Sunday, March 25, 2018

ASUS ZenPad 3S 10 (Z500M) returned.

Received this ASUS ZenPad yesterday, March 24, 2018. Wasted a lot of time realizing that ASUS loaded Android with ASUS software. It was a rude awakening since I am accustomed to almost pure Android on my several Motorola smartphones and two Nexus tablets. The only reason that I considered replacing my Nexus 9 tablet was that its battery has been acting like it's been invaded by Martians. It has Android 7. The new ASUS ZenPad (that name should have alerted me) came with Android 6. It eventually upgraded to Android 7 but why ship 6 when 8 is coming this summer?

It doesn't even show the percent of battery power remaining. It's got its own Contacts app. Who knew the Google Android Contacts app could even be removed? And why? And where was the default camera app? If I want to upgrade that app, let me decide.

During what passes for orientation I had a chance to load data and apps from my previous tablet. I thought this came from a Google server, not from the old tablet. Suppose the old tablet is incapacitated as was the case here? I got my ailing Nexus 9 out of its sick bed and booted up. But then when I initiated the ASUS porting it failed, as did my Nexus finally. What the heck? I had to manually install apps from the Google Play Store.

The screen is often unresponsive. The back "button" on the bottom is impossible to see. You have to grope for it, at which time it lights up. Also, where did the back arrow at the top left of the browser go? I was often left with no visible back arrow/button.

Holding this large slippery tablet often caused unintended stuff to happen. I'm guessing that the fringe triggers functions and that I was doing that inadvertently.

I'm returning this ASUS ZenPad. I'd advise you to investigate extra junk installed by a manufacturer. I did not consider a Samsung Galaxy because I know that Samsung loads lots of its stuff on top of Android and I did not want that. Unfortunately, I did not check whether ASUS also did that.

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