ASUS Zenpad 7 review

I often recall those days, when we did not have any phone, not even land-phone at home. I used to write letters to my parents from the hostel…be un-connected with loved ones for long time… Cried a lot when I had to be part from my hostel-mates, class-mates, thinking about the probability of not coming across most of them forever…..

But what! Life-style is changing so fast….Technology is pushing all the boundaries with high-speed. Orkut popped, Facebook hopped, Whatsapp topped to bring all family-members, friends, loved ones back to ring. Now, can we imagine a day without phone? Forget about phone, is it really be easy to live without internet even?

Whatever!!! The rate of smartphone adoption is astronomical. And, the rate of tablet adoption has been even faster. 

Receiving Zenpad 7 from ASUS for review made me really excited on the eve of Christmas. It was as if my gift from Santa. And to add-on, guess, what raised my eye-brows? When I was un-boxing the tablet, my five year old son was even more excited and asked me, “Isn’t it for me, Mamma?”

Anyways, I transferred my Micro-Sim to this new device in no time, started using it, flaunt it, and started analyzing it’s features and functionalities with my eagle eyes. So, here is my review for the same…

First of all, ASUS knows how to put together a winning package. The ASUS ZenPad 7 is a tablet that offers high-end entertainment, on-the-go working and a whole horde of different ways to keep you happy and engaged whether via snapping wide 140 degree panoramic selfies, beautifying images at the touch of a button or using social networks, apps, games and the internet.

Look and Feel  

Do you love to flaunt? If yes, explore Zenpad!! Because, ZenPad is very impressive at the first glance. It is a cleanly designed 7 incher with leathery finish at the back and curvy metal chamfered edges that gives a premium look. The ZenPad 7 is more rectangular compared to an iPad, which tells you that it sports a 16:10 display ratio compared to the iPad’s 4:3. It has gorilla glass, so, hopefully, it will not break easily if you drop it….though I did not try this! J

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The removable back can be replaced with a clutch-style case, which basically attempts to look like a clutch bag. This clutch bag stores a power case that can also add battery life when it’s not in use, and an optional 5.1 Surround Sound audio cover. The audio cover is interesting with the speaker setup.

ZenPad 7.0 is available in two colors - Obsidian Black, Aurora Metallic.

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Camera 

Zenpad 7 features two PixelMaster cameras : an 8-megapixel main camera around the back, having auto-focus, manual mode, IR filter and 2-megapixel front-facing camera. The ZenPad 7 camera is reasonable by tablet standards, but not as good as Zenfone.

The Rear Camera has 15 effects modes to choose from while there are 8 on the Front Camera. These include Low-Light Mode, HDR (for better backlit images), Beautification (to improve portraits by adjusting the softness or brightness of the skin, eye size and cheek width), a Selfie mode with 140 degree Panorama if used with the front camera, Time Lapse, Time Rewind and Smart Remove, which deletes moving objects such as passers-by from the background of your shot. The ASUS ZenPad 7 on-board apps can be used to quickly edit, add effects and share to social media, cloud services or other linked devices.

Clicked by Zenpad 7

Clicked by Zenpad 7

The ASUS VisualMaster has been designed to take advantage of both the hardware and the software in this tablet to optimise its display. The ASUS Tru2Life feature enhances the color, contrast, sharpness and clarity of the photographs. Tru2Life is able to detect different lighting conditions and automatically adjusts the display to make it easy to view even when outdoors in bright sunlight. The ASUS Tru2Life intelligent settings know if a user is playing a game, watching video, looking at photos or on social networks and adjusts the contrast accordingly.

Battery-backup:

The addition of interchangeable Back Covers along with world’s first ASUS Audio Cover and ASUS Power Case means owners can style the same device to suit different occasions and needs. All of this can be done quickly and easily. ASUS Power Case incorporates a 3450 mAh (typical) non-removable polymer battery to extend the power of the ASUS ZenPad 7.0 by up to 175%, so, an additional six hours of battery life on top of the eight hours the device is capable of, so, 14 hours in total.

Ofcourse, battery life will vary according to use. Battery life measured by looping 720P video, brightness at 100nits, external microphone, WLAN/3G* on and Gmail logged in for email and updates.

Sound Bar

The ASUS Audio Cover simply snaps on to the rear of the device instead of the ASUS Zen Case. It brings DTS-HD Premium Sound to the ASUS ZenPad 7.0, meaning movies and music sound better than ever in virtual surround. It has its own internal battery for six hours of power and audio is delivered upwards through four Main channel speakers, one Center and a Subwoofer – all housed in one single strip. The cover also acts as protection for the screen and allows the tablet to stand neatly and safely in landscape.

Stay Secure & Keep a track

You can use the MyASUS app for 24/7 advice through instant online chat. All of your notifications are housed here in the Message Center.

Besides, if you have a kid, Zenpad 7 is good for you. Tap the Kids Mode app to open a safe area for your children when using the ASUS ZenPad 7. It has a browser with filtering and parental controls plus PIN codes to prevent access. You can even set a time limit on their usage. When in Kids Mode, the browser can automatically prevent access to the likes of YouTube, pornography or eBay if these terms are searched for by a child.

Eye-sight Safe

Do you have eye-sight problem like me??? Then, you can check it out this device for sure. I liked the ASUS Bluelight filter of this tablet. There is less chance of getting eye fatigue. ASUS ZenPad 7.0 combats this by reducing the blue light emission by around 30% without disturbing the rest of color balance. You just need to use the pull down menu and click on Bluelight filter icon to activate it. The colors can be set from cool to warm using ASUS Splendid. 

Softwares:

With it’s display size of 17.7 centimetres, Zenpad 7 has an Intel Atom x3-C3230 Quad Core Processor. Other features include an internal memory of 16GB. All ZenPad variants operate on Android v5.0 (Lollipop), offer IPS display upto 178 degrees viewing angle and come equipped with Zen Motion support Touch gesture providing a superior experience. Users also get 5GB ASUS Web Storage space for life with an additional 11GB for the first year and 100GB of Google Drive space for two years.

Pricing

The pricing matches with its tagline “luxury at your own terms”. ASUS is targeting the low end of the market with visually striking device with bottom of the barrel pricing.

It is priced at Rs. 14,999 with audio cover and Rs. 11,999 without audio cover.

Over all, it can be used as a phone, a camera, a library, a multi media channel, a teacher, a games console, and even a business partner. It’s easy to use, and so slim in shape and light in weight that you won’t have to worry to carry, though with the Power case, it becomes a bit bulky and heavy, ofcourse.