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Has Sony scored Xperia own goal?

by on26 June 2015


Z4 Tablet missing USB OTG support

Sony appears to have scored an own goal which might have made its pricey Xperia Z4 Tablet less desirable.


What is annoying is that the Tablet has good reviews generally after Sony gear had been suffering at the hands of the press.

The Z4 is pretty good. Its IP65 and IP68 ratings mean it is supposed to be able to withstand a 30-minute soak in up to 1.5m-deep freshwater, and is also resistant to damage from exposure to dust.

Interestingly, Sony managed to achieve this without flaps over the Micro-USB port. The downside is that there was no room to support USB OTG.

What this means is that the new tablet is hitting the shops all nicely waterproofed but without USB OTG. Sony's argument is that people would much rather have an Xperia Z4 Tablet that is watertight than one with USB OTG support.

But the thing is that a lot of people actually use USB OTG on tablets so losing it is rather a big deal. It is odd that he reviewers do not seem to have noticed this. We do agree that a 10.1" tablet with a brilliant 2K display which you can accidently drop down the loo is pretty nifty.

But then direct from Sony you'll pay £499 for the Wi-Fi edition, £579 for the 4G one. When you can also get it in tablet-only form from O2 for £349, the initial price is probably a bit expensive for something that you can't plug in extra stuff.  Given that most people find it difficult to have an actual use for a tablet cutting back on what it can connect to is probably not a good idea,

Last modified on 26 June 2015
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