Asus has launched its latest MemoPad 7 tablet at IFA 2014, offering Full HD images in a beautifully light and portable package. And then there’s that price. Here’s our full MemoPad 7 hands-on review.
We really like Asus’ affordable tablets, including the excellent design pumped into the Google-branded Nexus 7 tablets, and with the MemoPad 7 we see the Taiwanese tech giant on top of its game, offering impressive specs and sharp Full HD visuals for well under £200.
Comparisons with last year’s Google Nexus 7 tablet, also designed by Asus, are inescapable. When you hold the thing in your hands, it’s almost identical in every respect, right down to the elongated design. However, Asus has shaved a bit of weight and girth off last year’s tablet. So while the Nexus 7 was 8.7mm thick and 299g, the MemoPad 7 is just 8.3mm and 269g.
Not only is it comfortable as hell to clutch, helped along by that slim build, light weight and the strokeably soft rear, but the MemoPad 7’s duralumin and fiberglass frame is also tough as nails. We didn’t dare do much more than flex the demo unit, but it certainly feels like it would survive a few tumbles. Great news for anyone with young kids.
The MemoPad 7’s Full HD IPS screen boasts a super-sharp 1920×1200 resolution, just like the Nexus 7, which at 323 pixels-per-inch makes for some gorgeous movie playback. This isn’t some insanely vibrant Super AMOLED display like you’ll find on Samsung tablets, such as the Galaxy Tab S. However, the more naturally toned colours make for realistic, eye-pleasing images and viewing angles are wide enough to cram a couple of heads around.
We only had a limited time to play with the Asus MemoPad 7, but performance courtesy of the 64-bit quad-core Intel Atom Z3560 processor certainly seems to be slick. Android 4.4 KitKat ran beautifully, with apps loading up in a heartbeat. We’ll be sure to fully hammer the tablet and test the battery life in our full review.
Android has been skinned with Asus’ own Zen UI, also found on its Zenfone 4 and Zenfone 6 smartphones. We’re big fans of its alternative look and feel, which adds handy info and shortcuts to the lock screen and a ton more customisable toggles and settings to the notifications bar, to mention just a couple of the new features.
As for those strange people who like taking photos with their tablets, you get a 5-megapixel and 2-megapixel rear and front camera.
The Asus MemoPad 7 will be available in Wi-Fi and LTE models and you can nab one of your own towards the end of the year in the UK, from retailers like John Lewis, from £180.
Leave a Reply