material design". Otherwise, the manufacturer has not brought anything new to the interface, having adopted the standard elements of Lollipop.
Among the interesting software is an exclusive version of the Garmin for Xperia navigator, FM radio and, of course, the proprietary Remote Play service, which allows wireless broadcasting of game content from the Playstation 4 directly to the tablet. We talked about his work in the Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact review.
The operation of the operating system does not deserve any comments. Turning on the tablet takes approximately 35 seconds.
Platform and Performance
The Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet is powered by Qualcomm's most powerful single-chip system, Snapdragon 810. It is very popular among flagship mobile devices; we've already seen it in the HTC One M9 and LG G Flex 2.
This single-chip system includes eight processor cores combined using ARM big.LITTLE technology. For demanding tasks, it uses four Cortex-A57 cores (ARMv8-A architecture), overclocked to 2 GHz. In more benign scenarios, four energy-efficient Cortex-A53 cores (also ARMv8-A architecture) are used. There is support for a 64-bit instruction set. The Adreno 430, Qualcomm's most powerful GPU, is responsible for graphics. Snapdragon 810 was unveiled at CES 2015 in January, and you can also read more about it in the report from the exhibition.
The single-chip system is complemented by 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of permanent memory - here Sony also did not save, but did not bring any surprises either. Of course, it will be most interesting to compare the performance of the Z4 Tablet with the iPad Air 2, but the tablets samsung galaxy also should not be written off in advance.
In browser tests, the Z4 Tablet wins, although the latest iPad Air 2 is slightly behind. Analogues on Android are far behind, the high frequency of their processors does not help.
Strangely, MobileXPRT, which is usually trustworthy, rated the Z4 Tablet's performance as the worst. In Antutu, the tablet confidently overcame the mark of fifty thousand, being almost one and a half times faster than its competitors. And in the 64-bit mode, it turned out even more - 56482 points.
In the multi-platform Geekbench 3, our hero also leaves the bulk of the competitors far behind. But here the iPad Air 2 enters the competition, which with the same significant margin goes ahead of the Z4 Tablet. The line with the results of Geekbench 3 clearly demonstrates that happiness is not in megahertz.
Now let's turn to gaming benchmarks.
Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet (Qualcomm Snapdragon 810) | Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet (Qualcomm Snapdragon 801) | Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (Samsung Exynos 5 Octa) | (Samsung Exynos 5 Octa) | Apple iPad Air 2 (Apple A8X) |
|
Epic Citadel (Ultra High Quality) | 53.1 fps | 53.4 fps | 52.6 fps | 26.0 fps | - |
GFXBench T-Rex HD (onscreen) | 33.7 fps | 27.3 fps | 14 fps | 14 fps | 52.5 fps |
GFXBench T-Rex HD (Offscreen) | 48.6 fps | 27.5 fps | 22.9 fps | 23 fps | 70.6 fps |
3DMark Ice Storm Extreme | Maxed out! | Maxed out! | 9159 | 8732 | Maxed out! |
3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited | 23919 | 19114 | 13451 | 13601 | 21768 |
Bonsai Benchmark | 4028 (57.5 fps) | 3767 (53.8 fps) | - | - | - |
Tests confirm the advantage of the novelty on the Snapdragon 810 “among its own”. This is especially noticeable when scenes run at the same resolution. As for the iPad Air 2, here the victory belongs to the Apple product: it more than compensates for a very small gap in browser benchmarks and synthetic 3DMark due to Geekbench 3 and GFXBench, which inspire more confidence.
Now let's start real games.
