ASUS ZenPad S 8.0 Z580CA Intel-Powered Premium Android Tablet Review
Camera & Battery Life
Camera and Battery Life
The ZenPad S 8.0 sports a 5-megapixel front-facing for selfies and video conferencing, and an 8-megapixel rear-facing "PixelMaster" camera with an f/2.0 aperture that Asus claims is capable of snapping photos in low light situation without the need for a flash. Let's have a look.5MP Front Facing Camera
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Here we have outdoor and indoor selfies. As much as this editor would like to blame the appearance of gray hairs in the beard on something faulty with the front shooter, that's simply not the case. The 5MP camera does a good job taking clear stills.
8MP Rear Facing PixelMaster Camera
Battery Life
8MP Rear Facing PixelMaster Camera
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First order of business -- yes, that's a diet grape soda you see above. Such a thing is surprisingly hard to find, though you if you live in Midwest near a Meijer location, you're golden. As it pertains to this review, the rear camera did a good job capturing the can's details, including the condensation that's visible towards the bottom.
Overall, the 8MP PixelMaster camera has the potential to take some really nice shots, but not without a bit of effort. For example, the colors in the tree shot (bottom row, third pic) are too saturated, which you can see when comparing to the grass around the fire pit in the picture right next too it. The camera doesn't do as well when letting in too much light.
Where lighting isn't as strong, the camera does a much better job. We were particularly impressed at its ability to capture the Grinch yard decoration sitting in the shade.
Overall, the 8MP PixelMaster camera has the potential to take some really nice shots, but not without a bit of effort. For example, the colors in the tree shot (bottom row, third pic) are too saturated, which you can see when comparing to the grass around the fire pit in the picture right next too it. The camera doesn't do as well when letting in too much light.
Where lighting isn't as strong, the camera does a much better job. We were particularly impressed at its ability to capture the Grinch yard decoration sitting in the shade.
Battery Life
Asus claims its ZenPad S 8.0 can last up to 8 hours on a single charge, which is based on lopping a 720p video with brightness set at 100 nits and Gmail logged in for email updates. Our test is a little different -- we set the brightness to 50 percent and load a webpage that refreshes itself every few minutes. In doing so, the ZenPad S 8.0 lasted just 6 hours before petering out.
As always, your mileage will vary depending on how you use the tablet, but even with light usage, this tablet's battery life is a little soft.
As always, your mileage will vary depending on how you use the tablet, but even with light usage, this tablet's battery life is a little soft.
