Sony has converted its 6.4-inch Xperia Z Ultra phablet into a Wi-Fi mini tablet by removing its 4G LTE radio.
The slate is currently on sale in Japan and likely headed to the U.S.
When Sony launched its first phablet, the Xperia Z Ultra, it really blurred the lines between smartphone and tablet. The device has a massive 6.4-inch 1080p Full HD display that makes Samsung's 5.7-inch Galaxy Note 3 appear short in comparison. If the thought of having a 6.4-inch smartphone is a little overwhelming, Sony has just launched the Xperia Z Ultra in Japan with all of its smartphone capabilities removed, instantly creating a 6.4-inch mini tablet.
The Sony Xperia Z Ultra Wi-Fi is currently only available in Japan and retails for 52,000 yen ($497 USD). Sony hasn't announced what other regions it will be bringing its mini tablet to, but we reported back in November that the Xperia Z Ultra passed through the FCC with all of its smartphone capabilities removed, signaling the device would likely end up hitting the U.S. as a mini tablet.
The Xperia Z Ultra features a 6.4-inch 1080 x 1920 (full HD) TRILUMINOS display with X-reality for Mobile, which is both shatter-proof and scratch-resistant. It ships with Android 4.2 Jelly and is powered by a 2.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, an Adreno 330 graphics processing unit (GPU), and 2GB of RAM.
The Z Ultra comes with 16GB of internal storage and also has a microSD expansion slot with support for up to 64GB microSD cards. Sony has included an 8-megapixel rear camera with 16x Optical Zoom, LED flash, touch focus, and face detection and a 2-megapixel front facing camera. The device's wireless connectivity options consist of Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, and GPS. The tablet is packing a large 3,050 mAh battery and is available in choice of black or white.
The tablet is also waterproof and dustproof, with Sony highlighting that it "can be used willingly in the kitchen - even outdoors" in its marketing material.
As previously mentioned, there's no word on when Sony will launch its new mini tablet outside of Japan, but once we hear something so will you.
