Off to Myanmar, with the Asus ZenPad 8.0

Ankur is very possessive about his tablet. It is not often that I get it for the entire day! Considering that I am off to Myanmar for ten days, while Ankur will be toiling at office, I am sure he would want his ‘trusted companion’ around. I am glad that Siri is inanimate!

That being said, I too need a tab in Myanmar. How else will I update the blog and share pictures? Glad to have the Asus Zenpad 8 to give me company to this elusive and exotic land. Here is a short and sweet review on the product because of which it has made its way into my suitcase…

Shape and Size

Measuring 20.9×12.3cms, the Zenpad 8 looks like a stylish clutch. The black colour and matte finish of the cover make it look pretty chic and stylish. The device weighs just 350 gms but feels heavier after you attach the audio cover. Well, I shouldn’t crib about it – I really like the cover. It looks really cool and gives you very nice feel when you hold it.

Speaker System

Teeny-weeny speakers of most tablets are no fun; at times they kill sound effects and along with that, my enthusiasm to watch videos with friends. The Zenpad 8 has its speakers embedded into the folio case which act as a stand as well as an audio booster. I think the speaker is the nice little touch that makes it standout amongst similar tablets. Hopefully, I will be able to watch a movie with some buddies at the hostel.

Battery

The audio booster cover comes with its own built-in battery, which nearly doubles the device’s power reserves, adding 3,450mAh to the tablet’s integrated 4,000mAh battery. I am using it amply (music, emails, browsing and photo-editing) and it lasts me about 10-11 hours.

Android Operating System

The Android OS has let me download all the apps that I would need…TripIt, Agoda, Cleartrip and Air B&B for travel… WordPress and PhotoGrid for the blog… Twitter, FaceBook and Instagram for social media updates. Hopefully, if I do have internet access, you will get lots coming your way from Myanmar.

Camera

ASUS ZenPad 8.0 has a 8MP Pixel rear camera captures good shots in day light. It has all the features of the ZenFone 2 Laser – smart remove, miniature (to blur the background, except for the object that was focussed on), depth of field and quite a few more. Obviously, there is a front camera to click selfies and the beautification tool to wipe away all blemishes!

Display

All videos that I played on the Zenpad 8.0 look crisp and sharp. The screen resolution of 1280×800 works perfectly for watching HD movies. Colours and contrast look great. Ankur is downloading a few videos to ensure that I have a good time in the flight. Zenpad has an inbuilt memory of 16GB which is expandable upto 128 GB so space is never going to be a constraint for my videos.

Processing

My Zenpad is just a week old. With RAM of 2GB, browsing the net and editing my pictures is a delight – at least as of now. My previous tab (Android OS) got painfully slow after 10 months of usage. Its too soon to comment on how the Zenpad will behave after 10 months… will keep you posted.

Its time to pack up this gadget and fly off to Myanmar… More from the land of golden pagodas!