ASUS MeMo Pad 7 MEC176CX Review: Powerful, Affordable Tablet

ASUS MeMo Pad 7 MEC176CX Review: Powerful, Affordable Tablet

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We review ASUS’ affordable MeMo Pad 7 MEC176CX tablet!

Today, we’ll be diving deep into ASUS’ next generation MeMo Pad 7, the MEC176CX. This particular tablet was officially launched by ASUS around a month ago with minimal fanfare, which is surprising, considering what the tablet can do. It holds the distinction of being one of the few devices out in the market today sporting 64-bit Intel Atom SoCs. These new chips are drastically different from the current 32-bit chips in the company’s own Zenfones, as you’ll see later in the review. The MeMo Pad 7’s high synthetic benchmarks make it an obvious candidate as an affordable gaming tablet, but does the overall performance of the device back this up? You’ll find out in the review.

ASUS MeMO Pad 7 ME176CX specs

  • 1.86GHz 64-bit Intel Atom Z3745 quad-core CPU
  • 1GB RAM
  • 7-inch HD IPS display, 1280 x 800 resolution
  • 8GB internal storage, expandable via microSD up to 64GB
  • 2-megapixel rear camera
  • VGA front-facing camera
  • WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, Miracast
  • 3,950mAh battery
  • Android 4.4 KitKat with ZenUI
  • Php 6,995

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Unimpressive design hides a monster within

The overall design of the MeMo Pad 7 is a bit meh. While you wouldn’t mistake it for a generic China tablet, its overall design feels dated and uninspired. Thick bezels surround the 7-inch HD IPS display, while the sides are sloped to allow a better fit in the hand.

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Holding the tablet in portrait mode, you’ll find the power button and the volume rocker are located on the right, though their positioning is a bit weird – instead of the power button being on top of the volume rocker, it’s actually reversed, which led to us mis-pressing the volume rocker in an attempt to unlock the display of the device. The 3.5mm jack and USB port are located on top, while the left side holds the microSD slot to augment the paltry 8GB of storage in the device. The 2-megapixel camera sits on the back, near the top of the device while on portrait mode, with the lens protruding a few mm from the body.

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As far as the display of the IPS panel on the MeMo Pad 7 goes, it’s more or less what you’d expect from a tablet bearing a Php 6,995 SRP. Colors are generally good, and viewing angles are generous. The bezels surrounding the display is a bit thick, but then again it’s a budget tablet, so it’s not that big of a deal.

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Monster benchmark scores, but still suffers from lag

The MeMo Pad 7 is the first device we’ve personally handled equipped with Intel’s Intel Atom Z3745 64-bit processor, so were unsure of what its synthetic benchmark scores would be. We were floored when AnTuTu came back with a score of 33413 points. For a device that only costs Php 6,995, the score was nothing short of amazing. It only stands to reason that it would perform like other devices with roughly the same score, right?

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Not really. While the MeMo Pad 7 scores extremely high on synthetic benchmarks, it stumbles a bit on actual use. There’s still some noticeable lag on graphic intensive games like Dead Trigger 2, but it’s definitely less than what we saw on the 32-bit Intel Atom chip that’s on the Zenfone 5. To be fair, the MeMo Pad 7 did exceptionally well on games like Injustice. The MeMo Pad 7’s less than ideal 1GB of RAM is a bit of a handicap as well – after a while, the device lags a bit when opening new apps, or even just communicating on Facebook messenger. The addition of ASUS’ Zen UI may also be a source of the lag, as there’s a lot less usable RAM to go around.

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Forgettable camera

If there’s one thing about tablets that’s almost a near certainty, it’s that their cameras aren’t as powerful as their smartphone brethren. The one in the MeMo Pad 7 is no exception – at only 2-megapixels, the primary camera isn’t capable of producing breath-taking photos (not by a long shot). The photos it produces is acceptable for social media, but anything more than that and the camera shows its limitations.

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Okay battery

We used the MeMo Pad 7 as our primary entertainment tablet for a day watching several movies as well as playing games and browsing, and the battery managed to hold up well. The device managed to stay on for around 8 hours and 17 minutes before the battery dropped to around 7 percent, which is typical battery life of most 7-inch slates.

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Verdict: sulit tablet with powerful processor and affordable price tag

Priced at around Php 6,995, the ASUS MeMo Pad 7 MEC176CX is a pretty good buy. Intel’s new 64-bit SoC performs leagues better than the one currently in the company’s Zenfone 5. The tablet’s 1GB of memory is a bit of a stumbling block, though it’s more than made up with the processor’s raw power. If you’re looking for a powerful, but inexpensive tablet, the ASUS MeMo Pad 7 MEC176CX might just be the ticket.

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