Asus zenpad s 8.0 review (full review)

Asus, a leader in the manufacture of hardware, peripherals and smartphones, has recently launched one of the best tablets on the market. It is the ASUS ZenPad S 8.0 with an 8-inch screen and 2K resolution, quad-core Intel Atom Z3560 processor, 2 GB of RAM and a battery with a range of up to 8 hours of video.

ASUS ZenPad S 8.0 technical specifications

ASUS ZenPad S 8.0

The Asus ZenPad S 8.0 arrives in a cardboard box of small dimensions and with a predominance of gray, on the front we see two images of the tablet showing its front and its back as well as a logo.

We open the box and we find the tablet properly protected along with a wall charger, a quick start guide and a USB data cable to transfer files from our computer.

If we focus our attention on the Asus ZenPad S 8.0 we see a device with very contained dimensions thanks to the use of an 8-inch screen, something that allows us to transport it in a much more comfortable way than a 10-inch unit and still offers us a excellent user experience. On the upper front there is a sticker that points out the main characteristics of the tablet and on the bottom we find the Asus logo.

On the back is the “ASUS” logo in gray and an 8-megapixel rear camera with autofocus. If you look at the bottom rear you can see the microSD memory card slot, we can insert drives of up to 128 GB.

On the right side are the buttons to lock / unlock the tablet as well as the volume controls of the device. The left side is completely free, we found nothing.

Finally on the front we find the 8-inch screen next to a 5-megapixel front camera and a dual speaker sound configuration.

The Asus ZenPad S 8.0 is built with dimensions of 203.2 x 134.5 x 6.6 mm along with a weight of 298 grams. It is governed by the Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system (Update to 6.0 Marsmallow not confirmed) which gives us access to a large number of applications and games available on Google Play.

It has an excellent quality IPS screen with an 8-inch diagonal and an impressive resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels to offer excellent image definition. Inside is the efficient Intel Atom Z3560 / Z3580 processor, consisting of four Airmont cores manufactured in 14nm and at a maximum frequency of 1.83 GHz / 2.3 GHz respectively. Along with it a PowerVR G6430 GPU. next to the processor we can choose between 2/4 GB of RAM for excellent performance and the possibility of choosing between 16/32/64 GB of expandable storage via microSD up to an additional 128 GB.

We really liked its dual front speaker setup for sensational sound quality, an aspect we've already noted on the Nvidia Shield Tablet K1.

Its specifications are completed with Bluetooth 4.1 LE for great energy efficiency, WiFi 802.11a / b / g / n / ac with dual band 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, A-GPS, GLONASS and an advanced USB 3.1 Type-C connector.

The Asus ZenPad S 8.0 comes with a 15.2Wh lithium-ion battery that promises up to 8 hours of video playback, something we will check with our tests.

Image and sound quality

The Asus ZenPad S 8.0 offers excellent image quality thanks to its 8-inch IPS panel at a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels. The viewing angles are very good and the color rendering is excellent with shades that are not overly saturated.

A very high screen resolution for its size that allows the tablet to offer an excellent sharpness in its image, in this sense you will have no problem surfing the web and you will be able to enjoy your videos in high resolution with spectacular image quality. The inclusion of Tru2Life + technology allows you to improve the refresh rate of your IPS panel, improving the feeling of fluidity when viewing videos, something that is appreciated since many IPS panels suffer precisely from a low refresh rate. It remains to be seen whether such a high resolution will negatively impact battery life and the graphics performance of its processor, something we will find out later.

Regarding the sound, we find a double front speaker configuration that offers a very good quality and has the advantage of not being blocked if we rest the tablet on a surface, as would happen with a rear speaker. The audio volume is very correct.

software

The Asus ZenPad S 8.0 arrives with the qAndroid 5.0 Lollipop sounding operating system with the usual ZenUI customization from the Taiwanese firm. A customization that has the disadvantage of including a large amount of pre-installed software, many applications that most users will not find useful and that cannot be uninstalled without rooting the tablet.

Another negative aspect is that it is still anchored in Android 5.0, months after Android 5.1 is available and even Android 6.0 is already reaching many terminals.

performance

The performance of the Asus ZenPad S 8.0 is excellent, its hardware proves to have enough power to move the Android interface and the games without any lag, the execution of the applications is very fast, as well as the transition between them in the multitask. Very soon we will upload a video to youtube showing the good performance of the tablet in games. We have tried passing AnTuTu but it tells us that the processor is not supported.

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Camera and battery

The Asus ZenPad S 8.0 also includes a 5-megapixel front camera and an 8-megapixel rear camera with HDR and autofocus. The default camera application is very complete and allows us to create effects, enable thirds, the camera stabilizer, activate the HDR options and choose from multiple shooting options.

The 15.2Wh battery has shown good performance in our tests, reaching an autonomy in video playback of 8 hours, in this respect it agrees with what the manufacturer promises. Playing the battery life is reduced to about 3 and a half hours approximately, always depending on the demands of the games.

Final words and conclusion

Asus has made an excellent tablet with the Asus ZenPad S 8.0 offering a very round product with a sensational balance of its characteristics. A screen of sufficient size for comfortable use and very portable with a very high resolution that offers spectacular sharpness and image quality.

A powerful hardware as well as efficient with the use of energy, we could not expect less when we saw the stamp of Intel on the processor of this tablet. Accompanying the processor a quantity of RAM that ensures excellent performance and that will take a while, especially if we choose the model with 4 GB, at this point we have nothing to reproach.

The most negative point is an operating system anchored in a version 5.0 of Android, we honestly do not understand why Asus does not offer its products with Android 5.1, which has been much more polished. Along with this a large number of applications that most users will find little or no use and that force us to root the tablet if we want to delete them.

In summary a great product that will offer us many hours of entertainment and with a very solid construction, the quality is more than guaranteed in a product of a firm like Asus, one of the most prestigious in the world of computing and that has earned its reputation on its own merits by offering excellent products year after year. The ZenPad S 8.0 is for sale with prices of 346 euros for the 4GB / 64GB version and 289 euros for the 2GB / 32GB version.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ EXCELLENT IMAGE QUALITY.	- ANCHORED IN ANDROID 5.0.
+ POWER AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY.	- MUCH PRE-INSTALLED SOFTWARE
+ GOOD AUTONOMY.
+ EXPANDABLE STORAGE.
+ PRICE CONTENT FOR WHAT IT OFFERS.