The tablet market in India seems to be growing by leaps and bounds. The
Taiwanese tablet maker Asus is now trying to get a slice of this pie
with the launch of the Asus MeMO Pad ME172V. This is the first sub Rs.
10,000 tablet that the company has launched. It is a 7-inch tablet that
runs on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). It is powered by a 1GHz VIA WM8950
processor. The company is targeting to capture 15 per cent market share
in the country banking on this tablet.
It is noteworthy, that Asus is
known more for its popular Nexus 7 tablet that the company has launched
in the global markets in conjunction with Google.
In the recent
past, we have seen Indian brands such as Videocon, Lava and
international brands like Acer and Swipe launch their Jelly Bean tablets
too under the price bracket of Rs.10,000. So is Asus MeMO Pad ME172V a
compelling challenger in this category? We find out in this review.
Build & Design
The
Asus MeMO Pad ME172V is a 7-inch tablet that sports an elegant look.
Though the device is made primarily of plastic, yet it does not appear
cheap from any standard. This is in sharp contrast to the Acer Iconia
B1-A71, which does look and feel low priced. The Asus tablet feels quite
sturdy and there are no creeks that one can feel in this device.
Most
of the front is taken by the 7-inch screen, which is surrounded by a
large bezel. There is also a front camera placed in the middle on the
top strip of the bezel, while the Asus branding is at the bottom.
When
held in landscape mode, the left panel houses the USB/ charging port
and a microSD card slot. The right panel has the 3.5mm audio jack. The
top panel has the volume rocker and power/ standby button. The back
panel features a diamond-patterned design and houses the speaker grill.
The tablet is 11.2mm thin and weighs in at 370 grams, which makes it
comfortable to hold the device.
The only thing that we did not
like in terms of design is the duality of colour scheme. The bezels of
the tablet are black in colour, while the back is a white.
Display
The
Asus MeMO Pad ME172V comes with a 7-inch TFT display comes with a
resolution of 1024x600 pixels. This is respectable for a 7-inch budget
tablet. The device has a decent display and good viewing angles. Reading
e-books, watching pictures and videos on this tablet is a pleasurable
experience.
The Acer Iconia B1-A71 and Lava Etab Xtron come with
the same screen size and resolution. However, we found that when
compared to Acer, the Asus tablet has a better display and viewing
angles while the Lava tablet is almost at par. The touch sensitivity on
the Asus MeMO Pad ME172V is also good.
Software/ Interface
Asus
MeMO Pad ME172V runs Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), and the company has
added a custom skin to tweak the setting a little. 7 icons including
Gmail, Chrome, gallery, Menu, MyLibrary Lite app shortcut, Play Music
app and Google Play Store, take up the lower strip of screen.
There
are quite a few apps that come pre-loaded with this tablet. For reading
e-books there is the popular Amazon Kindle app and MyLibrary Lite app.
There is also a PressPreader app to enable users to read newspapers from
across 95 countries.
For the photography enthusiasts, there is
an Asus Studio app that helps you in managing, editing and tagging your
pictures. The BuddyBuzz app is thrown in for social media junkies.
AudioWizard app is there to enjoy multimedia on the go. The company has
also added custom apps such as Play Music and Movie Studio to helps
users to enjoy music and videos respectively. Other applications that
are pre-loaded on to the tablet include App Backup, App locker, Sticky
Memo, SuperNote Lite, MyBit Cast, MyPainter and Zinio.
As Asus
MeMO Pad ME172V is a Jelly Bean tablet, it also offers 'Google Now',
which is a voice based information assistant. You can ask questions and
the tool returns answers or search results. It uses 'cards' which are
essentially small boxes that offer different sets of information ranging
from weather forecast, directions, traffic information, scores,
appointments, and currency conversion, among others. Google Now collects
information based on the user's behaviour, location and even email to
offer information, automatically.
Currently the tablet is running
on Android 4.1, but when quizzed Asus has indicated that they will be
looking at rolling at update to Android 4.2 for this tablet in due
course of time. It remains to be seen if the company actually delivers
on this promise.
Camera
The tablet comes with a 1-megapixel
front camera with f/2.0 aperture that can record 720p video at 30fps.
Asus has given rear camera a miss in this tablet. It appears that the
camera is thrown in just for video chats so we mainly tested it indoors
and found that the pictures and videos clicked with the front camera are
quite grainy.
Performance/ Battery Life
The table is
powered by a VIA WM8950 processor clockin in at 1GHz, coupled with 1GB
RAM and a Mali-400 GPU. The tablet is able to perform routine tasks
well. However, multitasking is not its cup of tea. Try opening more than
three to four apps on the tablet and one can see the tablet shudder a
bit.
The gaming experience was a normal affair too. Though games
like Fruit Ninja, Subway Surfers, Angry Birds and Temple Run can be
played without a hitch, the same cannot be said about a game like Shadow
Gun.
It comes with 8GB of internal storage, which can be expanded
by up to 32GB via microSD. Asus is also offering 5GB of cloud storage
for life through ASUS WebStorage.
The tablet comes with the native
Android browser along with Chrome. Both browsers render all webpages
well. The speakers on the tablet deliver good quality sound but the
output through the speaker grill was not very loud. This is a Wi-Fi only
tablet, which means that it does support 3G or voice calling. Also
there is no Bluetooth connectivity, which seems to have become an
unfortunate trend in the budget tablet segment.
Asus MeMO Pad
ME172V has a 4,270mAh battery on-board. We were able to get around 7
hours of video playback, with the display on full brightness levels,
which is great given the price of the tablet.
Verdict
The
Asus MeMO Pad ME172V is a good value offering if you are looking for an
Android tablet with a budget in mind. The tablet looks decent and packs
in a good display, which makes it ideal to watch movies, read mails and
e-books. It also has a respectable build quality. Another advantage of
the tablet is that it is able to deliver battery playback of up to 7
hours. However, the 1GHZ processor can be underwhelming for some,
especially those who want to play a lot of high graphic games on this
tablet. Also a 1-megapixel front camera may want you to explore other
options that are available in the market.
If you are willing to
make a bit of compromise in terms of design and display then the Acer
Iconia B1-A71 (Review) is a 7-incher worth looking. The tablet comes
with Bluetooth connectivity and cost a couple of thousand rupees less.
You can also consider the Lava Etab Xtron (Review), which is a good
value for money proposition at Rs. 6,499.
Price: Rs. 9,999
Pros
- Decent build
- Good display and performance
- Respectable battery backup
Cons
- Camera is underwhelming
- Performance could have been better
Ratings (Out of 5)
Design: 3.5
Display: 3.5
Performance: 3
Software: 4
Battery Life: 4
Camera: 1.5
Ecosystem: 3.5
Value for Money: 3.5
Overall: 3.5