<div><strong>Mala Bhargava</strong><br><br>It’s barely larger than the largest phones you get nowadays, so first question one would ask about Asus’s ZenPad 7.0 tablet is, quite simply, why? The Taiwanese company has some pretty good biggish phones itself that are more easier to use than this tablet, and more powerful.</div><div> </div><div>But, companies work in mysterious ways, and so we have the Asus ZenPad 7.0, a budget tablet that will do the job, if you’re not asking for anything too fancy. It’s a 7-inch device, as is obvious from the name, and its distinctive feature is a companion, but optional, case that houses a speaker. When you put the little tablet into this case, connects to it and all you may need to do is enable the speaker from the Settings menu. This obviously makes it much louder than a tiny tablet would be. An optional Power Case also extends the battery life, which is a professed 8 hours. Of course, it depends on what you do.</div><div> </div><div>The case also has the effect of making the ZenPad 7.0 look like a professional device. Like a Filofax, for those who remember those binder notebooks that were standard corporate fare at one time. The problem is that the two pieces together are quite clunky and heavy, difficult to hold for a long time as well as adding quite a bit of weight to a handbag. Dropping it on your foot would probably leave the tablet unscathed and your toe is considerable trouble. But then, it is sturdy, unlike a lot of other tablets that can be so thin as to be frightening to hold.</div><div> </div><div>The case also has a groove that will allow you to stand the tab up quite smartly, which is good as a base to control a presentation, watch a video or make a Skype call. Though as far as calling goes, the tablet does have calling ability and takes a 3G SIM card.</div><div> </div><div>The tablet is available in black, white and a metallic colour, but I managed to see the black one only. The IPS display is a 1280 x 800 resolution, which is a bit low by today’s standards, but if you just need it for basic quick stuff, it will do.</div><div> </div><div>The cameras are an 8MP primary – and it’s not bad – and a 2MP front camera, which is. If the tablet is used for work and that involves taking images, the rear camera will be pretty good.</div><div> </div><div>The tablet runs on an Intel Atom x3-C3230 65-bit quad-core processor and has 1GB of RAM. Internal storage is either 8GB or 16GB depending on the variant you choose and there’s a memory card slot for expansion of up to 128GB. It runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop and the interface is Asus’ own ZenUI, a simple skin with some customizable gestures etc included. The one problem is a pleathora of pre-installed apps that eat up precious space. Luckily, quite a few can be offloaded.</div><div> </div><div>Asus also launched an 8-inch version with higher specs and 4G connectivity at the same time as the ZenPad 7.0. The 7.0 costs Rs 11,999 and with the cover, at Rs 14,999.</div>
