A close relative of the Nexus 7, but this Android mini tablet is something of an oddity
We had high hopes for Asus’s new 8in tablet because the company also makes Google’s cracking Nexus 7 tablet. But while it does have its charms, it’s just not as good as its more famous cousin.
The MeMO Pad 8 is thicker and more curvaceous than the Nexus 7. Throw in an easy-to-grip surface, and this tablet is more comfortable to hold than the thinner Nexus, despite narrow borders on each side of the screen (when held in portrait mode). Another difference is that the MeMo Pad has a microSD card slot - useful for supplementing the built-in 16GB of storage or for downloading photos from a camera.
Although its screen is an inch bigger than the Nexus’s, it actually has a lower resolution – 1280x800 pixels instead of 1920x1200. Text is, therefore, noticeably fuzzier, so reading is a bigger strain on the eyes. It’s still very bright, though, with reasonably good colour accuracy and contrast although the Nexus’s screen is even better.
The MeMo Pad’s 1.6GHz quad-core processor didn’t excel in our demanding webpage- loading and 3D graphics benchmark tests, but it’s still reasonably fast at launching and running complex apps.
The touchscreen’s responsiveness was generally very good, tracking our finger swipes and prods accurately and quickly. The exception was when we activated Asus’s power-saving mode, which drastically reduced the responsiveness of the touchscreen to the point where it was infuriatingly unusable.
This is a shame because the powersaving mode did actually work. With it switched off, the battery lasted 10 hours 16 minutes in our tests – which is good for a mini tablet. With power-saving mode on, another two and a half hours were added. But given the excruciating lack of responsiveness it causes, we’d suggest avoiding it unless you really need every last drop of battery life. Annoyingly, the power-saving mode randomly turns itself on, even after you’ve deactivated it.
Besides power-saving mode, Asus hasn’t radically altered the Android 4.2 operating system. Some useful apps have been added, such as a basic filemanager and a handy parental lock app. The latter lets you determine which apps your kids can use and also remotely track and disable the tablet if it gets lost or stolen, as long as it’s connected to the internet. The Asus MeMo Pad 8 is a good Android mini tablet, but unless you really want the microSD card slot the Nexus 7 is far better value. Its higher-resolution screen, fast performance and smooth responsiveness, as well as a guarantee of future Android system updates, make it well worth the extra £20.
