Dubai: Asus’ Memo Pad is a budget-friendly eight-inch tablet with a decent screen and is slim and light than the competitors in the market.
It is powered by quad-core Intel Atom Bay Trial 1.86GHz processor with 1GB RAM and 16GB of internal storage capacity. Out of the 16GB, only close to 11GB is available to users. The microSD card supports up to 64GB. It runs on latest Android KitKat version.
The device has 1280 x 800 IPS display with a density of 189 pixels per inch which is not that great. It is not the hardware that gives it an edge, it is the software.
The user interface (ZenUI) and the pre-loaded and the audio-enhancement apps stand out.
The Splendid app allows calibration of the screen easily while the AudioWizard app optimises audio quality with SonicMaster technology.
The sound produced are pleasing enough with ample clarity and delineation. It supports MP3, WAV, WMA and AAC audio formats and MP4, H. 264, H. 263 video formats.
The advantage of this device is that Asus offers tutorial guides to get familiar with the apps which I found it very useful.
Apart from this, Asus gives 5GB of cloud storage free for lifetime and 11GB free for the first year.
The performance of the device slows down when many apps are running in the background.
Simple games run smoothly but graphic-rich games lag as there is only 1GB RAM.
The back of the device has a textured and rubberised matt finish which is not slippery and feels comfortable in the hand due to the rounded edges. It weighs 320 grams.
Since there is no ambient light sensor, users need to adjust the brightness manually when taking it outdoors.
The 5MP autofocus camera with no flash offers decent snaps but not great. But it has added some fun scene modes like depth-of-field setting for capturing a sharp object and making the background blurry, GIF animation option for creating animated GIFs, smart remove for removing moving objects after taking five photos automatically, apart from all smiles, panorama, beautification, HDR and time rewind.
In dark conditions without proper lighting, it gives noisy lowlight shots and blown-out highlights.
The back camera records videos in Full HD while the front camera can record in 720p.
The 2MP front camera can only be used only for video calls. Taking photos with the front camera produces grainy images and colours are washed out.
Regarding connectivity, it has WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, microUSB 2.0 and no HDMI port, so users need to depend on Miracast streaming to send video to a TV.
The battery gave close to seven hours of HD video playback with brightness at 50 per cent overall the battery gives more than nine hours of juice for everyday use. By invoking the energy-saving features it can give close one day of juice.
Asus will face a tough competition in this space as there are lot competitors in that price range. It is priced at Dh799.
