NVIDIA Launches Tesla K80 GPU Compute Card, Readies New Titan Supercomputer [Video]

If you have any sort of interest in NVIDIA and supercomputers, or just one or the others, you probably already know at least a few things about the Tesla series. It's that product series that is getting updated today.

Since the time has expired for what was most definitely not a gag order (officially anyway), we can finally share with you all the awesome things we've learned about NVIDIA's latest contribution to the Supercomputing front, what you might know as HPC as well (the high-performance computing market). The Santa Clara, California-based company has completed development of the Tesla K80 GPU compute accelerator.

The specs of Tesla K80

As odd as it sounds, NVIDIA didn't share this information with us. While it did hold a conference call on the matter last Thursday, it didn't offer many technical details about the adapter. We do know some things though. For example, there are 4,992 CUDA cores, thanks to the use of two GK210 graphics processing units. Yes, NVIDIA did make a new GPU just for this card, and no, NVIDIA did not use the Maxwell architecture. Several of us who attended the call asked if there were plans for Maxwell-based Tesla cards now or in the future, but NVIDIA stayed evasive on that front. You did read the CUDA number right though. It really is a smaller number of cores than on the GeForce GTX Titan dual-GPU gaming monster (which has 5,760).

I actually asked how the board compared to a GTX Titan Z, but the answer was somewhere along the lines of “it wouldn't be a relevant comparison.” It probably had something to do with the clocks being a secret as well, although the NVIDIA rep did speculate that they could be of around 790 MHz base and 875 MHz GPU boost. Don't quote us on this though. That said, the Tesla K80 has a TDP of 300W, 1.87 TF to 1.9 TF performance (with boost enabled) and no fewer than 24 GB of GDDR5 VRAM. All this leads to a bandwidth of 480 GB/s.

NVIDIA reveals NVLINK technology

Given how the conference call went, we could probably be accurate in saying that NVIDIA is more excited about this technology than the card itself. At previous product announcements, NVIDIA allowed a system to directly access GPU resources without having to go through the OS first, and to some extent without having to ask the GPU either. NVLINK is a new technology that allows multiple GPUs in a system to connect to one another directly, via one or more 20 GB/s links. With each GPU having four links and up to four GPUs supported in one NVLINK system, that leads to a lot of bandwidth. Currently, the top is of 200 GB/s, allowed by 4-GPU nodes, but 3-GPU and dual-GPU nodes are possible as well. Possibly more than four in the future, but again NVIDIA didn't say one way or the other. Either way, with 2,046 in-site GPU nodes per supercomputer, everything points towards a lot of performance.

Practical applications for the NVIDIA Tesla K80

As long as it's a powerful supercomputer you want to build, it doesn't matter what you have it do. Tesla K80 can definitely crunch numbers like crazy. During the call, NVIDIA said that no Top500 HPC systems can be announced yet, but a more recent announcement suggests that the Tesla K80 will be used in the Titan 2, the successor to the current strongest supercomputer ever. The computing power will be triple that of the current available one. It'll be years before we see it in action though. Gallery below, click for larger images.

NVIDIA Tesla K80

NVIDIA Tesla K80 features

NVIDIA Tesla K80 system performance

NVIDIA Tesla K80 NVLINK impact

NVIDIA Tesla K80 will be used in biochemistry research

Chart that shows past and current growth trends in GPU vs. CPU performance

NVLINK changes between now and Pascal

Chart showing NVLINK connection distribution, each connection has 20 GB/s

In-situ virtualization to benefit massively from NVLINK

Data can be visualized while processing is going on, reducing time to breakthrough 

A chromatophore, one of the hardest things to visualize

Kitware is one of NVIDIA's several partners in this field

A new Titan supercomputer is being set up
Images credits to NVIDIA

Video credits to NVIDIA

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Sony’s New 21MP Exmor RS Sensor with 4K Capabilities Revealed, Could End Up in the Xperia Z4

As we have seen not so long ago, Sony is already setting the stage for CES 2015. The Playstation’s maker Xperia Z4 lineup which is supposed to include the Xperia Z4 Tablet, whose specs just leaked online not so long ago.

