ASUS Launches US$149 (PHP 6k+) MeMO Pad 7” Jelly Bean Tablet–Available In February

January 15 18:22 2013 by Alexei Rivera Print This Article

The ASUS MeMO Pad Tablet

Coming off of the success of the Google Nexus 7, Taiwanese company ASUS is slated to launch a similar form-factor tablet with much humbler specs and, more-or-less, price. The new ASUS MeMO Pad is a US$149 7.0” Android Jelly Bean tablet powered by a Single-Core 1Ghz VIA CPU. While those specs are definitely not in the league of the Quad-Core Nexus 7, its price of about PHP 6,000+ (direct conversion, expect higher price due to taxes and shipping) should be pretty attractive for most. Given that tablets in this price range are dominated by cheap off-brand devices that come with multitudes of undocumented bugs, ASUS is giving consumers an option to pick up a tablet from a brand that knows a thing or two about mobile devices.

Specs of the ASUS MeMO Pad include the aforementioned VIA 1Ghz CPU, 7.0” 1024×600 LED display with 10-point touch, 1MP BSI front camera (720p video), 1GB RAM, 8/16GB Storage, MicroSD slot for expansion, and all running under Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. (WiFi: Yes; 3G: No; GPS: Yes; Bluetooth: Yes; NFC: No) While the specs aren’t anything to write home about – and technically in the US its competing against the company’s own US$199 Nexus 7 – in the Philippines the lines between the two will be much more clear. Without local Google subsidies, the Nexus 7 is priced around PHP 11-13k here. While the ASUS MeMO Pad is priced without subsidies and should end up in the Philippines right around the US$149 price that was announced. (About PHP 6,000-7,000, we reckon)

Of course, since we haven’t tried one yet its hard to say if the device will be worth it. The relatively unknown VIA CPU (used to make Cyrix processors for PC) is as-of-yet undocumented in terms of performance. We’ll have to wait until February to see it for ourselves.