ASUS’ MeMO Pad tablet line was made with budget prices in mind, but at Computex, the manufacturer is showing that it is taking it up a notch. With the new MeMO Pad 7 ME176C and MeMO Pad 8 ME581CL, ASUS is proving that you won’t have to skimp on features just to keep the price tag in check.
The MeMO Pad 7 is, as the name clearly points out, a 7-inch tablet. Being the smaller of the two, it seems to also have been chosen to be the less powerful one. Nonetheless, it isn’t exactly an underdog. It is powered by a quad-core 64-bit Intel Atom Z3745, which runs at a max of 1.86 GHz. It’s not your usual Qualcomm or even MediaTek chip, but that’s normal for ASUS’ more recent Android devices. The 7-inch screen has a resolution of 1280×800 pixels, which is arguably satisfactory for a budget tablet such as this. Multimedia is where this tablet wants to excel. It has a 5 megapixel rear camera and 2 megapixel front-facing shooter, utilizing ASUS’ own PixelMaster tech. For audio, you get dual channel stereo speakers, of course with ASUS SonicMaster. Miracast and aptX support will allow you to conveniently stream your media to TVs and speakers wirelessly.
The MeMO Pad 8, on the other hand, is bigger and, fortunately, a bit better as well. The CPU has been boosted to a 64-bit 2,3 GHz quad-core Intel Atom Z3580 and RAM is at 2 GB, with 16 and 32 GB configuration options for internal storage. There are two highlights that set it apart from the new MeMO Pad 7. First is the 8-inch IPS display which boasts of a 1920×1200 Full HD resolution, a rare treat for entry-level tablets. Second is LTE connectivity, which is even rarer as far as Intel Atom powered devices go. The tablet also touts Gorilla Glass 3 protection and anti-fingerprint coating, as well as a lightweight and thin design of 299 g and 7.45 mm, respectively.
Neither tablet’s pricing and availability details have been revealed yet, but color options are definitely coming. For the MeMO Pad 7, bright colors of white, black, yellow, blue, and red will be available. For the MeMO Pad 8, on the other hand, only white, blue, and pink colors have so far been revealed.
