Asus has launched the Zenpad 8.0 in India. This is a single SIM tablet supporting 4G and powered by 64 Bit snapdragon 615 octa core processor. This tab comes with 2GB RAM, 16GB storage and micro SD card support. Asus Zenpad 8.0 Z380KL /4G is priced at ₹14,999 without the audio cover and with audio cover it will cost ₹17,999.
Zenpad 8.0 Unboxing
Inside the box you will get the Zenpad 8.0 tablet, user guide, warranty card, data cable and travel charger (5.2V ~ 1.35A).
Zenpad 8.0 Audio Cover Unboxing
Inside this box, you will find the cover, user guide and charging dongle.
Design and Display
The Asus Zenpad 8.0 has got a good build quality and finishing, body is made of plastic. The side have got a metallic finishing and has silver shiny borders around the screen area. This tablet looks different when compared with the other tablets available in the markets, because of the removable back panel that actually cover up 80% of the back.
The Zenpad 8.0 back looks really premium and different. The back panel are interchangeable. Tab weight with battery is 356 grams and thickness is 9.38mm.
Power button and volume rocker are on the top (when holding the tablet in landscape mode), audio jack and micro USB port are on the left side. There is in call speaker that doubles up as loudspeaker. There is a single Micro SIM slot and a micro SD card slot.
This tab sports an 8 inch IPS screen with WXGA – 1280 x 800 pixels resolution. It’s using Tru2Life display technology. Colour reproduction, viewing angles and touch response are very good. Off screen and on screen gestures are supported.
There is no LED notification, native video calling is not supported and the tab is loaded with following sensors – Accelerometer, light, proximity and magnetic.
Memory, Storage and OS
This Zenpad comes with 2GB RAM and 16GB Storage. There is micro SD card support but apps are getting installed on internal storage, however some of the apps can be move to external SD card. There is also an option in Asus customize settings wherein you can set preferred install location to SD card as default (applicable if apps can be installed there, note – not all apps will get installed on external SD) . On the first boot you will get around 11GB free internal storage space and about 832MB free RAM.
This tablet is running Zen UI over 32 Bit Android Lollipop 5.0.2.
Performance
This tab is powered by qualcomm snapdragon 615 1.4GHz big.LITTLE 64 Bit octa core processor coupled with Adreno 405 GPU. Performance is smooth, but when playing heavy games, you will find it lagging in high visual quality mode, though in lower visual quality mode the game will be playable.
Benchmark
| Benchmark App | Score |
| Quadrant | 20256 |
| Antutu (32 bit) | 1st – 29602 , 2nd – 29337 |
| Nenamark 2 | 59.9fps |
| Multi touch | 10 point |
Gaming
I played Asphalt 8, installed on internal storage. It was lagging slightly in high visual quality mode, was playable in medium visual quality mode, though not very smooth, but better than when compared to in high quality mode. The graphics in medium quality looked pixelated.
Camera
There is 8MP AF camera on the rear without flash and a 2MP camera on the front. This tab can shoot FHD videos. Camera quality is average. Not so great in low light conditions but some of the images that I shot outdoors turned out really great. Do check the sample images and videos at the end of this review.
Others
Sound is loud and clear, no issues with in-call speaker. The loudspeaker in on the front and this tablet comes with DTS HD sound technology. Sound quality is really good and it gets much, much better when using the audio cover. No issues found with 4G, WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth.
Audio Cover
You need to buy this Audio Cover (additional accessory) to enjoy 5.1 channel DTS audio. The Audio cover comes with built in speaker and battery. It’s a flip type cover that provides added protection and turns out to be a really cool and portable high quality entertainment device.
There are two ways of charging the Audio cover.
- Connect it to tablet and then charge the tablet, the audio cover will also get charged.
- When not connected to the tablet you can use the micro USB dongle and plug in the power source into the micro USB port.
Battery
This tab houses a 4000 mAh non-removable battery. Backup is pretty impressive you can expect about 6 to 11 hours of continuous moderate to heavy usage on a single charge. I got 24 hours of battery backup with mixed usage.
| Performance | Time | Battery drop % | Battery Max Temp |
| Benchmark | 13 Minutes | 2% | 36 degree |
| Gaming (Asphalt 8) | 23 Minutes | 6% | 42 degree |
| FHD movie play with full brightness + Wi-Fi on | 33 minutes | 5% | 33 degree |
| Wall Charge (on standby) | 3 hours 34 minutes | 0% to 100% (wall charge) | 35 degree |
Verdict
The Asus Zenpad 8.0 is priced at ₹14,999 without the Audio Cover and with the Audio Cover it will cost you ₹17,999. It is no doubt a good tablet, though a little pricey. Overall performance is smooth, and not really that great when it comes to gaming. However for entertainment and other stuffs this is really great.
Even without the audio cover the sound output is good but if you want to use the full features of DTS sound technology that comes built in, you need that Audio Cover.
Asus Zenpad 8.0 is priced at ₹14,999, with cover ₹17,999.
Image Gallery
Rear Camera Sample
Front Camera Sample
Video Review