ET Review: Asus Fonepad 7

Price: Rs 17,499

NEW DELHI: The Fonepad 7 is a follow up to the affordable Fonepad — a device which we quite liked (it's still available for about Rs 13,000). Like its predecessor, the Fonepad 7 is powered by an Intel Atom processor, but a 1.6Ghz dual core instead of the previous 1.2Ghz.

Unfortunately though, the metal back panel which we liked in the original Fonepad has now been replaced by glossy white plastic — bringing it down a few notches in our opinion.

Having said that, it is fairly well put together and feels solid to hold. It’s a unibody design so nothing is removable — there’s a slot for a micro SD card and a micro SIM card slot. The screen is an IPS unit with great viewing angles and touch response is excellent. Asus' customisations to Android work well and the interface zips along very nicely on the Atom processor. Performance is good enough for HD video and all the latest games.

Voice calling is a cinch to use and works well though Asus does not provide earphones in the box. Camera quality is acceptable and you should be satisfied as long as expectations are not too high.

Battery life is good, hovering at about 6 to 8 hours of continuous use.

Bottom line, the Fonepad 7 is allnew but not enough to truly excite us. Affordability is its biggest plus but there are some areas that need improvement. For instance, the bezels around the screen are far too thick, screen resolution and brightness needs to be upped plus it needs more premium construction. If you prefer to stick with the tried and tested alternative, Samsung has the Tab 3 211 (7-inch with 3G and calling). But you should know that the Fonepad 7 is better value because it has a higher screen resolution and double the internal memory.