Modern Combat 5: Blackout | works fine |
Call of Duty: Strike Team | slows down a lot |
Asphalt 8: Airborne | works fine |
N.O.V.A. 3 | works with artifacts |
Dead Trigger 2 | works fine, high settings |
GTA: San Andreas | works fine, maximum settings |
need for Speed: No limits | works fine |
Assassin's Creed: Pirates | does not work |
Deux Ex: The Fall | works fine |
World of Tanks: Blitz | works fine |
We didn't expect to run into so many compatibility issues. Call of Duty not only takes a long time to load, but also slows down a lot, preventing you from playing normally. Assassin's Creed launches but does not respond to clicks. N.O.V.A. 3 runs very smoothly and the only issue is that the top right corner doesn't show information about the current weapon. The Xperia Z4 Tablet could have been a powerful and lightweight gaming tablet, but alas, it failed. Perhaps all these problems arose due to the fact that we had an engineering sample for testing.
Below is a thermal image of the back surface taken after 10 minutes of running the GFXBenchmark battery test:
It can be seen that the heating is localized in the upper part of the device approximately under the front camera, which apparently corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. Heating is not point, which indicates the use of elements that distribute heat. According to the heat chamber, the maximum heating was 44 degrees.
Video playback
Additionally, the MHL interface was tested. To test it, we used the monitor ViewSonic VX2363Smhl, which supports direct MHL connection (in version 2.0) using a passive Micro-USB to HDMI adapter cable. At the same time, MHL output was carried out at a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels at a frequency of 60 fps. Regardless of the actual orientation of the tablet, the display of images on the screens of the tablet and monitor is carried out only in landscape orientation with the connector on the tablet to the right. At the same time, the image on the monitor is exactly inscribed in the boundaries of the display area in height and one to one repeats the image on the tablet screen in the interpolation option from 2560 × 1600 to 1728 × 1080 pixels, that is, with vertical black stripes on the sides:
Traditionally, in the case of Sony, a tablet connected via MHL can act as a remote control for a TV if the latter supports such a function. MHL sound is output and has good quality. At the same time, sounds are not output through the speaker of the tablet itself, and the volume is not adjusted with the buttons on the tablet case, but is turned off. In our case, the tablet with the MHL adapter connected, judging by the charge indicator, was charging (but, in fact, rather, it was being discharged).
Further, using a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see "Methodology for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)"), we checked how the video is displayed on the screen of the tablet itself. Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped to determine the nature of the output frames of video files with different parameters: resolution (1280 × 720 (720p), 1920 × 1080 (1080p) and 3840 × 2160 (4K) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps). In tests, we used the MX Player video player in Hardware mode. The results of this (block titled "Tablet Screen") and the following test are tabulated:
File | Uniformity | Passes |
tablet screen | ||
4K/30p | Good | No |
4K/25p | Good | No |
4K/24p | Good | No |
1080/60p | Good | few |
1080/50p | Good | No |
1080/30p | Good | No |
1080/25p | Good | No |
1080/24p | Good | No |
720/60p | Good | a lot of |
720/50p | Good | few |
720/30p | Good | No |
720/25p | Good | No |
720/24p | Good | No |
MHL (monitor output) | ||
4K/30p | Good | No |
4K/25p | Good | No |
4K/24p | Good | No |
1080/60p | Great | No |
720/24p | Good | No |
Note: If both columns Uniformity and Passes green ratings are set, this means that, most likely, when watching movies, artifacts caused by uneven interleaving and dropping frames will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems with the playback of the respective files.
According to the frame output criterion, the playback quality of video files on the screen of the tablet itself is good, since frames (or groups of frames) may output with more or less even intervals and without frame drops, except for files with 50 and 60 fps, in which case, with a high probability, some frames will be skipped. In comparison with the same Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact, we have quality degradation, apparently due to unoptimized software. The displayed brightness range is equal to the standard range of 16-235, all gradations of shades are displayed in the shadows and in the highlights. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels (1080p), the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the wide border of the screen, with inevitable interpolation at the same time.
With a monitor connected via MHL, when playing video, an exact copy of the tablet screen is displayed on the monitor, that is, again with black stripes on the sides. Full HD clarity, alas, is not achievable. The brightness range displayed on the monitor is the standard range of 16-235. The results of the monitor output tests are shown in the table above in the "MHL (monitor output)" section. The output quality is no better than on your own screen.
