Five Of The Latest 18-Inch Tablets - More Pixels, More Clarity (Part 2) - Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition, Sony Xperia Tablet Z

It is no surprise that the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition shares the same design language as the Galaxy Note 3. It uses the same leather-like material for its rear, which feels and looks good although we wonder how long it will stay free from dirt and stains. This shouldn't be a concern for consumers who are planning to get the black model.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition

Compared to the other 10.1-inch tablets, the Galaxy Note 10.1 sports a thinner bezel that still provides sufficient space for your thumbs to hold without interfering with the display. Unlike most Android tablets, the Galaxy Note 10.1 has a physical home button flanked by capacitive menu and back buttons. The S Pen is housed securely on the top right corner of the tablet.

The Galaxy Note 10.1 runs on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and the latest version of Samsung's TouchWiz. TouchWiz is vastly improved with features optimized for use with the S Pen such as Air Command and one-handed operation on all screens. Love it or hate it, the standard suite of gimmicky software features (e.g Air Gesture, Air View and Smart Scroll) found on the Galaxy S4 are also found on this tablet.

The LTE variant of the Galaxy Note 10.1 runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core 2.3GHz processor and 3GB of RAM. Keeping the tablet powered up is a 8,220mAh battery. The Galaxy Note 10.1 comes with 32GB onboard storage capacity and a micro-SD card slot supporting cards up to 64GB.

The side-mounted speakers are stereo by design

Sony Xperia Tablet Z

Sony opts for a minimalist rectangular design for the Xperia Tablet Z, which is pretty much just a larger version of the Xperia Z smartphone. The no-nonsense design actually works well in tablet form as, thanks to its ultra-thin 6.9mm side profile, it's light too at just 495g.

Sony Xperia Tablet Z

One minor concern with the chassis is that it has a fair bit of flex, which can be somewhat unnerving. However, it has the same glass fiber polyamide OmniBalance design that runs around the edges, so it should be able to survive a few knocks and drops.

Like the Xperia Z, the Tablet Z boasts an IP57 rating, which means it's dust resistant and waterproof. However, this also means that all ports are sealed by a pull-tab when closed, which can be quite fiddly to open.

The Tablet Z runs a close-to-default version of Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean with a few of Sony's tweaks. For example, the top left corner of the screen has a bar where you can slot four of your favorite apps for quicker access. You also can use Social life, a content aggregator that shows posts from the various social networking sites in a Flipboard-like style.

The 10.1-inch display of the Tablet Z comes with a lower resolution of 1,920 x 1,200 pixels, which falls short of the displays found on the iPad Air, Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition and Excite Write. The display delivers excellent contrast with deep blacks and vivid colors.

Running under the hood are a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 quad- core 1.5GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 6,000 mAh battery.

The matte black finish provides extra grip