Leak: Verizon gets new ZenPad Z8

May 28, 2016 Categories: Leaks, News by 0 Comments

Updated (see below)

There is not a lot to go on but it’s great to see some breaking news for ZenPad tablets.

The prolific leaker of leaks @evleaks is telling the world about the ZenPad Z8.

Here is the image:

asus-zenpad-z8

So let’s get into the specs. The Asus ZenPad Z8 has an 8-inch display with a resolution of 1536×2048. This is right on par with the ZenPad S 8.0.

The Z8 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 processor and it has 2GB of RAM.

Rounding out the specs, it comes with 16GB of storage, an 8-megepixel rear camera, a 1.8-megapixel front camera, and it comes with a microSD card slot.

Update: So we are starting to piece together this Z8 tablet. This certainly appears to be the Z008 which showed up a couple months ago on GFX. See that article here. Later on, that same tablet showed up at the FCC. See that article here. Now we see this leak and it’s all starting to make a bit more sense. The benchmark specs are bang on from what we can see.

Let’s talk a bit about the design we’re seeing. The side buttons seem more pronounced which could be considered an improvement upon the somewhat flat response of the ZenPad S 8.0 tablet. The speakers are pushed outwards now toward the top and bottom of the tablet. It’s hard to say the reasoning for that change right now. We are quite curious about stylus support also. What we don’t know is if this is the ZT581KL model that we’ve seen elsewhere. That is entirely possible.

How can Asus improve the ZenPad S 8.0 Series (Z580CA) with the ZT581KL?

May 24, 2016 Categories: Opinion, ZT581KL by 6 Comments

Details are scarce. We’ve seen perhaps one benchmark result from a possible next generation ZenPad S 8.0, but that was quite some time ago. At Computex 2016 next week, Asus is letting the suspense build.

We want to look at the hero Z580CA (and the Z580C) and see if there were opportunities for Asus to improve upon for this upcoming next gen ZenPad. The ZenPad S 8.0 was a really incredible device so Asus has their work cut out for them.

Price wise? We can’t see Asus doing much better than what they accomplished with the ZenPad S 8.0 series. The Z580C make huge headlines when the price was announced and it was a new standard for high resolution Android tablets in terms of low price. With the move to Snapdragon Qualcomm and the departure of Intel, the next generation model is going to have a hard time getting to the same low price as the ZenPad S 8.0 series. Match it? Possibly.

Build wise, the ZenPad S 8.0 series was truly premium looking and feeling. It wasn’t the lightest or thinnest so we could see the next gen version getting thinner and lighter. Personally I’m okay with thinner but I would rather have a larger battery.

Battery life is one area that could very well improve with the use of a Snapdragon processor. The ZenPad S 8.0 series had the best battery life of the ZenPad releases, but it’s one area that could use improvements. Battery life happens to be a headline maker or at least a deal breaker in some instances. We ran a site poll and people seemed very receptive to a heavier ZenPad that had a bigger battery. Like a ZenPad Max. Hey, great idea! Mr. Asus please consider that!

Stylus input was very useful on the Z580CA and a next generation model hopefully will have stylus input as well. Intel put together a Stylus Alliance in hopes of creating a stylus standard, so it’s possible that Asus will change their stylus technologies in the next generation ZT581KL. A nice feature on the next generation would be a built in stylus compartment, although that isn’t likely.

Display and resolution were terrific on the original ZenPad S 8.0 so we aren’t sure how exactly Asus will build upon or improve upon the display and resolution. Perhaps a bit brighter for the next gen release? More accurate colors?

Pre installed software (bloatware) is one area where the ZenPad S 8.0 was criticized, at least in North America. It’s just not a popular thing to do and negative press comes along with it. So the question is whether Asus will dial back the pre installed software for the next generation. With the software updates that have rolled out over the months, it does appear that Asus is removing or allowing people to uninstall a lot of the apps. There was a revenue generating aspect to having pre installed apps so having fewer of them may make low price points even harder to achieve. However, from our perspective what you lose on one hand you gain back with more favorable reviews, which in turn should increase overall tablet sales.

Speed and performance wise we don’t see how Asus can take giant leaps forward with a next generation model. For most people, the Z580C provides enough performance for what they need out of their Android tablet. Even with 3GB of RAM with the next model, it’s going to be more than sufficient for more everyone.

Cameras on tablets? This is a tricky one. Expensive Android tablets? That’s what you’re looking at if you up the camera capabilities. The Zenfone 3 series is going big on camera technology, but it’s unclear whether Asus will do the same on their flagship tablet(s). People are not likely to buy a tablet because of its camera quality whereas a camera can be a deal breaker. We can’t see Asus making their tablet prices higher for the sake of a better camera. The ZenPad S 8.0 did have the highest spec cameras for their tablet line-up but it’s still not big selling point.

So what do you think can be improved? What feature(s) do you hope for in the next gen flagship ZenPad?

new-zenpad-s-photo

 

 

New Asus tablet P027 appears on Geekbench

May 19, 2016 Categories: News by 0 Comments

A MediaTek (1.7GHz) powered tablet with 2GB RAM and Android 6.0 has just shown up on Geekbench. Not a lot can be said about specifics at this point.

