India is a huge market place for mobile and tablets. OEMs compete in bringing out products at affordable price in the Indian sub-continent. Asus launched FonePad 7 Dual SIM tablet to target this huge market. ASUS FonePad 7 Dual SIM has both tablet and phone functions.
ASUS FonePad 7 Dual SIM Unboxing
The packaging is small and simple. ASUS FonePad 7 Dual SIM Tablet itself is covered by a plastic wrapper. Also found in the box – a microUSB cable, Instruction Manual, Warranty Information and an ASUS charger.
Asus Fonepad 7 Dual SIMÂ ME175CG Specifications
- Display – 7 inch WXGA 1280 x 800 IPS Display (10 point multitouch)
- CPU – Intel Atom Z2520 1.2 GHz Dual Core Processor
- GPU – SGX544MP2 Graphics @ 300 MHZ
- RAM – 1GB LPDDR2 RAM
- 5 MP rear camera with autofocus, 1.2 MP front facing camera
- Storage 8 GB internal, expandable microSD upto 64 GB
- Dual Sim
- 801.1 b/g/n wifi and Bluetooth 4.0
- Android jelly bean 4.3
- 199.5 x 120.8 x 11.65 mm (WxDxH)
- 340 gm
- 15 W Li – polymer battery (upto 10 hours depends on usage conditions)
- I/O ports – Micro SIM / Micro SD / Micro USB
ASUS FonePad 7 Dual SIM -Â Design
ASUS FonePad 7 Dual SIM is available in both black and white colors. The white color piece I am reviewing looks sleek. The 7 inch HD display has a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. The earpiece for the phone functionality is sits above the screen, along with a 1.2MP front-facing camera.
The power and volume buttons are found on the right side. There is no dedicated camera button. The left side of the Fonepad has ports for dual SIM and micro SD card. The flap covering these ports are aesthetically made of the same glossy plastic as the back., helping the sleek look of the Fonepad.
The microUSB port to charge and sync the device is located at the top, along with a 3.5mm audio jack for headphone and mic input. There is a secondary noise cancellation mic for better audio quality.
The 5MP rear camera and the horizontal speaker grill sit pretty at the rear of the Fonepad, diligently accompanied by ASUS and Intel Inside logos. The bottom of the tablet has primary mic used for calls.
ASUS FonePad 7 Dual SIM -Â User Experience
Full disclosure: I am a long time iPad user. I have been using my iPad 3 for several tasks. This is my first Android tablet experience with SIM and 3G features.
This tablet runs on Android OS 4.3 (Jelly Bean). The notification bar has many toggle options to easily control the device. The bottom of the screen has 4 on screen functions. Yes, 4. Not 3. Apart from the 3 functions that we normally see (Home, App switching and Back), there is an ASUS-customized additional function on the left which toggles floating widgets.
Floating widgets is a provision to work on 2 tasks simultaneously. I was skeptical about the performance but I must say this device did not slow down and impressed me with this functionality.
ASUS FonePad 7 Dual SIM Tablet can be activated without the SIM and SD card, which means we can start using the tablet out of the box. I also noted that we can add or remove SIM and Memory cards even if the tablet is powered on. I personally tried 3G with Vodafone and found no connectivity issues. I observed about 6 Mbps speed, which of course can vary with network provider, region’s coverage, etc.
The good thing about android operating system is its open environment and support for many functions.
To test the SD card read/write performance I typically load and store large files and also monitor movie/audio playback from the SD card. I use SanDisk Ultra Class 10 32GB Micro SD card. In Android we can move apps to SD card to save internal memory.
I tried a few Full HD (1920 x 1080) and 720p (1280 x 720) videos both played fine without any buffering lags; the LPDDR2 RAMs seem to do a good job. The Intel processor is snappy for most of the functions, including video playback, productivity apps, browsing.
Music playback – while the sound output is good through the in-build speaker, I am sure you will notice the shrill HIGHs and weak LOWs. It is very much understandable for a tablet speaker and fares no less good than other prominent tablet speakers. But I will go this extra mile and advice not to keep full volume of you are listening through inbuilt speaker. The sound quality via headphones is good.