Sony will be holding a press event in Las Vegas this January, where the company is expected to unveil a lot of goodies, like new cameras, TVs and more. But one of its most interesting announcements might be related to the Xperia Z4 smartphone.

Sony puts new Exmor sensor out

Why do we say that? Well, because the company has recently introduced a new Exmor sensor, which has a lot of potential for handheld photography. This smartphone camera sensor will have 21MP and use image plane phase detection, which Sony says is the first to make it into smartphone cameras. Plane phase detection autofocus is a technology you’d normally expect to find in mirrorless camera systems as the means to allow you to capture moving objects without getting too much blur in them. The same sensor will also be in charge of capturing real-time HDR video and the best part is that you’ll be able to do so in 4K too.

Sony’s new Exmor RS sensor changes the game a little bit, as it replaces the traditional back-illuminated CMOS sensor’s support substrate with a chip made up of signal processing circuits, on top of which is a pixel section made up of back-illuminated pixels for an original stacked construction. Furthermore, Sony is said to be making the 16MP version of the same sensor which will be introduced in mid-range handsets.

We might see the new sensor at work at CES 2014

For the time being, we don’t know for sure which products will end up receiving the new Sony treatment, but given Xperia’s Z4 specs which leaked a few days ago, it all might as well make sense to assume the smartphone is going to be first to take advantage of the tech. According to sources familiar with the matter, Sony’s upcoming flagship smartphone will arrive with a 5.5-inch QHD display (2560 x 1440) and 4GB of RAM. Naturally, you need to take this information with a big grain of salt, because we are a few months away from the official launch and things are bound to change.

The report also mentions that the Xperia Z4 is likely to arrive with Qi wireless charging support instead of the magnetic charging ports which are used inside the Xperia Z. The Xperia Z had well-known problems with microUSB flaps loosening all the time, which in turn ended up compromising the water resistance of the smartphone.

Sony has a new smartphone sensor out

Image plane phase detection AF function using 192 AF points

Sample using the IMX135 3.2 effective megapixels / Sample using the IMX230 21 megapixels

Sony might be working on active pixel color sampling sensor

The sensor could end up being implemented in compact high-end cameras
Images credits to Sony

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Nokia Reinvents Itself This Week, but Don’t Expect Any Smartphone Announcements

It’s been quite a ride for Nokia in the last couple of months after the deal with Microsoft officially ended. The Finnish company is now on its own, as the entire smartphone business has been acquired by Microsoft.

Along with the mobile division and everything related, like apps, services and employees, Nokia also sold to Microsoft the right to use its brand on smartphones powered by Windows Phone platform, but the agreement seems to have expired recently. Microsoft has just launched its first Windows Phones without the Nokia brand: Lumia 535 and Lumia 535 Dual SIM. From now on, all Lumia smartphones will be launched under the Microsoft brand instead on Nokia. However, the deal between Nokia and Microsoft prohibits the former from entering the smartphone market until late December 2016. On the other hand, Microsoft can continue to use the Nokia brand on its feature phones for the next 10 years or so. Less than a week ago Nokia started to tease fans of an upcoming announcement, which will shed some light on what’s to come for the Finnish company.

All will be revealed on November 18, at Slush conference in Helsinki, Finland

The teasers pointing to November 17, as the exact date for the announcement, though there might be some changes and Nokia may unveil new details on its future plans later this week. In fact, some preliminary information has been recently shared by Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri, during the “Nokia Capital Markets Day 2014” event from last week. According to him, Nokia doesn’t plan any comebacks in the smartphone business, or at least not in the way most of its fans are thinking of. Instead, the Finnish company is thinking of licensing the Nokia brand name to other handset manufacturers. This means that while we will probably continue to have Nokia smartphones on the market, they will not be directly produced by the Finnish company.

Nokia plans to license its brand to ODMs, but will decide on design and software

However, Nokia wants to keep control of the phones’ look and software before they are manufactured, which is not a bad thing at all. In light of the new details shared by Nokia’s official, it’s very clear that the company does not plan for a direct comeback into the smartphone business. Still, we expect Nokia to make some software-related announcements this week. Its engineers are already working on a few Android apps that have already been released as betas, but there may be more to this then we can imagine now. The future of Nokia seems to be tied closely to the licensing of its brand to other handset makers and ODMs, as well as the development of apps and lifestyle products. If you’re a Nokia fan, what aspect of the smartphone business do you think the company should focus on at first? Do you think Nokia should adopt a more direct approach and start launching its own smartphones as soon as possible?