We investigated the P027 to see if we could guess more accurately what this might be, but so far it’s a mystery.

We are expecting a ZenPad C 7.0 but that particular model is most likely to be powered by a Snapdragon processor. The MediaTek powered Z300M and Z380M have passed through the FCC and those ID Codes are different than the P027. This could be a new MediaTek powered 7-inch tablet that is not part of the C Series.

[Source]

New promo video title: Experience the new ZenPad 10

May 19, 2016 Categories: Video, ZenPad 10 by 0 Comments

Hang on. “New” ZenPad 10? Although the video itself doesn’t mention specs, we can assume this title would be referring to the Z300M refresh that has the new Android OS and different processor. We haven’t seen a model that is exactly new, but it is interesting and hopeful in seeing more ZenPad promotional videos come out.

One thing missing from the pomo video though is the Z Stylus compatibility. Certainly a great selling point and adds another layer of usability to the tablet. The Z Stylus we found to be the most enjoyable on the 10-inch screen which also had a bit more bezel for ease of handling. We’re not sure, but is that a different color scheme? We will have to check. That doesn’t look like the metallic that we saw before. Additionally, we noticed Asus calling the “Audio Dock” the “Mobile Dock”. We discussed the possibility of a new mobile dock, but it’s entirely possible that it’s essentially the same original dock with perhaps an extra port of something added which we have yet to learn about. What they showed in the video though is what we saw previously under the Audio Dock name.

Computex 2016 predictions time!

May 18, 2016 Categories: Opinion by 0 Comments

Sure the tablet market is not booming, but we know (we hope at the very least) to see some new ZenPad tablets at the big Computex 2016 show. Nothing is more fun than making predictions only to find out that you’re wrong on most every prediction. However, failure will not make us refrain!

We do believe at this point, there will be a new ZenPad flagship, a next generation to the ZenPad S 8.0 series. Now we just aren’t sure whether the “S” will remain or if it’s going to be something different.

Prediction 1. There will be a new top end 8-inch tablet, a successor to the ZenPad S 8.0.

Now we love the ZenPad 10 for sure. It had the most impressive audio experience for watching movies and listening to music out of all the ZenPad tablets that we got our hands on. However, the ZenPad 10 is not at that premium level like the ZenPad S tablets are. So we do think that Asus is going to respond to the marketplace and come up with something more premium.

Prediction 2. There will be a 10-inch premium tablet along side the 8-inch model as mentioned in prediction #1.

Size wise, we most enjoyed the 7-inch ZenPad. We have been using the ZenPad C 7.0 (Z170) for a while and it’s great for taking on the go. It fits in pockets! The big bezel 7-inch form factor of years past means that people should revisit the 7-inch tablet size because it’s a bit easier to take with you than an 8-inch tablet.

Prediction 3. We are expecting to see a successor to the ZenPad C 7.0 tablet. A next generation of this tablet.

(we are thinking a bit more and will add a few more predictions just for fun)

Global tablets sales decline will inevitably affect Asus tablet strategies moving forward

May 16, 2016 Categories: Opinion by 0 Comments

“Captain obvious speaking. Slumping tablet sales globally are going to affect how Asus treats their tablet strategies moving forward.”

Okay, not breaking news there. However, we recently watched the Asus investors conference and the ZenPad tablets were part of the conversation, but the tone was not optimistic. It’s understandable though because it has been reported for a while now that the global appetite for tablets have been declining. Fact? A lot of people have one, maybe two per household and there hasn’t been that need to upgrade.

So from the Q1 2016 Asus investors conference, a few tablet tidbits that we learned. First, some of the R&D for tablets is likely to be shifted to robotics. The countries getting ZenPad tablets will be reduced and the number of different models is going to be reduced. One phrase which made us have a double take was when they said “tablet transition”. We need products to talk about afterall, so fewer tablets will ultimately mean less to discuss.

It’s going to be very interesting to see what happens at Computex 2016 regarding the ZenPad line-up. Last year it was the big unveil and rebranding to ZenPad. This year it’s going to be much quieter. We’ve grown used to seeing flagship tablets from Asus over the years so we do hope for a mainstage presentation and slides, but it’s not a given anymore.

We’re closely watching how Asus is going to be handling their ZenPad tablet line-up in 2016 and 2017. Jerry Shen mentioned that people want higher spec tablets and that makes it difficult. Higher cost build materials and low selling prices is not the best recipe for profit (Captain Obvious makes another appearance).

We can say that Asus will certainly be reducing their resources in tablets moving forward. They obviously spent a lot of time and effort in creating a customizible design and with that work done, it would likely free up resources to work in other areas of the company.

We were a bit surprised at the number of ZenPad tablets that came out last year. There were more than we were expecting. So if Asus does indeed reduce the models, this may allow them to have the higher spec models because their resources will not be spread so far. Refinement of the tablet line-up may work out in the end. We shall see!

 

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