Asus MeMO Pad 7 ME572C review – now with Android 5.0 Lollipop

Android 5.0 Lollipop & Zen UI

The MeMO Pad 7 runs Android 4.4 out of the box, but it’s just received an OTA update to Android 5.0, so you needn’t worry about buying an out-of-date tablet. Instead of just using stock Android, Asus has used its own Zen UI skin, which gives the tablet its own unique look and feel. In terms of appearance, it’s not too dissimilar from stock Android, as you still have an app tray that houses all your applications and you’ll find all your notifications and quick settings shortcuts by swiping down from the top of the screen.

However, we particularly like how Zen UI makes the most of the lock screen, as here you’ll find the time, weather and date along with three customisable shortcut buttons to open any app of your choice. The buttons are set to open the camera, web browser and basic email app by default, but you can change them to open any trio of apps you like in the Lock Screen settings.

On KitKat, there was also a timeline calendar that ran down the right hand side of the lock screen, detailing any events that were coming up over the course of the day. This has disappeared with the Lollipop update, which is a shame as we quite liked being able to have a quick peek at our schedule without going into the full Calendar app. However, this is partly to make room for Lollipop’s lock screen notification cards, so we can understand why Asus has decided to get rid of it. We also prefer the skinnier fonts that come with the Lollipop update, and being able to add users or guests from the lock screen is another handy feature to have if you’re buying the tablet for the whole family. 

^ The ME572C’s lock screen provides much more information than your average Android tablet, but it’s a shame that the calendar timeline has disappeared with the Android 5.0 update (right)

The MeMO Pad 7 does come with a lot of pre-installed apps, but Asus’ app tray has several features to help ease any problems with organisation. For instance, its handy Smart Folder option can group your app tray apps into specific folders, making them easier to find, and you can also uninstall or disable apps directly from the app tray instead of going into the main settings menu. You can also adjust the grid size of the app tray to fit more apps on a single page, hide certain apps from view, or lock apps in place so you don’t have to go hunting for them. 

Camera

On the back is a 5-megapixel camera. While detail is never going to be in huge supply with a sensor of this size, we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of our photos, as colours looked natural and accurate and the camera’s HDR mode was very effectively at capturing the correct exposure of the sky and ironing out dark patches of shadow. HDR mode also heightened smaller areas of contrast as well, making window ledges and street signs, for instance, really pop out of the picture.

^ The ME572C’s camera coped well with exposing the sky, but HDR mode was much more effective at capturing brighter cloud detail

There are plenty of extra camera modes, too, including Panorama, Night, Selfie, Beautification and Time Rewind, which takes several shots at once and lets you pick the best one using its responsive onscreen slider. There’s also Miniature mode, which blurs everything outside a pre-defined circle or rectangle onscreen to let you focus in on tiny details, and a Depth of Field mode, which is surprisingly effective for up-close macro shots. There’s even a GIF maker for creating short animations which you can either speed up or slow down on the post-editing screen.

Conclusion

With so many versatile features, the Asus MeMO Pad 7 ME572C is by far one of the best compact tablets around. It is reasonably expensive at £150, but it provides an excellent step up from the Tesco Hudl 2 if you want something small that’s faster, has better battery life and a more colour-accurate screen. It also comes with an Android 5.0 update, which is more than can be said for other tablets we’ve tested in this price range. The Hudl2 is still a great buy, but if your budget can stretch the extra £50, the MeMO Pad 7 has some distinct advantages. 

If neither of those suit your needs, then check out our regularly-updated Best tablets 2015 and buying guide.