The conclusion is typical: the MHL connection can be used for games, watching movies, displaying web pages and other activities that benefit from an increase in screen size, but only with black bars on the sides (and in the case of video, there will most likely be bars on the bottom and on top, or the picture will have to be cropped by selecting the appropriate mode).
Support for wireless networks and OTG mode
Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet is available in two versions, differing in support for mobile networks. We had a more expensive modification (SGP771RU) for testing, where this support is present. Users have access to the latest GSM, WCDMA bands, as well as fast LTE Cat 6. Using the tablet, you can also make calls and send SMS using standard Xperia applications.
Through operating system You can set up an autoresponder. The numeric keypad supports searching by Smart Dial names, and the alphabetic keypad supports continuous input.
Calls are made in speakerphone mode. The timbre of the interlocutor's voice remains recognizable, there are no problems with speech transmission.
Internet access is also possible via dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (with MIMO). Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet, like other solutions based on Qualcomm Snapdragon, is distinguished by the fast operation of GPS, Glonass and Chinese BDS. Location determination occurs in a matter of seconds after turning on the navigation. In addition, the list of wireless modules is Bluetooth 4.1.
Connectivity support external drives via USB OTG is declared on the official website, but for some reason it is not implemented on our copy. Perhaps because we were dealing with an engineering sample.
cameras
The resolution of the Z4 Tablet cameras is 8.1 and 5.1 megapixels. Anton Solovyov commented on their work.
This camera allows you to take very good pictures even by the standards of smartphones. Excellent sharpness and moderate software processing add up to a pleasing image. It is also impossible not to note the good detail on different plans, despite the low resolution. Although the camera spoils the thin lines a little with software processing, this is noticeable only at high magnification.
As a result, the camera is well suited for various subjects, even if someone seriously decides to shoot with a tablet.
The camera can shoot videos in Full HD. An example video is shown below.
The video is of high enough quality. Freeze frames are sharp despite the average frame rate.
Offline work
The Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet has the same capacity battery as the Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet. The advantage of the new tablet is that, unlike the Z2 Tablet, which had only four powerful cores, there are also four energy efficient ones. ARM big.LITTLE technology allows you to quickly switch between these quartets, based on the resource intensity of tasks.
Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet (Qualcomm Snapdragon 810) | Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet (Qualcomm Snapdragon 801) | Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (Exynos 5 Octa) | Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014)
(Samsung Exynos 5 Octa) | iPad Air 2 (Apple A8X) |
|
Battery capacity (mAh) | 6000 | 6000 | 7900 | 8220 | 7340 |
Reading mode (brightness 100 cd/m²) | 16 h 40 min (Moon+ Reader, auto scroll | 14 h 30 min | around 12 noon | 15 h | around 13h |
Video playback 720p (brightness 100 cd/m²) | 14 hours (MX Player online) | 10 h 30 min (Youtube) | around 9 o'clock (Youtube) | 9 hours 50 minutes (Youtube) | around 11h20 (Youtube) |
Epic Citadel Guided Tour (brightness 100 cd/m²) | 6 h 34 min | 7 h | 6 h 40 min | 4 h 30 min | a little over 6 hours |
Duration battery life clearly shows in which scenario the Cortex-A57s worked and in which the Cortex-A53s worked. The use of the latter allowed the Z4 Tablet to bypass all competitors when reading and playing video. Battery life in the gaming test is also good - worse than the Z2 Tablet, but better than the iPad Air 2 (with a smaller battery capacity).
The tablet came to us for testing without charger, so we did not measure the charge recovery time.
conclusions
Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet did not deceive expectations and turned out exactly as we are used to seeing Xperia tablets - with excellent design, high-quality screen and camera, as well as a powerful processor. But without an unexpected fly in the ointment still not done. Game compatibility leaves a lot to be desired, and we hope that this shortcoming is specific to our particular sample, or, in extreme cases, will be eliminated by firmware updates (as well as problems with video playback at high frame rates). Alas, from the low stability of the black color when the gaze deviates from the perpendicular to the screen, software cannot be saved. The Z4 Tablet also excelled in battery life, outdoing all competitors.
