Asus has brought some really interesting phones this year, and in the tablet segment they came with ZenPad 7.0. Once again, it comes with amazing features which no other competitor can offer.
The tablet has a 7 inch WXGA 1280×800 Corning Gorilla Glass display with a display technology called TRU2LIFE which I will discuss more about later. About the exterior design, it has a leather finish on the back and a metal frame which easily fits in one hand.
Coming to the internals, it ships with Intel Atom X3-C3230 Quad Core 64 Bit Processor, 16GB internal memory, 2GB DDR3 RAM and Mali-450 GPU. The performance is not that great when it comes to gaming and the tablet is not really intended for that. The lack of RAM shows at times. I am fine with it completely because even with these shortfalls, the tablet still stands out. The device comes with support for Micro-SD upto 64GB and Micro USB OTG support. Also, it has a Micro SIM slot and supports 3G. It also lets you make phone calls, although I never quite understood why I would want to.
There’s a 2 Megapixel front camera and 8 Megapixel rear camera. The front camera is good enough to make video calls and the rear camera is a good backup camera in case your phone is out of juice. I wouldn’t use it as a full time camera though.
Device comes with 3450mAh Li-Polymer Battery which can easily get you through a day. Also, the device does not heat up with normal usage or while charging, something that happens on a lot of the android devices these days.
Coming to the software, it ships with Android 5.0 and like every other Asus phone, it comes with ZenUI. Some people like it, some don’t. I didn’t really have any problem with it. Also, you get 100GB of Google Drive storage for 2 years for free.
I saved the best for the last. What makes this device unique? The first thing people notice in a tablet is it’s display. The display on the tablet is unbelievably good. It looks better than the Retina display on iPad Mini which costs about three times. The TRU2LIFE technology accelerates the Hardware and Software to enhance colour, contrast, sharpness, clarity and brightness. Telling that the display is good is an understatement. You have to experience it and you’ll realise how good the display is. I dumped my Nexus 6 which has double the pixel density during my review period for media consumption. This is a pure media consumption device! Videos pop out and the text looks amazing while reading or just browsing the web.
Any good movie can be enjoyed only if there’s good audio. Some devices like my Nexus 6 come with two front facing speakers which is the most companies have done. Asus has gone overboard and come up with a speaker accessory. It attaches itself to the device by replacing the back panel and routes the audio to the speakers in the case internally without using bluetooth. It has 5 speakers and 1 Subwoofer! The first time I had it set up, I was blown away with the sound and it was unlike anything I have experienced on a tablet. This is another feature you have to experience. Also, the materials used on the case screams premium and feels really good. It adds a slight bulk to the overall product, but it’s good.
Verdict:
This device is not for heavy multitasking or gaming, which is completely fine because it over-compensates with the display. For watching movies and reading the news or books, Asus ZenPad is pretty amazing. The speaker case adds to the experience of the tablet. The tablet alone retails for Rs. 12,000 and the speaker case comes at an additional cost of Rs. 3,000. At this price point, Asus is offering a product which no other competitor can come close to in terms of the display. If you’re like me who consumes a lot of media, this tablet is a no brainer.
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