I haven’t previously used a tablet, so it was very exciting to be asked to review the Asus MeMO Pad HD7.
Size and weight
As the name suggests, the MeMO Pad HD7 has a 7 inch LED backlight screen. It’s a neat size at approximately 19cm in length and 11cm wide. Weighing in at 302g, it fits comfortably and neatly in the palm of an adult hand and fits in handbags, school bags or backpacks easily.
Performance
I had heard that it is slow, and it may be compared with other products but I didn’t find it so. It did everything I wanted to do – which is email, browsing the internet, reading, and some basic game playing such as Bejewelled - quickly and efficiently with a 1.2GHz CPU and 1GB memory.
Screen
I thought the screen was amazing quality. It is sharp and bright, and worked well for browsing, videos, games and image display. It was very easy to read text, but not so easy in dazzling sunlight. The colour was impressive and I used the Asus Splendid App to boost colour even further, but you don’t really need it for most things.
Apps
There are five screens available to store Apps and widgets, with six App icons static along the bottom of the screen.
There are some very handy Asus Apps including a cloud storage service, App locker, to-do list, note-taker and photo gallery tools. It’s also possible to launch mini-apps that hover over the top of the interface, such as the web browser or calendar, which allows you to access those without needing to switch Apps.
Audio
The built-in stereo speakers, located on the base of the unit, give a very good sound and were strong enough to fill a bedroom.
Other features
The MeMO Pad HD7 has a very handy USB port which means you can easily transfer data from your computer to the MeMO Pad easily and vice-versa; a speaker/headset port; and a memory card reader. There is also WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity.
Camera
The MeMO Pad HD7 has a rear-facing 5-megapixel camera and forward-facing 1.2 megapixel camera. I’m not a great user of cameras in tablets or phones, as I am a bit of a photography fan so I have a good quality digital SLR that I lug around. The point of saying this is I’m not convinced that any tablet offers quality photos. My limited testing of the camera and video facility suggested they were good without being outstanding – and certainly very good for the cost of the MeMO Pad.
Battery life
Asus claims there are 10-hours of battery life and that’s with video streaming. I don’t think they’ve exaggerated this. Depending on what you use it for, you could get even longer.
Colours
The one I tried has a white glossy finish and I love it! You can also get it in pink, green, navy and black. The pink and green are also glossy while the navy and black are matte finish.
Cost
This is the Asus MeMO Pad’s competitive edge. With a recommended retail price of around $179, it is $380 less than the iPad Mini and $80+ less than other Android rivals. It is a great deal.
What didn’t I like about it?
There’s only one thing I didn’t like and that was the fact that it left fingerprints very easily. Otherwise, I couldn’t fault it.
Overall
There are probably faster mini-tablets out there, but on the basis of cost, performance and the features it offers, the Asus MeMO Pad HD7 is well-priced, does everything most people would want it to do to a high level and has so many good features.
I think it would suit almost any family member – from child through to grandparent - and would prove to be exceptionally good value.
Five stars.
__small.png)