To date, we are dealing with the most advanced tablet (at least in the Android segment) in terms of the totality of all characteristics, and competitors will have to try to grab the palm. Although looking at the news feeds of the market, which are full of exclusively budget devices, you begin to doubt that there are such competitors at all.
The BMW Z4 Roadster is an open, two-seater successor to the Z3 roadster. Compared to its predecessor, the Z4 has grown a bit in all directions. Like its predecessor, the BMW Z4 is built in the US at the Spartanburg plant. The roadster went on sale in the United States in October 2002, and did not appear in Europe until March 2003.
The BMW Z4 is a classic roadster with a sporty edge. Shark features appear in the design of the car: toothy "jaws" of a false radiator grille, a heavy gaze of headlights, a faceted long "muzzle". Convex and concave surfaces create a magnificent play of light and shadow. The BMW Z4 has a waist. It is formed by "hollow" doors, behind which the body seems to expand. The notch on the door is bounded from above by a clear edge of the waist line, and from below by an equally sharply defined “stiffening rib” of a high threshold. The slash completes the picture, boldly drawn from the bottom up from the front wheel to the windshield frame. And in the middle of this sloping edge is a white and blue BMW emblem, under which an orange “turn signal” repeater is hidden. The distinctive BMW radiator grille, surrounded by high-gloss chrome and optional dual xenon headlights with integrated fog lights, gives the Z4 an elegant and assertive look. The Z4 2.5i comes standard with an elegant, mechanically operated fabric tarpaulin. The motorized tarpaulin (optional on the 2.5i and standard on the 3.0i) opens in just 10 seconds.
The main "forming surface" of the interior is the "curved-concave" front panel. All the information you need is at your fingertips thanks to the chronograph-style instruments. An advanced navigation system with a 16x9 display - a non-glare TFT monitor (option) - is pulled out of the instrument panel by pressing a special button. The steering wheel is small, fine, with a leather rim and incredibly stylish metallized spokes. The design in the BMW Z4 is at its best, every detail has been worked out - be it protective arches behind the seats, a handbrake handle or door panels, “crossed out” with special “twisted” handles. The interior of the sports version with a “metal” finish is especially good. "Sport" seats for driver and passenger are standard on the Z4. In the Comfort version, only natural wood inserts create some warmth, replacing the silvery plastic panels under aluminum. Otherwise, everything is extremely restrained, technologically advanced and “sterile”. Not a single superfluous, pretentious detail, but each of the available ones is perfect in its completeness and functionality.
The advantage of the new body is a relatively large trunk (up to 260 liters) with a convertible awning compartment, which is quite enough to carry two large bags. The fabric tarpaulin folds in a Z-shape and is equipped with a heated rear window.
Additional options include a Hi-Fi audio system with a bass booster using Carver technology, as well as a special phone. The standard equipment of the new Z4 includes a sports-style leather steering wheel, a roll-over protection system and tires that allow you to drive yourself to a tire changer in case of a puncture.
High-octane blend of impeccable quality and the most modern technologies is the basis of the six-cylinder engines of the BMW Z4, made of a special lightweight alloy. Thanks to the combination of the unique Double Vanos system, which allows you to adjust the valve operation in an optimal way, a special air intake module and BMW four-valve technology, it was possible to achieve the highest torque and lightning-fast response. When the Sport mode is activated, the optional Driving Dynamic Control takes the engine power to an even higher level. The Z4 models are equipped with the 3.0i (170 kW / 231 hp / top speed 250 km/h) and Z4 2.5i (141 kW / 192 hp / 235 km/h) engines. The Z4 3.0i is equipped with a six-speed manual transmission and a five-speed for the Z4 2.5i, or a five-speed automatic transmission (available as an option).