Nokia teases upcoming plans

Nokia teaser

Nokia's Z Launcher for Android (screenshot)

Nokia's Z Launcher for Android (screenshot)

Nokia's Z Launcher for Android (screenshot)
Images credits to Nokia

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Android 5.0 Lollipop Will Soon Come to Tablets with Rockchip RK3288 SoC

Android 5.0 Lollipop has been rolled out into the wild and it already hit a bunch of tablets like the Nexus 7 (2012 & 2013) and Nexus 10 tablets. NVIDIA also announced that the update would be making its way on the Shield Tablet next week.

So hopefully, more and more manufacturers will start offering the Android 5.0 Lollipop update for their tablet products, but while key players in the tech industry like ASUS or Lenovo haven’t said anything about this matter, Chinese OEMs apparently stand to win the race. Taking advantage of the fuss created around Android 5.0 Lollipop, Chinese low-cost maker Rockchip has leaked a bunch of photographs showing a tablet running Google’s latest and greatest. We don’t know much about the specs of the device, but they might make its way online soon.

According to a press release, the company is developing a version of Android 5.0 Lollipop based on the RK3288 chip platform. This is definitely good news, taken into consideration the fact that the specific chip powers a lot of products on the market. Rockchip doesn’t give us a time frame for when the update will make its way onto the products bundling the architecture, but there’s no surprise here, given the fact that the update brings about some pesky issues like Wi-Fi instability and such.

Tablets with Rockchip RK3288 will soon get Android 5.0 Lollipop
Image credits to Mini Machines

Screenshot of Android 5.0 Lollipop in the Rockchip database

Screenshot of tablet running Rockchip RK3288

Unannounced Rockchip RK3288 tablet shows up online

Android 5.0 Lollipop shown on a Rockchip tablet

Rockchip RK3288 tablet with Android 5.0 Lollipop
Image credits to Rock-Chip

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Sony Releases AOSP Source Code and Binaries for Xperia Z3, Z2 and Z1

Shortly after Google and Motorola announced that Android 5.0 Lollipop is available for some of their smartphones, Sony released the AOSP source code and binaries for three of its current and previous flagship handsets.

Android 5.0 Lollipop AOS source code and binaries are not available for download for those who own the Xperia Z3, Xperia Z2 or Xperia Z1. All three devices have been Sony’s flagship smartphones at some point, so it makes sense that the Japanese company would want to bring Lollipop to these ones first. Keep in mind that these are not Android 5.0 Lollipop factory images or OTA (over the air) updates, but it’s better than nothing until Sony actually makes the upgrade available to Xperia smartphone users. The AOSP source code and binaries are aimed at developers who would like to cook custom ROMs with Android 5.0 Lollipop components. This means that only those with some technical knowledge will be able to flash Android 5.0 Lollipop on their smartphones, at least until Sony launches the official ROM.

However, creating Android 5.0 Lollipop, AOSP-based custom ROMs for Xperia Z3, Xperia Z2 and Xperia Z1 should be very easy for developers. Since Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system has been handed to handset manufacturers in early November, only three smartphones have been confirmed as receiving the update.

The AOSP source code has some limitations as camera does not work and modem is not enabled

Google has recently published the Android 5.0 Lollipop factory image for the Nexus 5 and announced the rollout of the OTA update has started. US-based handset maker Motorola is the second company that offers Lollipop as an upgrade to two of its smartphones: Moto G (2014) and Moto X (2014). As we’re getting closer to the end of the year, more and more devices are expected to receive the Android 5.0 Lollipop update, including the LG G3 and Samsung Galaxy Note 4. Until then though, Sony Xperia Z3, Xperia Z2 and Xperia Z1 owners can download the needed software binaries for Lollipop, and then download, configure, build and flash the source code onto their devices.

