Zenpad S 8.0 mini review.

[angry english]

The unit I have is the one available at best buy right now, Intel 3530, with 2gb of ram and 32gb of onboard storage. $199 + Tax



While the Zenpad has a 2k screen it seems to share the same issues as the Zenphone. The screen is quite dim and is on the cool side even with the vibrant setting selected. Overall I was left somewhat underwhelmed.

The dual front facing speakers.... This was the main reason I bought the tablet and as with the screen I was again underwhelmed. The volume is not very loud, in fact it's rather low and if you heard it without knowing it was a dual stereo speaker set up you would think it was a single speaker. Sound wise its not got much depth.

The overall feel of the tablet is actually really nice. It's plastic but feels like a premium plastic, it has no flex and feels very sturdy. It's also comfortable to hold.

Major downfall is the 2.4Ghz WiFi...... No 5ghz in sight

Snappy performance but not much good for games, can get very laggy.

While the Zenpad seems to be a feature rich tablet with a lot of bang for your buck its actually not all that good. The speakers and screen are better on paper than in hand use and these are the main selling points of the tablet.

For the same price I would have to say the Tab Pro 8.4 is better value for money even though it's only 16gb, the screen and the sound is much better on the Tab pro

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[czervik85]

Thanks for the review. I'll get back on the fence between the Samsung Tab Pro 8.4 and the Lenovo Tab 2 A10-70 now.

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[Ukyo]

this is definitely not a tablet for gaming, especially not at the native res. It's best for email, web browsing, rss feeds, forums, light casual gaming, etc. Basically the basics... Lol but for that price, besides the soc and dumb non 5Ghz wifi (they only did this to get more people to opt for the higher end model), no other tablet beats it on the current market. Not any announced upcoming ones either. The higher end model for a benjie more would be worth the price though but I already have a gazillion tablets, just not one at this res at this size which is the main reason I got it. Which reminds me I do need to start selling my old gear... Lol

 

[Ukyo]

Btw, did the google drive 100gb 2 yr promo work for you? Didn't work for me...

 

[quadtronix]

this is definitely not a tablet for gaming, especially not at the native res. It's best for email, web browsing, rss feeds, forums, light casual gaming, etc. Basically the basics... Lol but for that price, besides the soc and dumb non 5Ghz wifi (they only did this to get more people to opt for the higher end model), no other tablet beats it on the current market. Not any announced upcoming ones either. The higher end model for a benjie more would be worth the price though but I already have a gazillion tablets, just not one at this res at this size which is the main reason I got it. Which reminds me I do need to start selling my old gear... Lol

I think the Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 which is the same price might still give it a run for its money but I agree, tablets with such good specs for 200 dollars are few and far between. Plus the pro 8.4 is over a year old...

I'm considering buying the Zenpad S 8.0 in the near future but am still on the fence. Already have the Dell 8 7000 and iPad mini retina. On the other hand, just sold my iPad air and Nexus 9... So I might put some of that extra cash towards the Zenpad...

Problem is, the Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 is supposed the be announced soon. Some rumors even peg next week. I will have to wait, at least till then to decide. Gotta see what Samsung's bringing to the table. I had the Tab S 8.4 for a few months but wound up selling that to GameStop for store credit. It was a great piece of tech though... Got it when it was 350 at best buy if I remember correctly.

Anyway, we shall see.

Sent from my DROID Turbo (Breaking the Speed Limit of the Internet)...

 

[Ukyo]

I doubt any newly released Samsung device with respectable specs will be in the $300 range like the Zenpad 8. I'm probably going to return mine and wait for the $300 one. Lol

 

[patchs]

As soon as my Nexus 7 2013 sells on Swappa, I'm getting the Zenpad. Looks like a great value and I like what I've read about it so far,

 

[quadtronix]

I doubt any newly released Samsung device with respectable specs will be in the $300 range like the Zenpad 8. I'm probably going to return mine and wait for the $300 one. Lol

I took a look at the Zenpads today at BestBuy... The 7 and the S 8.0. The 7 is nice but poor resolution. The 8 seemed to have a great screen and snappy performance from what I could tell in the store. Didn't play any games though on it obviously...

If I get it though, I won't be playing any games anyway, so not an issue. I liked the design of both tablets, especially the backs and especially the 8.0. Is that metal? Felt like it...

Zen UI was interesting too. I think I could get used to it. It was kind of a heavy skin though IMO...

