Hit the beach with Sony Xperia Tablet Z

I took a 7 inch tablet computer and submerged it in a bowl of water for several minutes. I then poured more liquid onto it from a pitcher. Later I gave the machine a cold shower.

There were no ill effects after each dousing.I’ve been testing the Xperia Tablet Z, Sony’s latest showcase slate, the kind of notice-me hardware that the company hopes will help rescue its struggling electronics business from the deep end. It’s one of the best Android tablets that I’ve tried.

Tablet Z is impervious to water, and resistant to dust, too. It can withstand the kind of impending disaster that would likely drown a rival tablet. You know, when the kids knock over your morning coffee or you accidentally drop the tablet into a puddle or the kitchen sink.

At last week’s All Things Digital conference in Southern California, Sony CEO Kaz Hirai suggested another possibility — that someone might spill beer on it. After all, Sony might rent the 10 inch tablets to fans at Levi’s Stadium, the Santa Clara-based future home of the San Francisco 49ers.

Tablet Z is water resistant not waterproof, an important distinction. Though Sony invites you to bring the Z to the pool or the beach, you presumably wouldn’t want to drop it in salt water or a swimming pool full of chlorine. The only claim Sony is making is that the machine is water resistant up to 3 feet for up to 30 minutes. You must also ensure that the flaps protecting the ports and connectors are firmly closed, lest moisture seep in and mess everything up.xc5CGsdh

Keep in mind also that despite my bringing it into the shower, you’re not really meant to use it that way. As water pounded the display, the multi-touch screen jumped from one app to the next, rendering it pretty much unusable. But once I towel-dried the tablet, complete order was restored.

If water resistance were the only feature Sony had going with 8 inch tablet, I’d advise you to look elsewhere.Fortunately, Sony has designed an Android tablet with other benefits, even if it is costly and hardly perfect: It starts at $499.99 for a black model with 16GB of storage, or $599.99 for a black or white 32GB version. All U.S. models are Wi-Fi only.

Intel Corp is ramping up its efforts to have more of its chips used in mobile devices, a market it was initially slow to respond to, as officials said on Monday they expect more than 30 tablets using its processors hitting the market this year. Samsung Electronics Co announced on June 4 it will use Intel's processors to power a new version of one of its top-tier Android tablets for sale, while Asustek Computer Inc also showcased tablet and phablet designs using Intel chips. Both moves are considered a breakthrough for the US chipmaker.

"We're seeing some really great momentum in our customers. We got over 30 tablet designs already on, across Android and Windows, and we expect to have them for the holidays," Gregory Bryant, Intel's Asia Pacific vice president and general manager said in an interview on Tuesday at the Computex trade show in Taiwan.