The Asus Memo Pad ME172V can't rise above its slow performance and low-quality screen: First Look

The Asus Memo Pad ME172V looks like the Bizarro version of the Nexus 7. Each is about the same size, although the Memo is slightly heavier and not quite as thin. Aesthetically, the memo is missing the silver highlight trim around its screen and instead of a smooth comfortable back side like the Nexus 7 and instead has a bumpy unpleasant feeling texture on the back. There's a 1 megapixel front facing camera, a headphone jack on the top, micro USB on the bottom for file transferring and charging and something that Nexus 7 doesn't have a micro SD card slot for storage expansion. But unfortunately, that's kinda where the similarities end. The Memo has a 1024 by 600 resolution screen, which in 2013 is low. And it could be forgivable but for the tablet's panel. While most tablets use IPS panels giving them wide viewing angles, the Memo receives no such privilege and it's viewing angles are horribly narrow. That's not that big of a deal when viewing the screen head on, but if your view gets skew too much, things get really difficult to see. The Memo houses a single core 1 GHz CPU and while normal navigation is fast enough, with some occasional hangs, if you're, say, downloading something while trying to play a game, even a 2D like Angry Birds, performance is adversely affected. And more taxing games like Real Racing 3, it wouldn't even run without periodically hanging the tablet, requiring a complete reboot. The Memo does include several mini apps that run concurrently, but if you're running, say, the movie player and a browser expects sluggish performance. The Memo cost $140 for 16 gigabytes of storage and it includes a micro SD storage expansion slot. For $60 more, the Nexus 7 offers faster, more stable performance with a higher quality, sharper screen. Now, that $60 may feel like a lot if you're on a budget but I feel it's worth it to simply pay more now and regret less later. I'm Franklin and this has been the first look at the Asus Memo Pad ME172V.