It doesn’t get more official than this. Asus has just come out with their Zenfone 3 8.0 tablet without so much as a whisper!
A few things make us curious. Is this what we were expecting? Not really. With a model of Z581KL, we were expecting this to be a next generation flagship tablet. Afterall, the ZenPad S 8.0 was “Z580CA” and the “5” being the key here.
However we see a tablet in the ZenPad 3 8.0 that is not quite at the level of say the newly announced ZenPad 3S 10 (Z500KL). So we are a bit confused. Is this ZenPad 3 8.0 going to be the slightly cheaper 8-inch tablet offering from Asus or will there be a ZenPad 3S 8.0 in the near future?
The ZenPad 3 8.0 does have a great display and bigger battery which are welcome for sure. It does not have a finger print sensor or build quality in the same league as the ZenPad 3S 10. If the Z581KL is an update to the original ZenPad 8.0, then certainly this is going to be a great deal for a tablet.
With the sudden release of this tablet, we are a bit aghast. For now you can look at our main ZenPad 3 8.0 (Z581KL) page here for more details and photo gallery.
Here is a first look:
Any idea when this Z581KL – Non-Verizon will be available and for what price? Thanks!
When is this being released??
What country are you from? At this point the US may not get it as they have the Z8 with Verizon which is similar.
I am in the United States, thank you. I wasn’t aware of the Z8, I assume that’s Verizon only? Appreciate any thoughts or insight you could offer.
If i can justify the value, REALLY considering an upgrade of my Kindle Fire HD 7″ (2013) to the following budget tablet:
ASUS ZenPad S 8 Z580C-B1-BK 8″ 32 GB Tablet
8″ IPS Display (2048 x 1536) with ASUS TruVivid technology for better visual experience
Intel Atom Z3530 Super Quad-Core, 64bit, 1.3GHz
2G RAM, 32G Onboard Storage
5M/2M Dual Camera; 1 x microSD Card slot, support up to 128GB SDHC
Android 5.0 Lollipop (you mentioned 6.0 Marshmallow was available for manual update!!)
Yes, the Z8 is Verizon only. The Z580C is a very nice build and nice display. It’s worth looking at if you can get a good deal on it. At the same time you might want to consider the $299 ZenPad 3S 10, although it’s a bit bigger and a bit more expensive. It has 6.0 Marshmallow and Z Stylus compatibility. I’m waiting to review it for a final judgement though, but people seem to be impressed with it.
Really trying to hold out for the ZenPad 3, despite not being sure when the 8 inch version will be available. I’d hate to go pick up a “new” tablet with a 2+ year old CPU/SoC, etc.
The 3S 10 looks incredible for the price. Might have to reconsider the budget basement devices and see if i can justify owning a 300$ tablet. The Z580C is only around $169 these days. As much as i want to somewhat future-proof my purchase, it’s probably silly for me. My needs are meager, as tablets are essentially toys. So excited to see a few options. Thank you for the great site!!
Any idea how the Qualcomm S650 hexa-core processor with Adreno 510 GPU from the Z581KL stack up against the Mediatek version from the ZenPad 3S 10?? I’m (slightly) more familiar with the intel Atom from the various previous ZenPad S 8.0 devices.
Is zenpad 3 available in Florence, Italy?