Asus MeMO Pad Review

Introduction:

The Google Nexus 7 has been tearing up the scene for close to the better portion of the last year now, but as some of us sometimes forget, it’s an Asus manufactured tablet. Riding high on the success, Asus is hoping to emulate the same with its latest budget oriented 7-inch tablet in the Asus MeMO Pad, however, the Nexus 7 has raised the benchmark in the space. Perhaps, the MeMO Pad’s even lower price point of $150 might win over skeptics, but it surely needs to impress on all fronts to remotely be deemed as a worthy adversary.

The package contains:

• microUSB cable
• Wall Charger
• Quick User Guide
• Important Safety and Handling Information

Design:

Modest to say the least, it’s surprising that the Asus MeMO Pad mirrors the design of the Nexus 7, which isn’t a bad thing per se. Relying on a similar rigid patterned rear casing that has a subtle matte finish, it’s able to maintain a very clean finish. Carrying it around isn’t much of an issue, too, considering its undoubtedly comfortable to grasp with even a single hand, but it’s minutely wider and thicker than it close sibling. Overall, the design isn’t stylish or the most ornate, but rather, for something so cheap, we can’t complain too much about the package.



In saving cost, the tablet forgoes having a rear camera, and instead, we’re only presented with a 1.3-megapixel front facing camera that’s mainly reserved for video chatting. Also, there are no capacitive Android buttons with this, because they’re incorporated with software interface.

Checking around the edge of the tablet, we find all the usual suspects we’re accustomed to seeing – these include the power button, volume control, microphone, 3.5mm headset jack, and the microUSB port for charging/data connectivity. Interestingly enough, we’re so stoked to find an always-useful microSD card slot as well, which is something lacking on the Nexus 7.

Like we said, there’s no rear camera on this 7-incher in the rear. Well, the only thing we do find is its noticeable Asus logo and speakerphone grill.



Display:

Ugh, now we know why this is so cheap when it comes to pricing – it’s because the display is downright abysmal. Specifically, it features a 7-inch 1024 x 600 LCD display that’s just painful to look at! To be exact, its resolution is significantly lower than others in the same category, with below average pixel density of 170 ppi. Making matters worse, is the fact that colors simply look bland, which doesn’t help with the poor viewing angles. Therefore, it’s nearly impossible to view outdoors with the sun present. So yeah, it’s mighty ugly, which is unfortunate.

Interface and Functionality:

Something that’s surely going to be appreciated by Android aficionados, the MeMO Pad is running a mostly stock Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean experience. However, their presence is still seen throughout the UI in places like the notifications panel, and the various widgets they throw in. Furthermore, it’s nice to see that they’ve tweaked the multi-tasking portion of the experience, with its accessible widgets that are overlaid on top of anything you’re doing. As a whole, though, the majority of the available widgets aren’t as useful as other, but nevertheless, it’s just nice to have them on hand.


As we’ve noted already, the mostly stock experience of the tablet means that the core organizer apps are the ones we’re familiar using on other Android devices. Still, Asus again mixes things up with its own home brewed stuff, like the Asus Studio, which is a hub for most of the multimedia content on the tablet.



Seeing that this is a 7-inch tablet, we don’t have much of an issue using the on-screen keyboard – though, it’s the portrait one we’re using more, as our fingers are able to encompass the layout entirely. In landscape, it’s tougher to try and use it normally, seeing 7-inches is simply too cramped to type swiftly and with little mistakes along the way.



Processor and Memory:

Yet again, we find ourselves lamenting heavily over this tablet, mainly because its performance is a test of patience. Running a super outdated 1GHz single-core processor coupled with 1GB of RAM, we instantly recognize its sluggish nature in nearly every operation. On top of the choppy performance, it even shows its datedness when it comes to some simple tasks, such as opening up apps, which is accompanied by a noticeable amount of delay.

Needless to say, we can’t expect too much storage space with a $150 tablet, but it’s wonderful to find the MeMO Pad packing along a microSD card slot as well, which does nicely to complement its 8GB of internal memory.

Internet and Connectivity:

Having trouble executing even the most basic of tasks, the web browsing experience on the Asus MeMO Pad is affected tremendously. In fact, not only does it take an excessive amount of time loading up web pages, but its rendering is painfully slow – so much so that it hinders the experience to the point that it we’re put off by it altogether. Finally, other aspects of the experience, such as pinch zooming and kinetic scrolling, are also affected heavily by the dated processor.


At the moment, the Asus MeMO Pad is only available in Wi-Fi form – with a low likelihood of finding cellular connected ones down the road.