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ASUS has had quite the day at Computex. we got a new smart watch and a selfie phone, and you can bet they have a good crop of tablets on the way, as well. This is the ASUS ZenPad 8.0, an 8-inch tablet that can either be very affordable or pack a whole lot of punch (depending on which you fancy).
There’s the base model — simply dubbed the ASUS ZenPad 8.0 — that has a 1280 x 800 display, 16GB of internal storage, an Intel Atom X3 chipset, a 5 megapixel rear camera and more. Not bad for those on a modest budget.
What really gets us excited is the ASUS ZenPad S 8.0, which is a whole different beast. This thing packs Intel’s Atom Z3580 chipset (top-line stuff for their mobile line), 4GB of RAM, 2,048 x 1536 resolution, your choice of 16GB or 32GB of internal storage, a 5 megapixel rear camera, a 2 megapixel front camera and USB Type-C. We’re sure it’s going to be more of a wallet buster than its weaker brother, but with these specs (and ASUS’s history for quality) we’d argue it’ll be worth it.
ASUS also has 7-inch and 10-inch models planned, but the company hasn’t yet released any details about them. We’ll expect the 7-inch variant to be on the affordable side, while they’re bound to go balls to the walls for the biggest option. Unfortunately all we can do is speculate until they unleash some details or we stumble upon some juicy leaks. Either way, the 8-inch tablets are enough to satisfy our undying need for new tech for the time being.
Please sir… tell me… is there Micro SD support?
http://i.imgur.com/Lgm5BZI.jpg
Yes.
Asus website says 5MP and 2MP for the cameras on the 8.0s, and only has 2GB in the RAM section with no mention of more…
http://www.asus.com/Tablets_Mobile/ASUS_ZenPad_S_80_Z580C/specifications/
I wrote based on a press release, and they very specifically mentioned: “It is powered by a 64-bit Intel® Atom™ Z3580 processor and is the world’s first 8-inch tablet with 4GB of RAM”
So I would say the website listing is a typo or they accidentally used specs from the regular 8.0. I will have to confirm.
Yeah boi!
I’m willing to trust any OEM over toshiba, I got the excite pro and that thing got no support, still on Android 4.2.2 sucks
You really didn’t miss much.
Kitkat was a modest upgrade, and lollipop was a giant step backward.
I had 3 devices on lollipop for several months through at least 3 iterations (5.0, 5.0.2, 5.1) and ended up reverting all three of them to kitkat.
Lollipop is the windows Vista of Android.
I understand but you don’t have any idea of how bad that tablet needs some support, at least a firmware update, something
Lollipop is awesome. No issues here on 5.02
Wouldn’t go back to previous versions if you paid me.
Lollipop fixed the broken SD Card issue from KitKat. I’ve heard of people having issues with 5.0…but I’ve never experienced them…
Volume control and video playback crashes are two of the worst offenders.
I guess LG has that all covered, because that’s news to me. Never had a video crash, and the volume controls work. The different modes that were new were a little odd, but they worked.
“The different modes that were new were a little odd, but they worked”
Not really.
Example:
I’m reading news feeds in bed, and one of the feeds has a video. I can’t remember if my media volume is turned up or not and I don’t want to wake my wife. In kitkat, I can just use the hardware volume buttons to mute it, then play the video. In lollipop I have to start the video, hope it’s not loud THEN turn it down after it starts playing. Either that or I have to exit the app I’m using, dive into settings, and check the media volume there.
Or here’s another scenario:
You chromecast a video to your TV and you start getting notifications. The notification sound is really loud so you want to turn it down. In kitkat you can again use your hardware volume buttons, hit the dropdown and change notification volume. In lollipop the hardware controls only control the chromecast volume so you have to again dive into settings.
The video playback and lag issues are probably device-specific, (I experienced them on the N4, N5, N72012 and N72013) but the horrible step backward with volume controls is across the board.
Actually, not a problem for me at all. In LG-land, using the hardware volume keys give you quick access to ALL volumes with a single press. See attached screenies…
Wow. That definitely fixes the problem. Way to go LG.
I might agree with you had I not bought a Transformer Prime. The form factor is amazing — probably the best piece of electronics I’ve ever owned.
But the support has been non-existent, and the OS runs like molasses in January three days after a reinstall. At this point, it’s a well-designed paperweight (unless I want to do a factory reinstall every week, which I don’t).
I would think very carefully before I bought any ASUS hardware again, and even then would wait a few months after release to be sure of its longevity.
Honestly at this point I think nexus tablets is the only way to go
How come Phandroid always calls QHD phones/tablets 2K, and now that they have an article about a tablet that’s actually 2K, they call it QHD?
2560×1440 is QHD
2048×1548 is QXGA (which is called 2K in the movie world)
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_display_resolution