Asus MeMO Pad 7 ME572C: Android Software

Like previous Asus Android tablets, the Asus MeMO Pad 7 ME572C uses a custom UI that doesn’t dramatically add or detract from vanilla Android. The usual layout of the system is kept in-tact and thanks to the high-quality display, everything looks sharp and pristine.

The look of the interface lacks some of the printing appearance of the latest Android L Google Now interface – the one seen in the Nexus 9 – but in exchange you get a decent amount of customisation. For example, you can choose how big the grid is in your apps menu.

Want everything spread out? You can fit just 4×4 icons in if you like. We find that the outer limit 6×6 icons suits the Asus MeMO Pad 7 ME572C best thanks to its relatively high-dpi screen, but that’s up to you.

Asus has also jammed a load of software into the tablet, not all of which is entirely welcome. Well-meaning as it may be, it’s easy to get app blinded when deluged with a dozen extra bits that most people wouldn’t touch. Here’s a quick run-down of what’s on offer:

Audio Wizard: Audio EQ software
Data Transfer: Transfer data from your old phone
Dictionary: Obvious, right?
Do It Later: Virtual post-its
Flipboard: Famous news aggregation app
Mirror: Front facing camera, sans photos
Omlet Chat: Chat app
PC Link: Share screen with PC over USB
Power Saver: Power-saver settings
Share Link: Wireless file transfer interface
Story: Picture book creator (yes, really)
Super Note: Virtual post-its, in slightly different form
Weather: Obvious, again, right?
WebStorage: Interface for Asus cloud storage
Setup Wizard: Setup, in case you did it wrong the first time
Splendid: Screen customisation utility
Party Link: Share pictures with nearby devices
myAsus: Asus support

It gets exhausting, and when other manufacturers are starting to prune back the apps they preinstall on tablets and phones, it’s a shame Asus hasn’t done the same. Imagine buying a house only to find it filled with someone else’s stuff. Some of it’s fine. Some of it isn’t, and one of the bedrooms has Hello Kitty wallpaper. There’s work to do.

The Asus MeMO Pad 7 ME572C does make cleaning up the tablet pretty easy, though. Virtually an admission that there’s a fair bit of extra bloat, you can uninstall apps straight from the apps menu, and either hide or disable the ones you can’t uninstall. Want your tablet pure and simple? It’s easy, although we’re not convinced everyone will realise you can do this.

You end up with just under 11GB of free space after all the apps have had their, which is fairly standard for a 16GB tablet. None are particularly draining.

Asus MeMO Pad 7 ME572C: Games and Performance

Much like the Asus Memo Pad 7 ME176C, the Asus MeMO Pad 7 ME572C gets you pretty great performance for your money, if you put any faith in benchmarks. It uses an Intel Z3560 processor, a 64-bit chipset that’s somewhat more advanced than the one you’ll find in the Tesco Hudl 2, which also uses an Intel CPU..

The ME572C’s is a quad-core CPU clocked at 1.83GHz, and in the Geekbench 3 benchmark it scores 2462 points. That’s significantly greater than what the Nexus 7 manages, and is pretty close to what some Snapdragon 800 devices achieve.

While a good performance, let’s not forget the LG G Pad 8.3 offer a larger screen and comparable CPU performance for the same price.

It’s also not yet clear how much the Asus MeMO Pad 7 ME572C will benefit from the ’64-bit’ Android L, if it gets an upgrade to that next version of the system. At present Intel Atom chipsets run Android with a special kernel, and we’re not sure whether that will still be required with Android L or not.

Largely pointless future-gazing aside, we’re very happy with the Asus MeMO Pad 7 ME572C’s performance. It breezed through our usual gaming tests, and the experience is only improved by the strong screen contrast.

As discussed earlier, though, the speakers become a real pain when playing games in landscape. It’s almost impossible not to block them. You effectively have to re-learn how to hold your tablet when gaming, using a much lighter grip than you might do normally.

The headphone jack is at least placed out of the way, but it’s hardly compensation.