In this market wherein most of the costly tablets are dominated by Apple, it is a pleasant surprise that ASUS who are known for making quality tablets and PCs finally managed to build a product perfectly suitable for budget conscious customers. BTW if you did not already know, ASUS are the manufacturer behind the highly successful Google branded product namely Nexus 7.
ASUS did try before to make a `budget' tablet for the masses before with ME172v but were unsuccessful, but with this new revision based on ARM A7 Quad core CPU from Mediatek (MTK8125) It is a `no brainer' after testing this Memo PAD ME173x and finding out that it is remarkably similar performing tablet to original Nexus 7 with fraction of the cost. Granted the new NEXUS 7 is still better in most other aspects but for the price I think this product from ASUS is still a very good deal.
One of the many cost factors for manufacturers are the total build quality, type of CPU used, Screen quality, battery capacity etc; While ASUS did make some compromises over all build quality by employing all plastic case & in selecting Mediatek's 'MTK8125' Quad core ARM-A7 CPU versus other expensive CPUs, but this CPU can easily compete with Nvidia Tegra 3 which was used in original Nexus 7.
In real life tests, the 28 nm manufacturing process of the Mediatek SoC MTK8125 pays off, the battery life is amazing for a budget tablet like this employing a slower CPU which itself compensates for most other shortfalls one might nitpick in a tablet like this. BTW, the tablet has enough CPU power for most common tasks one might want for casual gaming & running productivity apps and never really felt any slowness whatsoever even with highly conservative battery plans.
The Wireless LAN & Bluetooth are adequately enough for most needs. In fact, The Wireless LAN performance is pretty darn good. It connects fast to my router at home and maintains very good link speeds. Browsing the internet with built-In browser was fast & very responsive. I am impressed by the overall performance of the Wi-Fi interface.
The Micro-SD slot is a dream come true. If the missing MicroSD card slot prevented you from buying the ASUS manufactured original Google Nexus 7 earlier, now you can get that with MeMo Pad ME173x. The availability of Micro-SD card slot greatly enhances the productivity of the tablet. You can store thousands of MP3 songs & good amount of videos, Movies and make this a highly portable useful tablet to have. I have tried with 32GB MicroSD card and it works great with Amazon MP3 application. You can also use Google Play Music app if you want.
All the currently available games & apps work just fine on this tablet. You can get apps from Google Play store as well as Amazon App store and it has the best of both ecosystems. You can even install Adobe Flash by side loading it and watch videos that requires flash player. YouTube video looks great & works flawlessly without any streaming issues.
PROS
ASUS did try before to make a `budget' tablet for the masses before with ME172v but were unsuccessful, but with this new revision based on ARM A7 Quad core CPU from Mediatek (MTK8125) It is a `no brainer' after testing this Memo PAD ME173x and finding out that it is remarkably similar performing tablet to original Nexus 7 with fraction of the cost. Granted the new NEXUS 7 is still better in most other aspects but for the price I think this product from ASUS is still a very good deal.
One of the many cost factors for manufacturers are the total build quality, type of CPU used, Screen quality, battery capacity etc; While ASUS did make some compromises over all build quality by employing all plastic case & in selecting Mediatek's 'MTK8125' Quad core ARM-A7 CPU versus other expensive CPUs, but this CPU can easily compete with Nvidia Tegra 3 which was used in original Nexus 7.
In real life tests, the 28 nm manufacturing process of the Mediatek SoC MTK8125 pays off, the battery life is amazing for a budget tablet like this employing a slower CPU which itself compensates for most other shortfalls one might nitpick in a tablet like this. BTW, the tablet has enough CPU power for most common tasks one might want for casual gaming & running productivity apps and never really felt any slowness whatsoever even with highly conservative battery plans.
The Wireless LAN & Bluetooth are adequately enough for most needs. In fact, The Wireless LAN performance is pretty darn good. It connects fast to my router at home and maintains very good link speeds. Browsing the internet with built-In browser was fast & very responsive. I am impressed by the overall performance of the Wi-Fi interface.
The Micro-SD slot is a dream come true. If the missing MicroSD card slot prevented you from buying the ASUS manufactured original Google Nexus 7 earlier, now you can get that with MeMo Pad ME173x. The availability of Micro-SD card slot greatly enhances the productivity of the tablet. You can store thousands of MP3 songs & good amount of videos, Movies and make this a highly portable useful tablet to have. I have tried with 32GB MicroSD card and it works great with Amazon MP3 application. You can also use Google Play Music app if you want.
All the currently available games & apps work just fine on this tablet. You can get apps from Google Play store as well as Amazon App store and it has the best of both ecosystems. You can even install Adobe Flash by side loading it and watch videos that requires flash player. YouTube video looks great & works flawlessly without any streaming issues.
PROS
- MTK8125 CPU which actually consumes less power thus providing more battery life
- MicroSD card slot which greatly enhances the capability of the tablet
- Wi-Fi interface is fast to connect to hotspots & maintains good link speeds
- Less weight (only about 300 grams) makes it very comfortable in hands
- 7-inch IPS screen displays with vibrant color and brightness even at odd angles
- Main 5MP camera is decent enough for casual photography
- Tablet runs cool even when playing games with high details frame rates
- Includes Power Adapter and USB cable for charging unlike most other manufacturers
CONS
- The screen has tendency to attract finger prints that is hard to get off.
- With more demanding apps 1GB RAM can be issue in certain cases
- Main camera video can be choppy at times; the front camera is somewhat fuzzy.
- ASUS launcher app has tendency to force close at random.
Bottom-line: This is by far the best performing low cost tablet on the market today. There are no serious flaws to report, the truth is that it is a less expensive Nexus 7 with less CPU power, but for most casual tablet use and gaming it did not have any problems whatsoever. The battery life is amazing & availability of MicroSD card slot makes up for most of the other shortfalls one might nitpick in a budget tablet.
Highly recommended for budget conscious buyers - Very good deal!
You can get one of these from Amazon by using the link below:
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