Asus ZenPad S 8.0 review

Google Books PDF Test: Asus ZenPad S 8.0

First, a side note: I went to three Best Buy stores. None of them had the competing house brand Insignia Rockchip 3288-based tablet on display. Surprisingly, one did have a new Insignia eight-inch tablet out with a 1280 x 800 display, for US$99. Bleh.

Second, still only one Best Buy has the Asus ZenPad S 8.0 out on display.

Now, onto the test …

The video below was done using a Lenovo Tab 2 A10. This gives an idea of what it’s like with The People of the Abyss and Foxit Mobile PDF.

It’s acceptable.

Unfortunately, that short video took almost a freakin half hour to get up to YouTube, so I wasn’t going to try more.

But I did do more testing, without even photos — because this specific Best Buy store’s WiFi really really really sucks.

Surface Japan worked with Foxit. Page renders were generally three seconds, with an unpredictable five seconds for some. I was really surprised by that speed for a PDF that gives so many tablets — even the iPad — problems.

I was finally able to successfully download the special “iOS edition” of The American Magazine. Page render time was unpredictable, with some requiring one-to-two seconds while others popped instantly. On the whole, however, I wasn’t impressed with this PDF’s handling because the iPad does it like greased lightning.

I downloaded the free version of Mantano Reader. And that was a disaster. Page render times were tooooo long. And when I made a change to display settings, the app became unresponsive and hung up the entire damn tablet. And that was withThe People of the Abyss, which is not a huge PDF or anything extraordinary.

I’d like to try Best Buy’s competing Rockchip 3288-based tablet too. But Best Buy is so screwed up these days, who knows when — or if — they’ll ever put it on display?

There have been rumors that Samsung will announce the new powerful S2 Tabs next week. They’d have to offer some breathtaking power with an AnTuTu score that crushes the Asus ZenPad S 8.0 “Plus/Pro” edition. Because I expect the Samsung to cost US$399, versus the US$299 of the Asus.

My tablet search is not over yet, but the end is in sight.