Edit: also found out that the $200 for the Galaxy Tab Pro is a special sale... The rep said it ends this week. Will be back to $300. Hmmm... I don't know if he's correct but oh well...

Sent from my Nexus 7 (2013)... -The Next Generation of Nexus-

 

[ClintRo]

I have been running with this tablet and it has Stupid GOOD battery life. On battery now standby yes all day and it has only used about 3% and the built in battery monitor says it will last 5 days. I am going to run it this weekend and see what type of screen on time / battery life I can get using the heck out of it. So far i am VERY impressed.

 

[patchs]

Went to Best Buy to get one today. Sold out. Not sure when more are coming in. I played with the floor model very nice.

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[ClintRo]

Well the mic stopped working today. Not sure if I want to return it today or wait a bit for a new run.

Sent from my P01M using Tapatalk

 

[patchs]

I snagged one Friday night at another Best Buy, it was the last one in the store. The customer service rep says it's one of the fastest selling tablets they've seen recently.
I started setting it up, still getting used to a non Nexus experience, Zen UI is different of course.
I like it so far. Getting used to a larger size has been different. I need to get a case but there's really nothing out there. Performance wise, very smooth. Screen really pops. Sound is so so compared to my One M9.
Lot of Asus bloatware. But as we know we can hide it.
Overall, I like it but it's taking time to get used to a larger, non Nexus tablet.

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[quadtronix]

Picked one up today at BB for $200... Still charging it but I already set up my apps and accounts etc. So far it's been pretty smooth, not too much lag and I'm liking Zen UI for the most part. There was a little lag opening some books when I was setting up Kindle and nook apps but not terrible and I was opening and closing alot of ebooks to get them downloaded and in the right order so its understandable. Everything else has run smooth including evernote and gmail and home screens... Etc...

One thing I'm not pleased with is the lack of 5GHz WiFi but I knew about that going into this. Don't plan to play any games on it. May not even install tapatalk, we'll see. It really just going to be for ebooks, web, YouTube and general stuff like gmail and newsstand...

I like the tap-twice-to-wake feature alot! One of my favorite features of my N9 before I sold it was tap to wake! I also like the screen alot although the Super AMOLED on my Dell Venue 8 7000 is a little better IMO. That's what I'm using to type this now...

Can't wait to play around with the ZenPad some more once it finishes charging!! Was at 98% last time I checked but giving it extra time cause its the first charge out of the box. Also thought I'd mention, I found a great site the other day dedicated exclusively to zenpads! It's www.ZenPad.org and the info there is extensive!! If anyone has a ZenPad or is considering one I highly recommend checking out the site... I am learning alot from it.

So that's my experience so far... Will update if anything else comes to mind.

Sent from my Venue 8 7840 using Tapatalk

 

[murphcid]

Thank you for the review which seems to follow my own experience. I decided on the Galaxy Tab S2 8" since apparently the 64 gb version of the ASUS with the 5 ghz wifi is not available at all for some reason. Plus the UI/Software is not that great, with too much crapware installed. I wish ASUS had taken a page from Google's book, and made it closer to the Nexus 7 with almost pure Android, 5 ghz Wifi, and 32/64/128 gb options. I would have paid more for a better tablet (I did in the end). The 4:3 screen is perfect in so many ways over the 16:10 screens of other tablets.

The unit I have is the one available at best buy right now, Intel 3530, with 2gb of ram and 32gb of onboard storage. $199 + Tax



While the Zenpad has a 2k screen it seems to share the same issues as the Zenphone. The screen is quite dim and is on the cool side even with the vibrant setting selected. Overall I was left somewhat underwhelmed.

The dual front facing speakers.... This was the main reason I bought the tablet and as with the screen I was again underwhelmed. The volume is not very loud, in fact it's rather low and if you heard it without knowing it was a dual stereo speaker set up you would think it was a single speaker. Sound wise its not got much depth.

The overall feel of the tablet is actually really nice. It's plastic but feels like a premium plastic, it has no flex and feels very sturdy. It's also comfortable to hold.

Major downfall is the 2.4Ghz WiFi...... No 5ghz in sight

Snappy performance but not much good for games, can get very laggy.

While the Zenpad seems to be a feature rich tablet with a lot of bang for your buck its actually not all that good. The speakers and screen are better on paper than in hand use and these are the main selling points of the tablet.

For the same price I would have to say the Tab Pro 8.4 is better value for money even though it's only 16gb, the screen and the sound is much better on the Tab pro

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