ASUS MeMO Pad 8 (ME581CL) - Compact and Speedy Intel Tablet

Benchmark Performance, Imaging, Battery Life and Conclusion

Benchmark Performance

The MeMO Pad 8 is powered by an Intel Atom Z3560 Moorefield 64-bit quad-core 1.83GHz processor and 2GB RAM. It is one of the few tablets in the market beside the Apple iPads to run on a 64-bit processor. We will be comparing the MeMO Pad 8 against other 8-inch tablets such as the Apple iPad Mini 3, Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 and LG G Tablet 8.3.

	ASUS MeMO Pad 8 (ME581CL)	Apple iPad Mini 3	LG G Tablet 8.3	Samsung Galaxy Tab S (8.4) LTE	Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact LTE
Launch SRP	From S$499	From S$548	From S$438	From S$698	From S$698
Network	4G LTE CAT 4	4G LTE (optional)	—	—	—
Operating system	Android 4.4.2 KitKat with ASUS ZenUI	iOS 8	Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean	Android 4.4 KitKat	Android 4.4.2 KitKat
Processor	Intel Atom Z3560 64-bit quad-core 1.83GHz	A7 processor and M7 motion co-processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 1.7GHz quad-core	Exynos 5 Octa 5420 (1.9GHz A15 Quad-core + 1.3GHz A7 Quad-core)	Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 Quad-core 2.5GHz
Memory	2GB RAM	1GB RAM	2GB RAM	3GB RAM	3GB RAM
Display	8-inch / 1,920 x 1,200 pixels / IPS	7.9-inch 2,048 x 1,536 pixels IPS	8.3-inch / 1,920 x 1,200 pixels / IPS	8.4-inch / 2,560 x 1,600 pixels / Super AMOLED display	8-inch / 1920 x 1200 / TFT
Camera	Rear: 5-megapixel with PixelMaster technology, f/2.8 and autofocus Front: 1.2-megapixel	Front: 1.2-megapixel FaceTime HD Rear: 5-megapixel with autofocus, f/2.4 aperture, backside illumination and five-element lens	Rear: 5-megapixel Front: 1.3-megapixel	Rear: 8-megapixel Front: 2.1-megapixel	8.1-megapixel with Exmor R for mobile Secondary: 2.2-megapixel HD camera with Exmor for mobile
I/O Ports	micro-USB port, 3.5mm audio output jack	Headphone jack, Lightning connector	—	—	micro-USB port, 3.5mm audio output jack
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/m/ac (dual-band), Bluetooth 4.0 (LE), Miracast, NFC, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS	802.11a/b/g/n Wi‑Fi (802.11n 2.4GHz and 5GHz) Bluetooth v4.0	802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4/5GHz), Bluetooth v4.0 LE	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 & 5GHz), Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth v4.0, MHL 2.0	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, NFC
Storage	16GB internal storage microSD support up to 32GB	16GB, 64GB, 128GB	16GB internal storage microSD card support up to 64GB	16GB internal storage microSD card support up to 128GB	16GB internal storage microSD support up to 128GB
Battery	4,000mAh	6,470mAh	4,600mAh	4,900mAh	4,500mAh
Dimensions	213 x 123 x 7.45mm	200 x 134.7 x 7.5mm	216.8 x 126.5 x 8.3mm	212.8 x 125.6 x 6.6mm	213.4 x 123.6 x 6.4 mm
Weight	299g	Up to 341g	338g	298g	270g
Other Features	—	Touch ID sensor	—	—	IP65/68 certified - dust proof and water resistant over 1 meter and 30 minutes

Quadrant 

Quadrant is an Android benchmark that evaluates a device's CPU, memory, I/O and 3D graphics performance. While Intel Atom processors have traditionally trailed behind their Qualcomm Snapdragon counterparts, the Z3560 chipset in the MeMO Pad 8 surprisingly took the lead in the Quadrant benchmark and surpassed even the Exynos chipset in the Galaxy Tab S 8.4.

