Cheap tablet doesn’t mean you will get crap tablet. ASUS has been making affordable tablet ever since it partnered with Google to come out with the Nexus 7.
This year, ASUS has released few ZenPad series tablet and has quite an attractive price point.
I got an unit of the ASUS ZenPad 8.0 that powered by Qualcomm processor as compare to ZenPad 7 series that powered with Intel processor.
Below are the unboxing video of the new ASUS ZenPad 8.0
The ZenPad 8.0 bundled with an extra Zen Case as the back case are interchangeable. It comes with five attractive colors to choose from; Black, White, Aurora Metallic, Blue and Orange. For my case, I received an orange Zen Case that match nicely with white ZenPad 8.0
ZenPad 8.0 is also the World’s first customizable tablet where you can have few functional cases that provide extra features and additional color options.
- Zen Clutch – Luxurious look and feel leather finish touch flip cover case.
- Zen Case – Changeable back case with fine leather pattern. Available in five colors: Black, White, Aurora Metallic, Blue and Orange
- Power Case – Extends battery life that can attaches to the ASUS ZenPad in compact size
- Audio Cover – Bring immersive 5.1 channel surround sound for better mobile entertainment experience.
Power Case
By attached the power case, the ZenPad 8.0 able to extend additional battery life up to 15 hours.
The connector between the Power Case and ZenPad
To charge the Power Case, there’s a magsafe dock that can be connect to any microUSB charger.
Zen Clutch
Upgrade your ZenPad look to more premium-ish case by protecting it with leather touch flip cover case and it has two stand-modes
Design & Specification
The ZenPad 8.0 is powered with Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor couple with Adreno 405 and mated with 2GB of RAM. It may not have powerful processor but it able to handle most of the tablet tasks like productivity tasks, web browsing, video streaming and as well gaming.
It able score 21,575 points on AuTuTu benchmark test.
It sport an 8-inch WXGA (1,280 x 800 resolution) display and protected with corning gorilla glass. The display is vibrate and vivid in color, thanks to the ASUS Truvivid that improve the screen clarity and brightness. What I don’t really like is the slightly thick bezel (that’s so 2012) making the tablet look big in size. The metal finish like trim touch does add some premium-ship on the tablet.
Although it only come with 16GB internal storage, it has a microSD card slot for you to expand the storage. Did I mentioned the ZenPad 8 does work as a phone as well? It has a micro SIM slot where you can insert your SIM card and have it as a back up phone or maybe some use it as their primary phone. The microSD card and micro SIM card slot is accessible after removed of the back case. It has connectivity 4G LTE, WiFi, Bluetooth, Gyro Sensor and Proximity Sensor.
There are an 8 megapixel rear camera and 2 megapixel front facing camera for photo taking and video recording. It shared the same camera app used in ASUS smartphone with plenty preset modes and settings for ease of quick photo taking in different scenarios.
Entertainment On-The-Go
The ZenPad 10 feature DTS-HD premium sound and ZenPad is one of the World’s first to integrated it into tablet. Although it only come with single front speaker, the audio output is quite loud and clear. It also include an AudioWizard app that allows you to tweak the speaker’s setting and it comes with few presets; Movie, Gaming, Music, Vocal and you can also take control of the volume, bass, treble and EQ manually.
There’s an option to fit the back of the tablet with Audio Cover that DTS tuned. It can simulate a 5.1 surround sound and the audio output is remarkably loud yet clear. It make an excellent media device for video and audio.
ZenUI, Android 5.0.2
The ZenPad 8.0 uses the same OS, ZenUI on top of Android 5.0.2. Thus you will get most of the features that all others ZenFone smartphones has. You can check out the tips & tricks here.
Battery
A 4,000mAh battery is packed inside the tablet and about to run for more than 11 hours of video loop test and you can also have Power Case to extend another 15 hours of battery life.
Conclusion
The exciting accessories that available for ASUS ZenPad 8.0 making the mid range tablet look more fun and stylish which not available or offers by others brands. Phone capability is also a plus point as some market may actually prefer larger screen display phablet and using it as primary phone.
What I dislike is low resolution display, thick bezel and a little under-powered processor.
ASUS ZenPad 8.0 is available now at all the ASUS authorised store and ASUS Malaysia Store for RM 849.
can you tell me where to buy the zen clutch?