Asus ZenPad 8.0 Z380C Review

November 13, 2015 446 0

A budget tablet that’s ideal for most users.

Asus ZenPad 8.0 Z380C Review | We recently reviewed the very capable 8″ Asus ZenPad S 8.0 Z580CA and were really quite pleased with its performance, cost and style.

Now it’s the turn of its younger sibling, the ZenPad 8.0 Z380C. Can it keep up the good ZenPad family name?

Although it’s a lesser-powered tablet than the Z580CA, the Z380C is certainly no slouch. Inside you’ll find an Intel Atom x3-C3200 quad-core, 64-bit processor running at 1GHz, with 2GB of memory. There’s 16GB of storage available, Android 5.0.2, and a selection of Asus apps.

The Mali-450 MP4 GPU manages to kick out enough graphical detail to drive the 8″ LED backlight WXGA IPS panel to a maximum resolution of 1280 x 800. The screen itself has the same anti-fingerprint coating and Asus Tru2Life technology as the Z580CA model, although not at as high a resolution. It is, though, just as clear, bright and colorful.

There’s the usual 802.11 b/g/n wi-fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and Miracast support, with a micro-USB port for charging, a two-in-one audio jack and micro-SD card slot that supports cards up to 64GB in size. The 2MP front and 5MP rear cameras complete the standard array of tablet technology.

Although the ZenPad Z380C may seem a little underpowered on paper, it performs surprisingly well – well enough to play the latest Android games without too much difficulty, at least. The same goes for video and audio.

The design of the Z380C is good too, with a stark white plastic bezel and surround with metallic looking volume and power buttons to one side. The rear of the Z380C has a removable, textured polycarbonate cover that can be swapped out for a range of colors to appeal to the user in question, with each cover costing around £14.

It measures 209 x 123 x 8.5mm and is a lightweight 350g. This makes it an ideal ebook reader that can be held for an extended period, and a tablet that can easily be thrown in a bag or coat pocket without it taking up too much space.

The Z380C comes with a set of Asus apps, such as ZenMotion, which allows the user to create custom gestures, and various productivity apps. You also get 5GB of Asus’s cloud storage for the life of the device and 100GB of Google Drive space for two years.

Surprisingly, the Asus ZenPad 8.0 Z380C, which is a pretty good price for a decent all-round tablet. While it’s not the most powerful device we’ve ever reviewed, the Geekbench 3 single-core score was 453, while the multi-core score was 1,134.

The rear cover can be removed and swapped out for something more colorful.

Although it’s a budget tablet, the screen is remarkably clear, and it performs well enough too.

We liked the Asus ZenPad 8.0 Z380C. It’s ideal for younger users, as their first tablet, for example, or as a more useful ereader device. The battery lasted a good ten to 11 hours with average use, and it’s quite a stylish, functional tablet that doesn’t cost too much, mm David Hayward