ASUS Memo Pad 7 (2014)

The Asus MeMO Pad 7 is a pleasant surprise. It's a great tablet for the price, with good performance and battery life. Just as the Google Nexus 7 reinvented what we expected for tablets under £200, the Asus MeMO Pad 7 changes what we'd expect from a £120 tablet.

The Asus MeMO Pad 7 includes a 7.0-inch TFT IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 1280 x 800, which is typical for an entry-level product released in 2014. We’re starting to see 1080p panels migrate to lower and lower price points, but the production processes aren’t quite ready to push them down to sub-$200 products.

With Android 4.4 running on a quad-core Intel Atom Z3745 processor (one of Intel’s current 22nm Bay Trail units) with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of onboard storage, it’s certainly got the basics in order, and there’s also a microSD slot with support for cards up to 32GB if you want to expand the storage a tad.

The ASUS MeMO Pad 7 comes with a 15Wh Li-polymer Battery. This means that the MeMO Pad 7 comes with a battery that is similar to most other tablets on the market these days. The Intel Bay Trail processor that the MeMO Pad 7 does seem to have been well optimised and built for Android 4.4.2 (Kit Kat). It can give a full and solid performance life during the day, meaning you won’t need to carry a MicroUSB cable with you if you’re at work or a power bank if you’re on the road all day.

The MeMO Pad 7 is easily one of the fastest 7-inch tablets you can get for under $200, but you'll miss out on extras like high-quality cameras and video output.