It’s also worth mentioning that the source code released by Sony recently has some limitations, which doesn’t recommend it for daily use. According to Sony, the camera is not working yet and the modem hasn’t been enabled, so you won’t be able to take photos or make phone calls. Even though some may have gotten past the fact that they can’t take photos, the inability to make phone calls will surely drive away most Xperia users who want to enjoy Android 5.0 Lollipop on their smartphones as quickly as possible.

Sony Xperia Z3 running Android 5.0 Lollipop AOSP

Sony Xperia Z1, Xperia Z2 and Xperia Z3

Android 5.0 Lollipop on Sony Xperia Z3 (homescreen)

Android 5.0 Lollipop on Sony Xperia Z3 (task manager)

Android 5.0 Lollipop on Sony Xperia Z3 (About phone)

Android 5.0 Lollipop on Sony Xperia Z3 (Lollipop logo)

Sony Xperia Z1, Xperia Z2 and Xperia Z3 (Lollipop logo)
Images credits to Sony Mobile

Full story: http://developer.sonymobile.com/2014/11/06/android-5-0-xperia-z3-running-aosp
This week, Google released the source code for Android 5.0, Lollipop, and as you can see in the video above, the AOSP (Android Open Source Project) version of Android 5.0 is already running on Xperia Z3, as well as Xperia Z2 and Xperia Z1.
Video credits to SonyXperiaDev

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NVIDIA Shield Tablet Getting Android 5.0 Lollipop on November 18

Keeping true to its word, NVIDIA comes back to put an exact date on its earlier announcement in which it said that Android 5.0 Lollipop would arrive on the Shield Tablet.

So those of you that have a Shield Tablet at home, you should expect the Android 5.0 Lollipop OTA to arrive on November 18. The new software update will bring about Material Design to the Tegra K1-enhanced tablet, but also a new version of NVIDIA’s own Dabbler art app. There’s also a new bundle offer which includes a bunch of new games like Half-Life 2: Episode One. NVIDIA says one of the most commonly-requested features by Shield Tablet owners is for Dabbler to support layers. And the GPU maker has listened to your pleas, so you can expect to be able to take advantage of the sort of multi-layered editing you’d find in Photoshop and other related apps.

The update will also bring templates, which can be resized and rotated before being sketched in. Last but not least, artists are given the option to share their drawings via Twich. It should be mentioned that existing users will be getting access to Half Life via a download, but new users will get the game plus Portal as part of the Green Box bundle awarded with the purchase of a 32GB/LTE Shield Tablet.

NVIDIA Shield Tablet will get Material Design soon

NVIDIA Shield Tablet can be paired up with gaming controller

Half-Life 2 has been optimized for the Tegra K1

Android 5.0 Lollipop is ready to come to the Shield Tablet

NVIDIA announced the availability of Lollipop on the tablet earlier this month
Images credits to email

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Meizu MX4 Is the Most Powerful Smartphone for Q3, 2014, Benchmarks Shows

If you happen to be a tech-savvy exclusively interested in specs over all other important aspects of a smartphone, then you might want to check out the top performing smartphones for Q3, 2014.

With so many powerful smartphones launched this year, it’s interesting to see which one performs better and which one disappoints. First of all, the top 10 performing smartphones takes into consideration all devices launched this year, including those launched by Chinese OEMs like Xiaomi, Oppo and Meizu. Speaking of which, those disregarding the Chinese handset makers would make a terrible mistake and here is why. According to AnTuTu benchmark, the most powerful smartphone for Q3 is Meizu’s MX4. That may sound surprising for those who don’t know too much about Meizu, but suffice it to say that the MX4 is one of the most popular smartphones in China, world’s largest mobile market. The MX4 scored 48,792 points in AnTuTu and is closely followed by Samsung Galaxy Note 4 with 48,622 points. More surprisingly is that Samsung Galaxy Alpha is third with 48,385 far ahead of Motorola Moto X, HTC One M8 and Sony Xperia Z3, supposedly better equipped for benchmarks.

As AndroidCommunity points out, AnTuTu developers state that the top 10 performing smartphones is based on the performance of the handsets from users in 160 countries. Only benchmarks made between July and September have been taken into consideration for the top 10.

