ASUS MeMO Pad HD7 Review: $149 Nexus 7.1 Successor & Our First Look at MediaTek's MT8125
by Anand Lal Shimpi on July 29, 2013 3:55 PM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Asus
- Mobile
- Android 4.2
- MeMO Pad
Battery Life
The MeMO Pad HD7 includes a 15Wh battery, a ~6% reduction compared to what was in the Nexus 7. The MT8125 SoC on the other hand is likely built on GF's 28nm process, potentially giving it a process advantage over NVIDIA's Tegra 3. There's much more to the platform power consumption story however. Differences in CPU architectures, efficiency of implementation and the surrounding non-CPU IP blocks all play a role in how efficient the MediaTek SoC is.
Normalizing for differences in battery capacity, the MeMO Pad HD7 lasts about 10% less on a single charge than the Nexus 7. Despite being on a lower power process, the MT8125 doesn't seem to be any more power efficient than NVIDIA's Tegra 3. I'm not sure how much of this is a Cortex A7 vs. Cortex A9 thing, and how much of it is the MT8125 just being optimized for cost and not power consumption.
The video playback results are also appreciably lower than the original Nexus 7. I couldn't find any documentation or indication of what video decode IP MediaTek used in the MT8125 but I did notice relatively high CPU utilization during video decode. In the same scenes where Tegra 3's Cortex A9s were running at low utilization/frequencies, I saw 20 - 50% and 1.2GHz on one of the MT8125's A7s.
MT8125
The one area where the MeMO Pad HD7 ends up more power efficient than the Tegra 3 based Nexus 7 is in our 3D battery life test. Both platforms run Egypt HD at similar performance levels (the T30L Nexus 7 is 15% faster on average), but the MT8125 based MeMO Pad HD7 lasts almost 40% longer. If you normalize for battery capacity, the advantage is even greater. GLB's 3D battery life test has the highest power draw of anything else we run, pointing to idle power optimizations as the biggest problem with the MT8125. What we're seeing here could also be a testament to Imagination Tech's power efficiency advantage over the Tegra 3 GPU.
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timon_comment - Thursday, August 1, 2013 - link
The "ASUS 7-inch Tablet Specification Comparison" the list was lacked an important function, ---- GPS module.Not all of the tablet are providing GPS module for you, even though in WiFi iPad are also no GPS module. (no need to say what A-GPS --- a fake GPS, it running is incapable of without wireless network)
ASUS's the three models have GPS module, whether it is as a WiFi version or a 3G version.
ASUS tablet's GPS performance got improved ever since the Nexus 7 (2012) launched.
In Android tablets are only for the two brands provided the dependable GPS performance, another is Samsung tablet, like Galaxy Note 8, Galaxy Tab3 T210, Galaxy Tab3 T310, etc..., whether it is as a WiFi version or a 3G version.
user777 - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
Not quite correct comment. Assisted GPS or A-GPS is also functioning as autonomous GPS. Indeed an aluminium case (tablet, smartphone) may be a reason for not quite good performance.You may check-up the Asus(.)com web site - all Asus tablets support GPS (+Glonass for some areas) except the very first ASUS MeMO Pad ME 172V (1024x600 display, not HD).
From my personal experience Asus Nexus 7 has the best GPS I know - much better sensitivity than any GPS navigation device. It gets GPS signal in seconds and has excellent sensitivity (inside car, train, in a room near the window even behind sunblind).
BTW I would like to see a review of the latest Asus Memo Pad FullHD 10. It is already on the market with better price than Samsung Nexus 10.
timon_comment - Saturday, August 10, 2013 - link
you are inaccurate,Some devices just support for A-GPS but is no GPS module. that A-GPS is depending on wireless network.
Although it seems like the WiFi iPad could provide some limited navigation (without the GPS module), actually is just a gyro sensor, NOT GPS, incapable to do random position measuring.
What is a gyro electronic navigation? Please note to some of missiles.
"It gets GPS signal in seconds and has excellent sensitivity (inside car, train, in a room near the window even behind sunblind)."
you did not turn off the WiFI signal and remove all the cache, the A-GPS was still working, so, may be faster.
However, mountainous areas are likely no WiFI signal, or you are being a trip overseas occurred during no free-WiFi over there.
Also, in mountainous areas, if you wanted to get a position measuring, must be with GPS.
timon_comment - Tuesday, August 13, 2013 - link
I have to make a correction to my post above,although some sellers claiming MeMo Pad HD 7 has embedded GPS, however ASUS's official webpage of the MeMo Pad HD 7 did not list the GPS sensor nor Gyroscope sensor, so I thought the MeMo Pad HD 7 is likely no GPS sensor (module).
Nexus 7 (2012) and Nexus 7 (2013) have GPS module
timon_comment - Tuesday, August 13, 2013 - link
it seems like I have to make 2nd correction,Maybe ASUS's official webpage is very bad
Seems others who have already tested GPS on the MeMo Pad HD 7, and said GPS in the MeMo Pad HD 7 is slightly worse, it has a MT6628 processor with WiFi/BT/GPS/FM combo chip, a cheap way.
extide - Thursday, August 1, 2013 - link
I wouldn't be so sure that the MTK SoC in there is indeed made on the 28nm process, in-fact I would not be surprised at all if it was on 40nm. There are lots of interesting Cheap CHinese SOC's out there though, it would be cool to see some tested. Like RockChip, Allwinner, Freescale i.MX, etc.eebrah - Friday, August 2, 2013 - link
@extide Freescale is not ChineseWolfpup - Friday, August 2, 2013 - link
I wonder if these are stock Android, and if so if that means they'll be updated promptly like Nexus.Assuming so, then both this, last year's 7, and this year's 7 are really awesome pieces of hardware for the price.
Other than being pocketable I vastly prefer a 10" tablet though, and...ugh...Android just isn't all that useful to me compared to iOS, much less Windows. (Where are the AMD based Windows tablets?!? They've got better CPUs and GPUs and drivers than Atom, and they're just screaming to be put in tablets...)
VisionxOrb - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
Sero 7 pro from walmart is killer deal as wellTutua - Thursday, August 15, 2013 - link
Does know anyone if this tablet supports MKV files? if yes, files with a size +4gb? I want to use this tablet like a portable video player during my journey...