The Zenpad 7.0 finally made its way to the Philippines. Recently launched at Zenfest, Asus’s new 7-inch Zenpad 7 has 2 variants, the Z170CG and the Z370CG. The one in our possession is the Z370CG, so we’ll be focusing the review on that said variant. The P7-8k peso-luxury tablet is said to possesses excellent features and specifications that is truly an upgrade to its predecessor. Let’s find out if this is true.
Design and build
The Zenpad 7 that we have, has a very unique back cover. The leather camouflage of the aurora metallic back of the Zenpad 7 cover kinda gives it a lady’s purse-look. You know, those high-end luxurious purse that sophisticated ladies usually carry around them, like in the movies. Its a really cool design, however, the texture seemed to be give it all away. The plastic-like texture felt on the seemingly leather back cover wasn’t exactly an appealing feeling to feel.
Another thing that bursted by bubble on the Zenpad 7 is its thick bezel that shouldn’t even be there, as well as the wasted spaces that is heavily seen on its front side.
Despite the bezel and space troubles that the Zenpad 7 has, it still were able to showcase some redeeming qualities in terms of design, like its amazingly thin 8.7mm measurement, which is quite sexy. The Zenpad 7’s weight however, was a bit too hefty for us, for the latter weighing at around 272g. Its has a non-removable 13Wh Li-Po battery present within the device.
At the side, the polycarbonated frame is clearly visible, its looks however, unlike its luxurious back cover, didn’t leave any luxurious expression, The polycarbonated buttons on the left side (buttons are for the sound volume and power button), didn’t show any of the said luxury imprint that they back cover established, as well.
The Zenpad 7 is available in three colors; black, white and aurora metallic. The USB port is located right below the product, while a 3.5mm jack is conveniently placed on the upper right of the Zenpad 7. Its 2MP selfie shooter is clearly seen on the upper right of the product, while the Air gap, located on top of the Zenpad 7, is also the Zenpad’s speaker. Behind the Zenpad 7, is its 8MP main shooter, located on the upper left of the Zenpad.
Display
For display, the Asus Zenpad 7 is quite okay, with its 800×1280 screen resolution, with a 216ppi pixel density. Viewing angles are quite good on both low light and day light.
The 7-inch screen is honestly not bad, in terms of delivering a decent HD display. Sharpness is truly seen, though some notable things on warm colors, having a few problem on vividness (already adjusted the vividness on the option, still had a problem with screen’s vividness) is seen.
Camera
In terms of camera performance, the 8MP main camera performed okay, although, there are clear limits in what a 8MP camera can do, in terms of color blending and detail preservation capability.
Another thing we noticed is that there were certain points while in shooting stance that the Asus Zenpad 7’s camera is kinda blurry and the output was just a bit far off, in terms of image quality.The camera of the Zenpad 7 has no LED flash capability, which is quite a downer. With that in mind, it is expected that night shots won’t be possible.
The 2MP front camera is not half bad, it delivers satisfactorily outputs, though as mentioned on the back camera before, the front shooter is also not safe from its limitations, and like the 8MP back camera, was at some points, blurry and out-of-sync, in terms of color.
Software and experience
The Zenpad has an Android 5.0 Lollipop, which is a good thing, the bad thing however is the number of preinstalled application that some Zenpad 7 has, which Asus is notorious at. These apps help diminish much of the 16GB internal storage of the device. The worst part is that, some of these apps cannot be uninstalled, meaning, they’re in the device FOR LIFE.
However, some might find a few of these apps to be quite useful, an example of which is the Kids mode, wherein kids can play with the device, with their parents at ease.
Theres also the Auto-start manager app, which Asus’s claims will help you improve the device’s battery life by stopping all the used apps at once, which is quite efficient. They’re are many more of these said apps, and despite being a bit spacey, in terms of storage space, you still might find some ways, to use these preinstalled apps.
Performance and benchmark
The Zenpad 7 is sported with an Intel Atom x3-C3230, 1GB of RAM capacity and quadcore CPU, we gradually experienced a few lags while navigating the launchpad and while launching an app, the camera was also a bit laggy at times and sudden heating issues were also experienced, while playing some games for only about 10 minutes.
Here are the performed benchmark results for the Zenpad 7:
- AnTuTu rating: 17479
- Basemark OS II: 381
- GeekBench 3: single-330, multi-693
For the device’s boot up speed, it was able to deliver an average boot up speed of around 40-45 seconds.
In regards to application, we were able to observe a bit of lag, while launching the app and while playing a game application. Continuous lag were experienced while playing a game application.
In web browsing, the Zenpad 7 truly delivered, we were able to experience a very excellent and time-efficient experience, in terms of browser loading time and overall web browsing experience.
Speaker
The speakers of the Zenpad 7 were quite disappointing. Sound volume of the Zenpad 7 is quite low, even when turned to its maximum capacity. For sound quality, its not exactly good, but its not that bad either. It delivers a satisfactorily audio quality, which is a good thing.
Battery
The Asus Zenpad 7 is fitted with a 13 Wh of battery that Asus claims has a battery life of 8 hours. the Asus Zenpad 7 has power-saving modes, which could be useful, however, the Zenpad 7 doesn’t feature a quick charging capability, which can be troublesome to those who are always on a rush.
Verdict and Value
Despite the Zenpad 7 lacking in some aspects of fire-power and high-performance capability, its still quite a fine tool to carry with you, wherever you go and doing your usual round of checking emails or browsing through the net.
Online stores and grey markets have special offers for the Zenpad 7, The Zenpad 7 is at around P7-8k for the Z370CG variant, which is not bad exactly, and as for our verdict for the Zenpad 7 is that, its probably a jack of many trades, yet a master of none. It has some strong points, considerably on design and display, but there are also, clear weaknesses, performance-wise.
What we liked about the Zenpad 7
- Classy aurora metallic back cover (for the aurora metallic color)
- Display is satisfactorily
- Camera is decent
What we didn’t like about the Zenpad 7
- Speaker volume are a little bit low
- Too much space, wasted on the front side
- Thick bezel (could have made it a little bit thinner)
- Poor performance capability
Asus Zenpad 7.0 specs |
| 7-inch 800p HD IPS LCD, 216ppi |
| 8.7mm, 272g weight |
| Cornings Gorilla Glass 1 |
| Intel Atom X3 quad |
| 2GB of RAM |
| 16GB internal storage, microSD card up to 128GB |
| 8MP main shooter, HD video |
| 2MP selfie shooter |
| 3G, WiFi n, Bt 4.0, GPS |
| Android Lollipop 5.0, Non-removable Li-Po battery (13 Wh) |
| Black and white, aurora metallic |
| P7,995 as of September 8 |
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