Asus is a trusted brand in PC computing no wonder it took no time for me to decide I got to have one — Asus Memopad ME172v. This tablet is neither top of the line nor a gamer tablet, which perfectly fits because I’m not looking for any of those either. The idea of tapping into miniaturized and error-prone keyboard are just beyond me, not to mention that it hurts my eyes staring on its glaring screen for a while. However, tablets are tablets and they here to stay so why not take advantage of their portability in “Twittering” and “Facebooking” friends and family just before bedtime.
As I’ve mentioned, the real reason why I’ve bought Asus Memopad despite its low specs over the otherwise popular and budget-friendly tablets in the market is because of the fact that I want something that lasts a little longer. My research tells me that the proliferation of dirt-cheap tablets with their powerful processors is simply not enough push for me, just yet, to grab and own one.
Acknowledging its limited processing power, only those I considered essentials apps remained installed. Feedly, for one, handles my RSS subsriptions as well as the GMail app to check my multiple email addresses. And with great reservations, I uninstalled Twitter and Facebook apps because those two reside and run all the time, eating the precious memory and processing power that would have been available to further speed up this gadget.
You can say it’s a pretty boring gadget with no bells and whistles to ramp it up but I’m actually quite satisfied with it. I can run two of my favorite games — Magicka and Temple Run and read my morning news whenever I want. Battery performance is quite good too, which takes approximately 2 full hours for a full recharge and 4-6 hours discharge time in continuous usage.
This guy also comes with a USB OTG (on-the-Go). It looks like a micro-USB with a standard USB female socket at the other end. I’ve tried it with USB flash drive and USB keyboard and both worked flawlessly. It is therefore safe to assume that whatever you plug into your computer’s USB ports would work into this gadget as well. A friend told me that you can actually use a standard USB plug-it modem for Internet connection as it lacks the 3G connectivity (only WIFI)… sweet! And unlike other tablets, I don’t have to bring it to Asus every time a critical update is available. Everything is pushed via the Internet.
If you’re planning to buy this tablet, think of your needs first and keep your expectations down minimum. Well, I did and that is to buy a tablet that won’t give me headaches in a pocket-friendly package.