I picked up the ASUS ZenPad S 8.0 ($200 at BestBuy) on Friday, July 31st and wrote a few words in a different thread. Now that I have had time to play around with the tablet, I wanted to give an updated account of my experiences with it so far. First off I should mention that this is the BestBuy exclusive version: the Z580C in black. It is not the Z580CA which will pack an extra 2 GB of RAM and other beefed up specs including a faster SOC, nor is it the ZenPad 8.0 sans "S" which has a 16:9 aspect ratio as opposed to the 4:3 on this model and has inferior specs.
Setup:
First thing I did after plugging the tablet into power was to boot it up and run through the setup process. That was easy and intuitive with no hiccups or glitches. I forwent the free cloud storage options because 32GB on board plus MicroSD expansion should suffice for my needs. I then installed my apps, manually (I did not restore from my backups), and that included: nook, Evernote and accutally that's about it. Kindle came pre-installed and I wound up downloading Tapatalk later that day. I also setup my Gmail account and synced my google books, chrome bookmarks (chrome is pre-installed as well), and various other settings and tweaks to how the system came out of the box. So far so good...
Performance:
In my first three days of playing around with the Zenpad S 8.0, I have used it alot for my average tablet usage. I haven't done any gaming on it but I read a few chapters in an ebook on kindle, browsed the web quite a bit, and watched some videos that where inbedded on websites. I also used it to track forum conversations on Tapatalk, read my gmail, shoot a few emails and update my calendar appointments. Everything has been snappy for the most part. I have experienced slight lag sometimes in the Kindle app, specifically when opening ebooks. Not a deal breaker though. I thought it might have had to do with the fact that I was just setting up the tablet at first, but the lag has persisted past the first day and into the second and third. It's not terrible by any means, but I have noticed it and it doesn't seem to happen on any of my other tablets I have owned. Other than that though, the tablet seems speedy enough, handling tasks in Evernote, Chrome and Google apps smoothly with little to no lag whatsoever...
Display:
What can I say about this display? Truth is, I've never met a QHD display that I didn't love... And that remains true! The screen on this tablet is gorgeous. For me 1080p will usually do just fine but it's always nice to have more pixels and this screen looks great for it. My Dell Venue 8 7000 ($400 at BestBuy), has a Super AMOLED display which trumps the ZenPad in an instant IMO, but is that better screen quality worth the extra $200? IMO no... But I can imagine there are cases where it might be. For me though, the screen on the ZenPad S 8.0 which is QHD at 2048 x 1536 for those keeping track, is more than adequate!
Sound:
I haven't listened to any music on the ZenPad but I have watched some video. For the most part I would say the dual front facing speakers get the job done. Are they going to fill a huge room or blow your hair back? I'd have to say no. But that's what headphones are for anyway right? I wouldn't say I'm disappointed by the speakers by any means however. Just satisfied.
Battery:
I got the ZenPad Friday morning and as mentioned above, I charged it right away. Since then I have only had to charge it once, last night (Saturday). It was at 30% when I plugged it in last night. TBH, It probably would have lasted alot longer if not for a worrisome glitch that made the battery percentage zoom down while I was web-browsing last night. Seriously, it went from 59% to about 40% in like 10 minutes! I'm a little bit worried about it but I have time to test it further and figure out if it was just a one time thing or something I need to maybe return it to BestBuy because of... Once it was at 40% and I realized it was draining abnormally quickly, I disconnected WiFi and gave it a couple minutes to rest. That seemed to slow it down from draining battery considerably and then I played around with various apps including the web on WiFi for another 10% drain which seems to have been about average. So... fingers crossed that this was a one time thing!!
Conclusion:
I'm far from finished testing this beast out but my first impressions are swaying toward the positive... for $200 I would have no problem calling this tablet a steal and highly recommend it. Everything about screams quality from the sturdy build, to the slick aesthetics, snappy performance and gorgeous screen. If you don't mind waiting a few weeks and you have the extra $100 lying around the $299 CA model will be better. for that extra $100 you'll get upgraded specs pretty much across the board. But for $200, the ZenPad S 8.0's value proposition can't be beat!
Setup:
First thing I did after plugging the tablet into power was to boot it up and run through the setup process. That was easy and intuitive with no hiccups or glitches. I forwent the free cloud storage options because 32GB on board plus MicroSD expansion should suffice for my needs. I then installed my apps, manually (I did not restore from my backups), and that included: nook, Evernote and accutally that's about it. Kindle came pre-installed and I wound up downloading Tapatalk later that day. I also setup my Gmail account and synced my google books, chrome bookmarks (chrome is pre-installed as well), and various other settings and tweaks to how the system came out of the box. So far so good...
Performance:
In my first three days of playing around with the Zenpad S 8.0, I have used it alot for my average tablet usage. I haven't done any gaming on it but I read a few chapters in an ebook on kindle, browsed the web quite a bit, and watched some videos that where inbedded on websites. I also used it to track forum conversations on Tapatalk, read my gmail, shoot a few emails and update my calendar appointments. Everything has been snappy for the most part. I have experienced slight lag sometimes in the Kindle app, specifically when opening ebooks. Not a deal breaker though. I thought it might have had to do with the fact that I was just setting up the tablet at first, but the lag has persisted past the first day and into the second and third. It's not terrible by any means, but I have noticed it and it doesn't seem to happen on any of my other tablets I have owned. Other than that though, the tablet seems speedy enough, handling tasks in Evernote, Chrome and Google apps smoothly with little to no lag whatsoever...
Display:
What can I say about this display? Truth is, I've never met a QHD display that I didn't love... And that remains true! The screen on this tablet is gorgeous. For me 1080p will usually do just fine but it's always nice to have more pixels and this screen looks great for it. My Dell Venue 8 7000 ($400 at BestBuy), has a Super AMOLED display which trumps the ZenPad in an instant IMO, but is that better screen quality worth the extra $200? IMO no... But I can imagine there are cases where it might be. For me though, the screen on the ZenPad S 8.0 which is QHD at 2048 x 1536 for those keeping track, is more than adequate!
Sound:
I haven't listened to any music on the ZenPad but I have watched some video. For the most part I would say the dual front facing speakers get the job done. Are they going to fill a huge room or blow your hair back? I'd have to say no. But that's what headphones are for anyway right? I wouldn't say I'm disappointed by the speakers by any means however. Just satisfied.
Battery:
I got the ZenPad Friday morning and as mentioned above, I charged it right away. Since then I have only had to charge it once, last night (Saturday). It was at 30% when I plugged it in last night. TBH, It probably would have lasted alot longer if not for a worrisome glitch that made the battery percentage zoom down while I was web-browsing last night. Seriously, it went from 59% to about 40% in like 10 minutes! I'm a little bit worried about it but I have time to test it further and figure out if it was just a one time thing or something I need to maybe return it to BestBuy because of... Once it was at 40% and I realized it was draining abnormally quickly, I disconnected WiFi and gave it a couple minutes to rest. That seemed to slow it down from draining battery considerably and then I played around with various apps including the web on WiFi for another 10% drain which seems to have been about average. So... fingers crossed that this was a one time thing!!
Conclusion:
I'm far from finished testing this beast out but my first impressions are swaying toward the positive... for $200 I would have no problem calling this tablet a steal and highly recommend it. Everything about screams quality from the sturdy build, to the slick aesthetics, snappy performance and gorgeous screen. If you don't mind waiting a few weeks and you have the extra $100 lying around the $299 CA model will be better. for that extra $100 you'll get upgraded specs pretty much across the board. But for $200, the ZenPad S 8.0's value proposition can't be beat!
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