Thanks to its wide track, low center of gravity, optimal 50:50 axle weight distribution and precise steering (Electric Power Steering), the BMW Z4 delivers excellent agility and handling. In addition, wear-resistant high-performance brakes and Dynamic Stability Control (DSC III) with traction control enable maximum driving safety in all driving situations.
For the first time in the history of BMW cars, the Z4 replaces the familiar power steering with electric power steering. This scheme is much simpler. The electric power steering consumes energy only when the steering wheel is turned, and it is very easy to control its operation in accordance with the speed or level of lateral accelerations. But if BMW engineers and ZF, which traditionally supplies steering mechanisms to Bavarians, have decades of experience in setting up the reactive action of hydraulic boosters, then with electric motors everything will have to be comprehended anew. The Z4 Sport version is extremely responsive to the slightest turns of the steering wheel. And pressing the "sport" button on the console to the left of the gear lever changes not only the characteristics of the "electronic" gas pedal, but also the algorithm of the electric power steering. In "sport" it is better to ride, but not by much. The effort on the steering wheel is higher, but there is still no “transparency”. Reactions are instantaneous, but not accurate - you have to adjust the trajectory in high-speed turns with fast impulse movements. But at the same time, when cornering, the BMW Z4 is no slower than the Speedster. Firstly, the power unit here fully justifies this definition: it is really power. Traction "on the bottoms" is powerful, and after 3000 rpm, pressing the gas pedal instantly causes a jet push in any gear! Chassis here, whatever you say, excellent. Tires with a stranglehold cling to the asphalt, the geometry of the suspension allows the roadster to easily follow the wheel and willingly dive into high-speed turns. Gradually, you get used to the reactions of the car, and the only thing that annoys you is the need to rest your knee on the door handle in the left turn.
The brakes are great. The force on the pedals and its travel are chosen so that they make it easy to brake just on the verge of blocking - that is, you squeeze the maximum deceleration out of the car without turning on the ABS! And how the "driver" electronics is set up ... The DSC stabilization system prevents slips unobtrusively, but powerfully and confidently. Contrary to all motorsport canons, on the BMW Z4 you can safely put pressure on the gas or slow down in a turn - the computer will instantly remove excess traction or recalculate the necessary balance of braking forces on each wheel. In this case, a single press of the DSC button does not turn off the stabilization system, as usual, but activates DTC - Dynamic Traction Control. As the Bavarians say, this is some kind of compensation for the lack of a self-locking differential on the Z4 - DTC activation allows for some “controlled” slipping of the drive wheels. But with the development of a skid, the electronics immediately “wakes up” and pulls the drivers. The "asphalt" roadster is not designed for rally driving!
The Sport version has a very stiff suspension. The deep sound of the in-line "six" fills the cabin - even open, with the roof folded. If the voice of the engine were a little louder, you could call it importunate ... A trip in the "comfortable" version causes more pleasant emotions. On 16" wheels instead of 17", no "sport" button. The roadster reacts calmer to steering turns, the exhaust sound is not so aggressive, the suspension “swallows” bumps noticeably softer. Such a car is more predictable and understandable!
Perhaps the flaws in the habits of the "sporty" roadster are largely due to the other wheels. For example, on longitudinal waves of asphalt, the steering wheel of a car with a “sports” suspension begins to tilt towards the slope - this happens when the so-called running-in shoulder of the steered wheels changes due to the installation of wheels with a different offset. A "comfortable" roadster on the same slope quietly goes straight, not reacting to the road profile. And the BMW Z4 3.0i Comfort is hardly slower than the "sporty" version.
By the way, despite the “fast” rack and pinion steering with a very low gear ratio (14.2), the steering wheel on the Z4 makes more than three turns from lock to lock. Due to this, the front wheels turn at a very large angle. The turning circle, respectively, of the roadster is less than ten meters - excellent maneuverability!