SIX WEEKS UDATE: Very happy with hardware quality, Asus adaptation of Android, and connectivity options. Love the SD card slot, drag and drop of music, vids, and pics. Heartily recommending to friends.
I decided to get a tablet because I am a pro photographer who needed a better way than binders to carry around portfolio photos. I also want hand-held access to the many great reference books available online, but I don't plan extended reading. If I did, I'd probably spend more to get the best 2560 screen. (Note that my 5 star rating is for overall quality, usefulness, and value. The screen itself is very good, but I did see better, so I'd give it a 4 star rating. But at this price point, it shines.)
I trusted this brand because I bought my first Asus laptop in China back in 2004--and it still works today (even with 750MB of RAM, Windows XP, and its little 40GB HDD.) In 2010 I bought another Asus laptop, a powerful i7 machine with 12GB of RAM--and it's a true workhorse.
So, Asus was an easy choice, one I'm glad I made.
Contrast and color are excellent for portraits and fine art photos, and there is an important set of controls for color temp, hue, an saturation. Streaming works great, which is also important to me, as I like to watch KelbyTraining and other videos. The external sound is clear and loud, and with headphones, high quality for jazz and classical music.
Build quality feels and looks excellent. I like the ergonomics--even in kind of awkward positions, it's easy for me to pick this up and put it down one handed without feeling like it's going to slip. Nice textured surface on the back without being rough or sticky.
Using the tablet is, thankfully, super easy. I tried quite a few others and had trouble with buttons, dropdowns, etc. All easy for me on this MeMo.
I'm finding it very fast for streaming, etc. One thing I've learned is that sites like facebook and Youtube work better, faster, and smoother using an app rather than accessing through a browser.
This tablet includes two browsers, Chrome and an Asus browser. Chrome works much better for me.
I went with Android because I wanted the most open system possible. I might have chosen Windows, but the price and weight of those tablets was too much. Like I mentioned, my needs are simple.
I'm able to use an SD card to add storage space, and the OS on this tablet makes organizing photos a snap. No dealing with crazy apps to load my own images onto my own device! Just drag and drop! Connects right to the USB port of my PC.
Only thing I haven't tried yet is the HDMI port, but I can see it as useful for hooking to newer TV's to display photos and play slideshows. I have to buy a cable.
The virtual keyboard is easy to use, surprisingly. For now, I really want just a cover for it, but I might consider one that includes a keyboard.
All-in-all, a great choice. There are a few video reviews here on Amazon that helped me a lot, especially one of the earliest ones. Thanks for those!
| Standing screen display size | 10.1 Inches |
|---|---|
| Max Screen Resolution | 1920 x 1200 Pixels |
| Processor | 1.6 GHz intel_atom |
| RAM | 2 GB DDR3 |
| Hard Drive | 16 GB |
| Graphics Coprocessor | PowerVR |
| Wireless Type | 802.11bgn |
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 1 |
| Average Battery Life (in hours) | 8 Hours |
