Launch – Asus Memo Pad, Asus VivoTab Smart, Asus Taichi – notebook & tablet

Today Asus launched a tablet that’s basically for everyone; the Asus Memo Pad, priced at an affordable RM499. That’s like the cheapest “branded” tablet in the market now (if I’m not mistaken)!

Pronounced “meemo”, MeMO stands for “My Mobile. My Moment” and reflects the position of ASUS MeMO Pad™ as a tablet for people on-the-go. Available in three colors – Sugar White, Titanium Gray and Cherry Pink — MeMO Pad™ sports an elegant, non-slip diamond-patterned finish. The MeMO Pad™ is a tablet-only product and does not come with a dock.

Specs-wise it’s basic but heck it runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean thus it can’t be that bad. I definitely recommend this for those who needs a basic tablet on-the-go.

SPECIFICATIONS 
CPU / GPU
VIA WM8950 (1GHz) / Mali-400
Operating system
Android™ 4.1 Jelly Bean
Display
7-inch (1024 x 600, 169PPI) LED-backlit
10-point multi-touch
140-degree wide viewing angle
350-nits brightness
Front Camera
1MP back-illuminated sensor, f/2.0, with 720p HD video capture at 30fps
Storage
1GB RAM
8GB or 16GB storage with microSD card slot (up to 32GB)

5GB free ASUS WebStorage
Wireless
802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi
Connectivity
3.5mm headphone/mic
Microphone
Micro-USB port
Sensors
G-Sensor
Pre-installed ASUS applications

SuperNote Lite
ASUS WebStorage
ASUS WebStorage Online Office
ASUS Studio
BuddyBuzz
MyPainter
MyBitCast

Battery
7 hours (16Wh Li-polymer, 4270mAh)

Available colors
Sugar White/Titanium Gray/Cherry Pink

Size

196.2 x 119.2 x 11.2 mm

Weight

370g

AVAILABILITY & PRICING

ASUS MeMO Pad will be available from Week 5 of January 2013 at authorized ASUS resellers.

Retail Price: RM 499

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Though everyone was rather excited for the MeMO, I was more thrilled with the Asus Taichi, the world 1st dual screen convertible ultrabook.

Asus is not getting any brownie points from me for the horrible name (hello, taichi makes people think of being slow-mo and old) and I’m sure that wasn’t the impression intended by Asus unless I missed out the message at the launch earlier.

First impressions of the Taichi was “WOW”; the dual screen, the taichi hotkey and the seamless transformation between tablet and notebook.

The Taichi hotkey: the key to everything on this ultrabook.

And of course, how compact, slim and light (1.25kg) it is! I have been using an Asus Zenbook for nearly a year and I loved it.
The Asus Padfone 2 and the Transformer Prime were solid devices too. I applaud Asus for their innovative-ness and their stand in establishing their own share of the market with their dual products line-ups (think tablet + phone, tablet + docking station, tablet + laptop).

SPECIFICATIONS

TAICHI 21

• 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i5-3317U processor
• Tablet: 11.6” Full HD (1920 x 1080) with 250 nits backlight support (10 fingers Touch)
• Notebook: 11.6” Full HD (1920 x 1080) with 280 nits backlight support
• Windows 8
• Integrated HD Graphics 4000
• 4GB DDR3 RAM, 256GB SATA III SSD
• Bluetooth 4.0, USB 3.0 (10x faster than USB 2.0)

PRICING AND AVAILABILITY 

ASUS TAICHI™ will be available from Week 5 of January 2013 at authorized ASUS resellers. Introduction Price: RM 3,999

Full specifications are available at www.taichi.asus.com

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Last but not least was the VivoTab Smart tablet, which I barely took another look after the Taichi and the MeMO. Here are the specs should you be interested.

The Asus VivoTab on the right:

SPECIFICATIONS[1]  

ASUS VivoTab™ Smart Wi-Fi (ME400C) 

• 10.1-inch (1366 x 768) display
• Intel® Atom™ Z2760 dual-core processor
• 2GB RAM
• 64GB onboard storage
• 802.11 b/g/n
• 265.5 x 171 x 9.7mm
• 580g
• 9.5 hours of battery life[2]  

ASUS VivoTab™ Smart Wi-Fi + LTE (ME400CL) 

• 10.1-inch (1366 x 768) display
• Intel® Atom™ Z2760 dual-core processor
• 2GB RAM
• 64GB onboard storage
• 802.11 b/g/n + LTE
• 265.5 x 171 x 9.7mm
• 580g 
• 8.5 hours of battery life 

[1]   Specifications, content and product availability are all subject to change without notice and may differ from country to country. Actual performance may vary depending on applications, usage, environment and other factors.

[2] Test conditions: 720p video playback, 100 nits brightness, default volume with headphones.  

AVAILABILITY & PRICING

ASUS VivoTab™ Smart will be available from Week 5 of January 2013 at authorized ASUS resellers.

Retail Price:

RM 1,799 for ME400C (Wi-Fi)

RM 2,099 for ME400CL (Wi-Fi + 3G LTE)

ASUS Transboard & Transleeve will be sold separately.

Full specifications available at www.asus.com/vivo/en/vivoTab.htm

Summary: Asus Memo Pad (RM499), VivoTab Smart tablet (RM 1,799) & Asus Taichi (RM3,999) .
No media price unfortunately! I want an Asus Taichi (despite its terrible name) !!