The small form factor tablet market is very crowded, with pretty much every manufacturer seeking to claim a slice of the pie through Android, Windows viii and iOS offerings. Upkeep models are especially abundant, headed by the supremely popular and by and large fantastic Google Nexus 7, which retails for effectually $215 a year on from its release.

If you want something even cheaper than the Nexus 7, it'due south tricky to find a product that's actually worth using. Toll-cutting is the name of the game in the sub-$200 market, and a typical vii-inch tablet in this price bracket comes with several compromises. Today, I'm checking out Asus' attempt at a low-toll Android tablet and whether information technology'southward worth a small amount of your cash.

I first had some hands-on fourth dimension with the MeMO Pad 7 at Computex 2014 in Taipei, where the company announced information technology with piffling fanfare. The vii-inch tablet packs a WXGA IPS display, Intel Atom SoC and a version of Android 4.4 with Asus' customizations, all for but $150. That puts information technology squarely in competition with Amazon'south Kindle Fire Hard disk drive 7 and the 2012 model of the Nexus 7.

Design

The design of the MeMO Pad 7 is uninspiring, but functional. In that location'southward a screen on the front with a bezel effectually the edges, and on the back there's non much save for a camera and a few logos: nothing we haven't seen earlier. At but nether 300 grams, the Pad 7 is pretty light as far as small tablets go, just its thickness of 10.0mm (eleven.3mm at the protruding camera) is average at best.

The curved back makes the MeMO Pad 7 fit comfortably in your hands, and the soft-impact rubberized plastic feels surprisingly pleasing. The plastic wraps around the sides before meeting a metallic-plastic rim, which gives a visual highlight, while the front is entirely protected by glass.

The size of the bezels around the edge of the 7-inch display is nearly perfect for this device; 9mm of buffer on either side is enough to make information technology easy to hold without touching the display during operation. At the same time, it'south not and so large that it looks ridiculous or becomes cumbersome.

Disappointingly, the main speaker on the MeMO Pad vii is institute on the lesser portion of the dorsum console, poking through the plastic as an indented line. In that location'south two speakers in the MeMO Pad vii, which are acceptable in quality and volume for occasional utilize, just you really miss out on a stereo effect when watching videos or playing games in a landscape orientation.

Information technology's understandable, though, that a budget model wouldn't include forepart-facing speakers: if you want this feature, y'all'll have to spend a fleck more money.

On the right-hand edge is both the volume rocker and the power button. Somewhat confusingly, the power button is located below the volume rocker, then often when I've gone to pick up the tablet I've been pressing one of the volume buttons in an attempt to power it on. Once yous get used to information technology the power push button is actually in a not bad position for i-handed use, although equally it'southward placed on the back panel'south bend, it tin can be difficult to hit at other times.

Along the top is both the 3.5mm headphone jack and the micro-USB charging port. In that location'due south no full-sized USB port on this device, so if you want to connect external drives – which is possible – y'all'll need a micro to full-sized USB adapter.

The lesser panel is bare, while the top left contains an exposed microSD bill of fare slot.

Brandish

The Asus MeMO Pad seven includes a 7.0-inch TFT IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 1280 x 800, which is typical for an entry-level product released in 2014. Nosotros're starting to see 1080p panels drift to lower and lower price points, but the product processes aren't quite ready to push button them downward to sub-$200 products.

In some cases I exercise miss having the quality of a 1080p or higher resolution panel, though Asus' choice of display on the Pad 7 is quite proficient. Peculiarly for the toll of the tablet, in that location is nothing wrong with having a WXGA display with a pixel density of 215 PPI, providing plenty clarity that information technology's easy to read text without noticing the visible pixels too frequently.

While a higher resolution would improve the display, I'm glad Asus has put try into choosing a panel that is vibrant and generally great in terms of colour quality. The LCD display uses IPS technology in its construction, which is incorporated into nearly all displays these days. Undoubtedly the MeMO Pad 7's IPS console isn't in the same league as high-finish displays used in more expensive products, simply information technology'south ane of the better panels I've seen on a $150 tablet.

Images expect reasonably vibrant by default, with a great level of particular and dissimilarity helped by Asus' selection to avert unnecessarily boosting saturation. Black levels are good without beingness groovy, as you will be able to notice backlight bleed when viewing night images in a dark environment. Thank you to the inherent nature of IPS panels, viewing angles are very good besides.

The MeMO Pad vii's display can go bright enough for general indoor utilise, notably missing a photodetector for automated brightness control. Minimum brightness is low enough to non hurt your optics while reading books or text in dimly lit environments, but maximum brightness isn't actually enough to make the Pad vii truly readable outdoors.

It is possible to read a book outdoors with the MeMO Pad seven's display cranked up as far equally information technology goes, but the reflective nature of the glass itself, plus notable separation between information technology and the bodily brandish, can go far tricky. Y'all'll need to head into the shade or somewhere without direct back lighting to get the best out of this display.

Fifty-fifty though I was already quite pleased with the quality of colour reproduction from the Pad 7'southward IPS brandish, Asus has a software utility chosen First-class that gives you farther control, allowing yous to fine melody this display to conform your tastes. With the seven-inch panel having an overall tone that falls to the warm side of the spectrum, being able to reduce the colour temperature downwards a few notches gives the panel a white level closer to what I'd consider is right.

Aside from adjusting the colour temperature, you lot also accept the ability to alter hue and saturation. I'chiliad not sure why yous'd bother with the hue slider, unless you want crazy color reproduction, but the saturation slider volition be useful if y'all want more vibrant images. Asus even includes a special setting you can enable in Fantabulous chosen Brilliant Fashion, which automatically applies a level of saturation that makes colors pop more than in the default mode.

The downside to enabling Vivid Fashion is that, like any artificial saturation enhancement, you lose detail in the colors of images. Whatever is displayed on the MeMO Pad'due south display may look better on first inspection, although if you look closely you'll meet contrast is lost betwixt colors and images don't have the same depth every bit they once did.

A loftier-end IPS panel would have the benefit of both fantastic saturation and smashing color depth, usually through total reproduction sRGB color gamut. The MeMO Pad 7 doesn't have such a loftier-cease display, so substitutes like artificial saturation increases are used. I'm glad Asus gives you the selection of enabling enhancements through a software utility, rather than making a choice that could reduce quality and and so hard-coding it into the firmware.