Four more Chinese OEMs are included in the top as well

Besides the devices mentioned earlier, the top 10 performing smartphones for Q3 also contains the OnePlus One (fourth place), Oppo Find7 (seventh place), Huawei Mate7 (ninth place) and Xiaomi Mi4 (tenth place). Meizu’s achievement is not only important for the Chinese OEM, as the smartphone is powered by a MediaTek chipset, which is considered weaker than Qualcomm’s chipsets, performance-wise. Well, it looks like the 2.2GHz octa-core MediaTek MT6595 processor managed to beat Galaxy Note 4’s 2.7GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 CPU by a small margin. It would have been interesting to see how the Exynos-based Galaxy Note 4 would fare against the Meizu MX4.

The results highlighted by the top 10 performing smartphones for Q3 also proves that Chinese OEMs have recently become very competitive on the market and they are capable of eating large amounts of market share from well-established handset makers like Samsung, HTC, LG and Motorola. The only thing that prevents these Chinese OEMs from conquering the entire world could be the fact that they only have been successfully in the last few years and their budget did not allow for growth in other countries, but that will most certainly change in the not so distant future.

AnTuTu Top 10 performing smartphones for Q3, 2014
Image credits to AnTuTu

Meizu MX4
Images credits to Meizu

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Samsung Galaxy Note Edge Premium Edition Officially Introduced, Only Available Until December 31

Samsung has just introduced the premium version of the Galaxy Note Edge, although this smartphone is premium anyway. This particular Galaxy Note Edge Premium Edition will only be available for purchase in Germany beginning November 14.

In recognition to the fact that more than 120,000 customers voted for Samsung Galaxy Note Edge last week, the South Korean company decided to offer fans in Germany a nice surprise, a premium version of the phablet which won’t cost more than the standard mode. This means that starting tomorrow, November 14, those who want to purchase the Galaxy Note Edge will have to come up with no less than €900 ($1,120) upfront. The catch is that all customers who order the handset will receive the premium version without having to pay extra. Potential customers should know that the offer will only be available until December 31, 2014, or as stocks last. Beginning January 1, 2015, customers who order the Galaxy Note Edge smartphone in Germany will receive the regular version of the device.

But what sets the premium edition apart from the standard Galaxy Note Edge? Well, it looks like Samsung will add a few accessories into the mix, which are meant to make the phablet even more appealing despite its very high price.

The Premium Edition comes with free wallet flip cover, microSD card, more

The first thing that customers may want to know is that by ordering the Galaxy Note Edge in Germany, you will also receive a Wallet Flip cover and a 64GB Samsung EVO class 10 microSD card. More free goodies include a display cleaner and 3-year warranty for the phablet. But there’s more, as Samsung promised that the first 500 customers who order the Galaxy Note Edge in Germany will have the chance to win an exclusive tour of the company’s headquarters in the country, along with a dinner. Samsung will choose 20 winners for the Samsung Experience Day from the first 500 customers who purchase the Galaxy Note Edge, so if you want to see what the company’s HQ in Germany looks like, be sure to order the phablet as soon as it goes on sale tomorrow.

Speaking of which, Samsung announced that the Galaxy Note Edge will only be available for purchase through Samsung Online Store, so make sure you check the company’s webstore if you want to grab it later this week. It’s nice that Samsung shows its appreciation for all the fans who voted that the Galaxy Note Edge should be launched in Germany, and a few free accessories in the sales package seems like a very good deal.

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
Images credits to Samsung

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Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 WaterForce Tri-SLI Graphics Kit

If you’re a hardcore PC gamer, you'd better hold off on anything you’re doing and listen to this. Gigabyte has just rolled out an impressive graphics kit that will give you something to dream about.

The company has introduced the GeForce GTX 980 WaterForce Tri-SLI graphics kit, which is as badass as it sounds. Tri-SLI means that the bundle packs three high-end GTX 980 graphics cards, which should boost performance levels through the roof.

