Sony Xperia Z2: One name, two premium gadgets

Sony Xperia Z2 is a tablet and it is also a phone – but they are not the same device. Very confusing. If the Sony Xperia Z2 are not your style, check out budget-friendly Xperia M2 smart phone. 

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week, Sony took the wraps off a trio of new devices: The Xperia Z2 smart phone and Z2 tablet, and the budget-friendly Xperia M2. 

Obviously, that's a lot of M's and Z's and Xperiae. So let us break it down for you. The Z2 smart phone and Z2 tablet represent the upper end of the Xperia spectrum. The Z2 tablet, which Sony says is the "lightest and slimmest" waterproof slate on the market, comes equipped with a quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor, 3GB of RAM, and a 10-inch HD display. The price is expected to hover around $600. 

The flagship Z2 smart phone, meanwhile, gets the same quad-core processor, 16GB of memory, a 5.2-inch display – inching the device into "phablet" territory – and a whopping 20.7-megapixel rear camera. Launch date for the Z2 phone is next month; no price has been announced, but many expect the device to retail – as most high-end smart phones do – for $200, plus contract. 

Finally, there's the Xperia M2, which comes equipped with a 4.8-inch display, a slightly-less-impressive processor, and an 8-megapixel back-facing camera. But writing at Pocket-Lint, Britta O'Boyle, who had a chance to take the M2 for a spin this week, says the smart phone never felt particularly cheap. 

"We like the design of the Xperia M2 as you get a device that looks like the more premium models in the family, but you won't pay as much for the privilege," she writes. "The display was good and the device feels nice and solid in the hand. It would have been great to see this device launch with Android 4.4 KitKat and incorporating the waterproofing capability of its more premium brothers, but for a mid-range device, we like what we have seen so far." 

Sony hasn't announced the pricing on the M2; launch date is April.