Unveiled alongside the Sony Xperia Z2 during the 2014 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, on February 24,[2] it was first released on March 26, 2014 in the United Kingdom.

The capacitive IPS LCD display of the device measures 10.1 inches with a WUXGA resolution of 1920 by 1200 pixels with a 224 ppi density.

The tablet features a rear camera of 8.1 megapixels capable of video recording at a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels Sony's with Exmor R sensor and 16 times digital zoom.

On the inside, it features a quad-core Krait 2.3 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, and Adreno 330 GPU in addition to a sealed 6000 mAh battery, 3GB of RAM, 16GB internal storage and microSD, microSDHC, microSDXC support up to 128 GB.

It is also Ingress Protected to IP55/58 standards allowing for dust resistance and operation in up to 1.5m of freshwater for 30 minutes and comes with an infrared port which can be used as a remote control.

Additional features include Sony's battery 'Stamina Mode', which extends the tablet's standby length by up to 4 times.