Tabletwear Advanced Case for the Sony Xperia Tablet Z - Review

The Tabletwear Advanced Case for the Xperia Tablet Z is a budget stand style case to clad and protect the slender lines of Sony’s finest bit of Android gear.

This is my second featured review of cases for the Sony Xperia Tablet Z, the first was of the premium Zenus Masstige case, which I absolutely loved, but is there the need to spend that sort of money (£44.95)? There’s only three ways to find out:

1 – Read this review and trust my judgement
2 – Read this review and buy both cases to judge for yourself
3 – (recommended) Read this review and then enter the upcoming Coolsmartphone competition to win one of the cases, if you win you don’t have to spend any money at all!

Best write the review then…

Good

Price
Adjustable stand
Magnetic clasp
Function over form in a good way

Bad

More faux than leather
Frayed stitching
Function over form in a bad way

Design
Constructed almost entirely from black faux leather, the best word to describe it is understated… a more accurate word would be plain. Plain can be good though. If you don’t want the world to know you’re carrying a £500 tablet around with you, then this certainly won’t advertise the fact.

When closed, the front of the case is dominated by a large trapezium of double thickness leather. This is part of the stand mechanism, and flaps upwards when in use. The back has the other half of the stand sewn into it: a large ridged piece of plastic that consumes nearly a third of the whole area.

There is a magnetic clasp that holds the case tightly shut, yet takes no effort to secure (unlike a ‘popper’ fastening). It’s actually one of my favourite bits of the case; simple, yet effective.

Opening the case shows a soft lining. There’s an area for credit cards and the like towards the bottom of the left hand face, and the rigidly constructed leather frame that the tablet Z slots into.

The only gripe I have is that the stitching was slightly frayed in several places. Not enough to cause any structural concern, but just a sign of cost cutting on final quality assurance.

There’s also an elasticated loop that I assume is for holding a stylus or maybe one of those outdated communications device from another era when we cut down trees and stained them with ink…

In Use

The Tablet slides into the case from the inside and is secured by a flap with Velcro on. At first I thought it may slip around whilst in use, but it’s a very well measured aperture that provides an excellent friction fit.

All the relevant cut-outs are spot on, ensuring that all those speakers, ports and waterproof bungs are easily accessible. Both cameras can see out and none of the screen is obscured.

The stand mechanism is one of the best I’ve used. When the front of the case is folded back the aforementioned flap opens and slots into the the ridged piece of plastic. The viewing angle can be adjusted by simply changing which slot the flap sits in.

Conclusion
The Tabletware Advanced case is not exactly a looker. In fact, there probably wasn’t much left of the ugly stick when the designers had finished with it. That, however, doesn’t mean it’s a bad case. Much in the same way as a Land Rover 110 won’t make you more popular with the opposite sex, it does the job it’s meant for really well.

The Tabletware Advanced is a no frills case for your Sony Xperia Tablet Z that also acts as a stand, and as such it does an excellent job at a reasonable price, and there’s a lot to be said for that.