3DMark (2013)

Originally developed as a PC gaming benchmarking tool, 3DMark now supports multiple platforms including Android. The Ice Storm benchmark is designed for smartphones, mobile devices and ARM architecture computers.

For an in-depth understanding of 3DMark for Android, do head over to our article, "3DMark - Android Device GPU Performance Review." In a nutshell, it is an OpenGL ES 2.0 benchmark test that uses fixed off-screen rendering to run two graphics tests designed to stress the GPU performance of your device and a physics test to stress its CPU performance. The benchmark consists of three test portfolios:- Standard (720p resolution rendering), Extreme (1080p resolution rendering with higher quality textures and post-processing effects) and Unlimited (disables v-sync, display scaling and other OS factors that make it ideal for chipset comparison).

Since all the recent flagship tablets all max out the scores for the Standard and Extreme tests, we will only be looking at the scores for Ice Storm Unlimited run. The Intel Atom processor continued its winning streak in the 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited and took a slight lead ahead of the Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact.

Sunspider Javascript

SunSpider Javascript helps measure the browsing performance of a device when processing Javascript. It not only takes into consideration the underlying hardware performance, but also assesses how optimized a particular platform is at delivering a high-speed web browsing experience. The MeMO Pad 8 performed well against the other Android tablets here and only lost out to the iPad Mini 3. 

Number crunching aside, the MeMO Pad 8 delivered a smooth and lag-free user experience. Compared to its earlier devices running on Intel processors, the improvement in overall performance and user experience was noticeable. This is definitely good news and reinforces the fact that Intel's new crop of Atom processors are finally on level playing field with the best in the industry.

Camera Performance

The MeMO Pad 8 comes with a 5-megapixel rear autofocus camera with f/2.8 and PixelMaster imaging technology, and a front-facing 1.2-megapixel camera. In case you don't know, PixelMaster is a technology developed by ASUS that combines hardware, software and optical design to deliver better quality images in most scenarios. You can find out more information about PixelMaster in our dedicated article here. Do note that its most celebrated feature, the Low Light mode, is not present in the MeMO Pad 8.

Battery Life

Our standard battery test for tablets includes the following parameters:

• Looping a 720p video with screen brightness and volume at 100%
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity turned on
• Constant data streaming through email and Twitter

The MeMO Pad 8 clocked a battery mileage close to five hours, which places it the last among the 8-inch tablets. This is expected since the MeMO Pad 8 has the smallest battery capacity at 4,000mAh. However, a smaller battery capacity doesn't necessarily mean that consumers should accept a shorter battery life. The Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact has a 4,500mAh battery and its mileage is easily more than twice of the MeMO Pad 8. It all boils down to efficient power management and this is an area that ASUS and/or Intel needs to work on. 

Portability

We measure the portability of a device by calculating its battery life to (weight x volume) ratio. When compared to the ultra-slim Galaxy Tab S 8.4 and Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact with at least twice the battery mileage, the MeMO Pad 8 looks underwhelming despite its slightly smaller footprint.

Conclusion

While the MeMO Pad 8 is one of the strongest tablet offerings we've seen from ASUS so far, it couldn't quite match up against its rivals, namely the Galaxy Tab S 8.4 and Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact which offer slimmer, lighter and better built form factors. In addition, these two tablets delivered a better overall user experience thanks to their matured interfaces, much longer battery mileage and better camera performance.

It seems that price is the only thing going for the MeMO Pad 8; For S$499, it caters to consumers who are not willing to shell out the additional S$200 for the Samsung or Sony tablet but would like to have pertinent features common to top tier 8-inch devices like a Full HD screen, reasonably slim and lightweight form factor and a fast processor. It may be more affordable, but you have to calculate the trade-offs and determine whether the S$200 saving is worthwhile. Fortunately, the MeMo Pad 8 (ME581CL) also offers 4G LTE connectivity via micro-SIM slot and for its price and feature set, the MeMo Pad 8 presents itself as a value buy.