ASUS FonePad 7 Dual SIM -Â Apps and Games
There are tons of apps and games available via the Google Play Store. It is a known issue that few apps will not work on some devices due to fragmentation.
Most commonly and widely used apps don’t have any compatibility issues. Plus the Intel + 1GB RAM tag does raise one’s curiosity to validate its performance.
I tried few games like Asphalt 8, Subway Surfer and Temple Run. Both Subway Surfer and Temple Run are not that CPU or GPU hungry, so they performed seamlessly. But with Asphalt 8 I found the game a bit laggy. The game was slow, and took a few noticeable parts of a second to respond. I realized that there were many apps running in the background. I closed all the other apps (restarted the tablet as well) and re-ran Asphalt 8. This time the game ran much better; there was still a bit of sluggishness seen but it was not too hindering as before. Overall, the performance is more than satisfactory as it sprints through the normal processes while struggles slightly on what could be termed as graphic-intense processes when it comes to tablets.
Battery life of the mobile or tablet is the most important feature for the product success. With ASUS FonePad 7 Dual SIM, I got more than 24 hours of battery life. I played few games and mostly spent on browsing, text and watched a movie. I must admit that while the specs may seem underwhelming, the battery life really impresses the average user.
Call Feature Really?
I stand neutral on this. I prefer mobile phone for calls & other communication and a tablet for some computing tasks. Even on my iPad, if I have to Skype or FaceTime, I use wired/Bluetooth headphones.
Holding the 7 inch tablet like a phone for call looks meh. But I do understand that there is a growing market for this range of device (“phabletsâ€, if I may use the urban lingo) and so as a review of this FonePad for the call features, I must say the call quality with the inbuilt earpiece is impressive. There is also an in-built “Record†option to record the call.
To conclude my rant on using phablets for phone calls, I admit that using a headphone or Bluetooth headset should make eliminate the problem of holding the device in the palm while talking. For what it’s worth, these could eventually be devices that I need to carry with me for their computational prowess and if that is the case I will definitely use them with a headphone.
ASUS FonePad 7 Dual SIM -Â Camera
The 5 megapixel shoots stunning images in bright light. The low light the performance is not as good and to add to the worry, there is no flash. The camera includes many modes from burst shot, Panorama, HDR, GIF and some effects.
It can record 1080p video at 25 frames per second. Checkout our picture and video samples
ASUS FonePad 7 Dual SIM -Â Benchmarks
We performed many benchmark tests. The results are fair and perfect for economy group peoples. Here are the results.
ASUS FonePad 7 Dual SIM -Â Verdict
ASUS FonePad 7 Dual SIM comes with its fair share of disadvantages but it has plenty of meritorious applications that can make it an excellent companion for your day-to-day needs. Firstly, the Dual SIM facility and expandable storage option. Secondly, the screen quality is good and it is a HD display (I do feel the bezel is a little wide, but that’s just me!). There is a 5 megapixel camera rear camera and 1.2 Megapixel front facing camera for video calls and capture important moments.
The app developers seem to be migrating to a 2GB RAM as a standard, which means there might be some newer, intense games (such as Asphalt 8) that might not run smooth. But most of the current games and everyday apps like email, browsing, documents, social networking, reading, and videos apps work great without any issue and makes it worth every penny. Given its price around 10 -13K for 8GB and 16 GB model it provides bang for the buck. IMO if you are looking for a simple device to accompany you for your everyday tasks (email, browsing), and also to attend phone calls to stay connected, this ASUS FonePad 7 Dual SIM is absolutely worth the money you spend.
Pros
- HD Display
- Camera
- Dual SIM (3G and Phone options)
- Expandable Storage upto 32 GB
- Solid Battery life
Cons
- Less RAM compared to other models from competitors
- Speakers (I don’t like speakers at back of the device)
- No headphones shipped with the box (Something is better than nothing)