Gigabyte outs a massive graphics kit

The kit also comes with a disruptive box with a water-cooling system plumbed and ready to rock. So, given the levels of cooling bestowed on the bundle, you should be able to go crazy with overclocking. The enclosure comes equipped with a fan and each video card has a 120mm radiator of its own. The radiator enclosure benefits from a design that is meant to sustain high performance levels, better than most PC cases currently available on the market. The cooling system is quite massive and takes advantage of a lot of pumps to keep everything running smoothly. The digital display located in the front opens up a temp gauge, and there are probably other gauges as well. As a side note, the tubing system doesn’t go through the back of your PC, but instead through the top 5.25-inch drive bay, as you will be able to see in the gallery.

The kit allows multi-player on 4 separate displays

The system uses Gigabyte’s Flex display technology that can automatically detect and connect monitors, so users can enjoy multi-display gaming on up to 4 monitors at the same time via various output groups. Interestingly enough, Gigabyte is not offering a lot of hard facts about the new system, but is letting the images of the graphics kit speak for themselves. The GTX 980 video cards found inside are overclocked to be able to run at up to 1288MHz on the core, while memory speed is stock (7Gbps). When it comes to pricing, you should expect to pay quite a lot of cash for the GPU bundle. Consider that a single GTX 980 costs $550 / €440.

So even if Gigabyte hasn't said anything about the official pricing specifications, we can only assume that the cards will be sold for around $2,000 / €1,601. The official page for the GeForce GTX 980 WaterForce Tri-SLI graphics kit has already been set up, so we can only assume Gigabyte will announced the availability and pricing of this extreme gaming bundle soon enough.

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 WaterForce Tri-SLI is a massive graphics kit

GeForce GTX 980 WaterForce Tri-SLI case

GeForce GTX 980 WaterForce Tri-SLI tubing system

GeForce GTX 980 WaterForce Tri-SLI parts
Images credits to Gigabyte

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Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet Specs Leak to include 10.1-Inch QHD Screen, Snapdragon 810 SoC

Sony has just revealed its Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact back at IFA 2014 in Berlin. The new slate breaks the pattern of Sony’s recent tablet products, by being a tablet with a smaller form factor, that of 8-inch.

Well, even if just a few months passed since the tablet saw the light of day, information already surfaced about Sony’s upcoming slate, the Xperia Z4 Tablet.

Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet surfaces with specs

The folks over at Android Origin managed to get a hold of the unannounced tablet’s specifications. It appears that the Xperia Z4 Tablet is going to mark a comeback to Sony’s usual tablet form factor, the 10.1-inch one. The tablet is going to bump up the resolution offered on the Xperia Z2 Tablet, which offered 1920 x 1200 resolution and deliver a QHD resolution instead (2560 x 1440 pixels). This way the tablet is going to be comparable with similar products like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5. The Japanese device maker is also rumored to be testing a 3840 x 2160 panel for the tablet, but the final version is most likely to be made available with a QHD resolution, rather than 4K. Sony is said to maintain their design language, although the Xperia Z4 will enjoy much thinner bezels than previous tablets from the company’s portfolio.

Borrowing from the Z3 Tablet Compact, the next-gen Sony tablet could end up sporting stereo speakers. Judging by what Sony has launched in the past tablet-wise, we can expect the Xperia Z4 Tablet to be one of the slimmest and lightest 10-inch Android tablets around. In all possibility, the unannounced Sony tablet will arrive with Android 5.0 Lollipop out of the box. Remember that back when it launched the Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet was the skinniest tablet on the market, coming in at 6.4 mm / 0.25 inches, but got dethroned after Apple launched its iPad Air 2 and Dell its Venue 8 7000 Series.

Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet to rely on Snapdragon 810

When it comes to internal specifications, the Xperia Z4 Tablet should arrive with a Snapdragon 810 Octa-Core chipset fitted with 4GB of RAM and backed up by 32GB of internal storage. In the photography department, the tablet should boast a 13MP camera with a higher resolution sensor, while in the front there will be an 8MP shooter. Recently, the rumor mill also said that Sony was working on a 12-inch tablet to be unveiled in the early months of 2015. But the Xperia Z4 Tablet is not it. So we should expect Sony’s professional business tablet to bear the Z5 moniker. Most likely.

New Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet coming soon

Sony Xperia Tablet Z launched at MWC 2013

Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet launched at MWC 2014

Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact was introduced at IFA 2014

PS4 Remote Play is available on the Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet
Images credits to Sony Mobile

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