Asus ZenPad 35 10
It's no powerhouse, but the ZenPad's premium design makes it a great choice for lightweight tablet tasks
Like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3, the Asus ZenPad 3S 10 is evidently intended to bring something of the glamour of the iPad to the Android world. And like the Tab S3, it does so by closely copying Apple’s design.
Thus we get another 9.7in screen, with – once again – a 2,048 x 1,536 resolution that makes for a Retinaperfect 264ppi. It’s not quite as vivid as the iPad’s panel, hitting a peak brightness of 426cd/m2, but it’s perfectly satisfactory for indoor use. Its contrast ratio is almost identical to the iPad’s too, so in visual terms at least, it’s a faithful imitator.
Beneath the screen, the lozengeshaped Home button serves double
duty as a fingerprint reader, while to either side sit capacitive Back and Overview buttons. Just to keep things interesting, these are the opposite way round to the Galaxy Tab S3, with the Back button on the left – a more logical but less accessible place for it.
Officially, the ZenPad is very nearly the same thickness as the iPad, but its contoured edges help it feel thinner: coupled with the narrow side bezels, you get the pleasing sensation that you’re holding nothing but screen. The aluminium back is pleasingly solid, though its grey colouring looks a little bland.
While the ZenPad impressively recreates the premium feel of the iPad, it doesn’t match its performance. Its single-core Geekbench score of 1,583 was respectable, but the iPad was half as fast again. The ZenPad regained some ground in the multi-core test, thanks to its six-core processor, but still never came within striking distance of Apple. Moreover, in the GFXBench Manhattan benchmark, it averaged just 9fps – so for gaming it’s barely any better than the Fire HD 8.
Battery life is another weak point; in our tests, the ZenPad gave us just 8hrs 21mins of video playback. That should get you through a boring train journey or two, but almost any other tablet will last longer.
One final niggle is Asus’ ZenUI Android overlay. I’m not a fan of its garish cyan buttons – and while you can partially get rid of it by installing the Google Now launcher, the system settings retain the Asus look.
In all, the ZenPad 3S 10 is more of an iPad impersonator than a genuine competitor – but that’s not necessarily a deal-breaker. We don't all need top-tier performance and all-day battery life, and we certainly don’t all want to pay £589 for a Galaxy Tab S3 that delivers them. The ZenPad is the perfect answer, offering the same sort of style and solidity for a price that’s much more palatable.