Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsDo Yourself a Favor and Just Buy An iPad
Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2018
I've been an Android user since the G1 and was a Nexus user up until Google killed the Nexus brand. I own a 2013 Nexus 7 whose battery and NAND flash memory finally gave out. Given that phones these days aren't much smaller than my Nexus 7, I resigned myself to not replacing my tablet and just making do with a larger phone; however, our church recently started using iPads for our worship team in lieu of music stands and paper charts. I decided I'd like to have my own so I can customize things as I like without the worry of another team member resetting/changing settings changes that I've made (or likewise.) As such, I started my search for a new Android tablet.
It had been some time since I've even looked at Android tablets but I figured, how difficult could this be? A search or two on Amazon and I'd be good to go, right? WRONG! Let me tell you, the Android tablet sector is just awful! After tons of research and going back and forth, I begrudgingly pulled the trigger on an Asus ZenPad 3s 10 (Z500m) tablet. I picked this tablet primarily because it had a 9.7" screen, looked to be built fairly well and was one of the few tablets with 4 gigabytes of RAM.
Before purchasing the ZenPad, I considered the following tablets:
*Samsung Galaxy S3 - I ruled the S3 out because I don't care for Samsung's Touchwiz UI skin and the device, in my mind, is priced too high.
*Lenovo Tab 4 Plus - ruled out because in the US, it's only available with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of onboard storage. Additionally, Lenovo doesn't have the best reputation with follow-on support/OS updates.
*Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 Pro - Hardware-wise, this tablet met most of the specs I was looking for but in the end, lack of updates and support plus a nasty SD card bug that's yet to be fixed kept me from pulling the trigger. It's a shame because this looked like a really nice tablet.
*Amazon Fire HD 10 - The main thing that kept me from pulling the trigger on this is the FireOS and lack of Google Apps (yes, I know you can sideload the Google Play services/apps but that shouldn't be necessary in 2018.) Secondly, only 2GB of RAM.
*Apple 2017 iPad 9.7" 128 GB - I don't have anything against Apple but I'm so tied into Android and Google Apps that I wanted to stay within that ecosystem if at all possible. Cost is another factor with Apple devices, especially since I wanted the 128 GB edition.
Anyhow, here's my review of the Asus ZenPad 3S 10 - Overall, the build quality of this tablet is excellent. Tablet has a premium, solid feel to it but that's pretty much the only good thing about it.
This tablet's biggest problem is the software, specifically, Asus's Zen UI. Why manufacturers insist on adding their own crap to what's already an amazing operating system (Android) in its stock form is just beyond me. There is nothing about the Zen UI that enhances/improves the Android experience on this tablet. In fact, it flat out ruins what's potentially a really great tablet hardware platform. The tablet had a couple of operating system updates/patches, which upgraded the operating system to Nougat (Android version 7.0.) I'd hoped the Zen UI would get better with these updates but things seemed to only get worse.
To add insult to injury, since this tablet is running a MediaTek processor, the likelihood of being able to unlock the bootloader seems slim-to-none, meaning that if Asus decides to no longer support this tablet with future Android updates (which seems very likely), this tablet will be stuck on Nougat 7.0 with Asus's crappy Zen UI. The best thing Asus could do would be to unlock the bootloader on this tablet and set the devs over in XDA loose on it!
Now I'm not a gamer and for the most part, I read, browse the web and use my tablet for viewing my sheet music so all of the above probably wouldn't be a deal breaker and truth-be-told, I probably could have lived with the software the way it is; however, there are a couple of minor annoyances on this tablet that could be rectified if Asus simply made them configurable. The first and foremost is the inability to enable the soft-key buttons to the left and right of the physical home button to remain lit at all time. Yes, Asus chose not to allow an option for software navigation buttons in lieu of a set of buttons, two of which are soft-key and one mechanical, just below the screen. This isn't a huge deal if you're using your tablet in bright, well-lit conditions but the soft-keys, which are used all of the time in Android, are difficult to find in low-light conditions and result in a lot of fumbling around to locate/activate. Worse yet, since you can't unlock the bootloader/gain root on this tablet, you can't re-enable the stock Android navigation bar so basically, you're SOL.
Asus has included a physical home button on this tablet that doubles as a fingerprint reader. All-in-all, the fingerprint reader functions well and is fast. Unfortunately, the home button functionality requires a momentary button press, which feels clunky and dated. This wouldn't be bad if Asus's software would allow one to configure the fingerprint reader to function as a home button press but alas, it does not. Again, if you're working in low-light conditions, you may have difficulty locating the home button in the first place.
To add to the fun, Asus includes a bunch of Asus-branded apps that at most, can be disabled but can't be completely uninstalled. This, coupled with the way they've changed the look and feel of Android's settings have seriously limited the ability to configure this tablet.
Now for the main reason this tablet went back to Amazon this morning - I went to pick the tablet up to read last night and discovered that it was off, which I considered odd as the battery was fully charged just a few hours before but regardless, I didn't think much of it and turned it back on but while reading, the tablet just randomly shutoff. I attempted to power the tablet on again, at which point it became locked in a Fastboot cycle, which I struggled to get it out of. Eventually, the tablet booted but then proceeded to shutdown at its own discretion yet again.
By this point, I'd seen enough to know this thing wasn't worth the trouble it was going to give me. I thought about contacting Asus but it was pretty obvious that Asus all but abandoned this tablet in terms of support/future upgrades. In fact, I played hell trying to find a compatible quick charger for this tablet. I ordered one that was rumored, at least according some XDA forums, to be compatible but I never had any success because it turns out, MediaTek uses their own quick charging standard called Pump Express. Good luck finding a Pump Express compatible charger though as they seem more rare than The Holy Grail itself!
So the ZenPad went back this morning and I ended up purchasing a Fire HD 10. Quite honestly, if you're in the market for a 10" tablet, the 2017 Apple iPads are pretty much the way to go. I seriously considered purchasing one but in the end, the Fire HD 10 is cheaper and will suit my needs.
