The Fonepad 7 (FE171CG) was announced globally in January. But in India it was launched just recently at a price of Rs.10,999. There are not many tablets in this range that also offer calling facility with 3G-enabled dual-SIMs. But this one does. Coupled with decent hardware, this could be a good option for a lot of tablet buyers. It all depends on how it performs and whether all the features it packs in work as advertised or not.
So let's find out if the Fonepad 7 is worth its price or not.
Design and build quality
For its new tablet, Asus continues to use the design language that it debuted earlier. This means the Fonepad 7 (FE171CG) looks almost similar to previous Asus tablets like the FE170 and the FE380. This is both good and bad. It is good because the design itself is pretty nice. It works well enough to make the tablet a decent-looking device. But it is bad because it is also boring. Asus is repeating this design in tablet after tablet and that means there is nothing unique about it.
Though on the back of the Fonepad 7 there are some differences. For example, the new tablet comes with matte finish on the back cover. Then the bronze colour on our review unit added to the style -- though on Flipkart the tablet is available only in black and white colours -- and made it look classier than its peers.
The volume and power buttons are on the top right side of the tablet, and on the left it has slots for SIM cards which is covered by a flap. The overall design is seamless and nothing seems out of place. The only bit that could have been better is the port for the microSD card, which looks ugly. It is also a port without any flap and we fail to understand why Asus has left the memory card uncovered.
With dimensions of 196x110.6x7.9mm and weight of 280 grams, the Fonepad 7 is neither too heavy nor too large. The compact size means you can use it for calling purposes in emergency. Though we don't suggest you use it as your regular communication device like a phone. The fashion police may not like it.
Overall, the tablet has a decent design and build. You can hold it comfortably for hours. Due to the matte finish, smudges are not visible on the tablet. However, the back cover is prone to scratches. Also, it is not a unique design at all.
Display
The
tablet has a 7-inch display with 600 X 1024 pixels resolution. In terms
of resolution, this is definitely not the best display in the price
range. The Dell Venue 7 gives a better pixel density at the resolution
of 800X1280 pixels and the same goes for the Fonepad 7 ME175CG. Both the
tablets are priced lower than the one in question.We also found the tablet's brightness to be insufficient even at full bar, which makes it hard to use under the sun. However, the screen displays decent colours and contrast in normal light. Unlike the back cover that handles oily fingers and survive without any smudges, the screen is a fingerprint magnet. After the day-long use, you will need to thoroughly wipe it.
Camera
The
tablet sports 8-megapixel primary camera and a 2-megapixel secondary
camera. The images that we clicked again proved that the number of
megapixel is not everything. A camera needs to have a better sensor. And
Asus Fonepad 7 doesn't seem to have one that is in any way above
average.The images that we clicked with the Fonepad 7 in daylight seemed to be quite good. Though they were a bit grainy and lacked details when seen after zooming to their full size.
The performance in poor light, however, was really bad. The photos taken in low light, or in night, turned out be unusable. These images were full of noise and lacked proper contrast.
Compared to a phone, the camera in Fonepad 7 is below average in terms of performance. But for a tablet, we can call it respectable. When the light is good, it can capture some really crisps shots.
The camera app on Fonepad 7 is also entirely different from the Android camera app, it comes with a hoard of features and modes. But most of these features are unlikely to be used often.
Software
The tablet comes with its own Zen user interface (UI), which is layered on top of Android 4.3 KitKat. Though this is an Android tablet, it is a universe apart in terms of UI looks and feel. Those who have a taste for pure Android will probably hate the Zen UI.
Asus has added features and apps that may come handy to a loyal Asus user. Though most users are likely to ignore them. The tablet comes with over a dozen pre-installed apps, and unfortunately, none of them can be uninstalled. These, we believe, are unnecessary apps. They won't be used by most of users. They just make the device feel bloated, take up hardware resources like RAM and storage and eventually slow down the tablet.
Though there are a few things such as in-built app-lock, notification-cum-settings menu and widget-laden lock screen that are somewhat useful.
Performance
The tablet comes with the Intel Atom Z2520 processor clocked at 1.20GHz. The device has 2GB RAM. This looks impressive on paper. Though the performance is kind of mixed bag.
The device showed almost no lag during normal usage, but when put to its paces with some heavy multitasking and gaming, it showed slight lag. Also, playing a video or games for long durations -- around 20 to 30 minutes or more -- makes the device somewhat uncomfortably hot under its back cover.
In fact, gaming is not an area where this tablet shines. When games were run at their maximum graphics settings, we found the frame rate less than perfect. There was lag and evident dropped frames. Reducing the graphics settings also reduces the lag but it doesn't entirely go away.
We also feel that Asus needs to fine-tune the software on this tablet. There were occasions when we found that the device got hot even with normal use or while clicking multiple photos or recording videos. This was unusual, especially for a tablet.
Still, overall we found the Fonepad 7 to be fairly decent in the performance department. Even with multiple apps running in the background, the screen was receptive to touch. Though here too we found some software bugs. For example, there were occasions when opening the notification shade was slow, as if the touch response wasn't registered. This was very random and definitely not a deal breaker but we did come across it.
The tablet has two SIM card slots, and both are 3G-enabled. You can make calls using the Fonepad 7 but while holding it against your cheek, you are going to look a little ridiculous. The speaker placement is also somewhat awry. Even when we placed it directly over the ear, we found varying sound levels during a call. The connectivity is not all that rosy. The voice during calls cracked at times even with full bars.
If you are hoping to use the calling feature on this tablet, we suggest you use it with a pair of earphones. The experience with earphones is much better.
Overall, the performance is decent for the price tag. It worked smoothly in day-to-day use. The gaming is, however, a weak point.
Battery
The
Asus Fonepad 7 packs in a 3950mAh non-removable battery, which we can
consider a pretty decent one. On normal to light usage it gave us a
battery backup of up to 20-26 hours, which is more than what we
expected. It ran for about 6-7 hours while we were engaged in gaming for
about 30 minutes, browsing Facebook for about 1 hour, calls for about
30 minutes, etc. Overall we feel that the battery life on Fonepad 7 is decent, especially if you are not going to play too many games.
Should you buy it?
At Rs.10,999,
the Fonepad 7 FE171CG is a decent tablet but not something that we can
consider best in class. It is not going to dazzle you. For gamers, it is
not the right tablet. But for everyone else it is a decent option. Unless you are looking for iPad-class performance or a tablet on which you can play Real Racing whole day, you can consider the Fonepad 7. We can recommend this tablet to all those who need one for surfing internet, listening to music, light reading, light gaming, and calling once in a while.
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