Found a great new Android tablet

Raduque

Lifer
Aug 22, 2004
13,140
138
106
Asus ZenPad Z10 (ZT500KL) 9.7" display, 6-core Snapdragon SoC, 3gb ram, LTE, microSD card. Only 32 gigs storage, though. The solid metal design is quite nice, it's light and feels good when holding it and the display is beautiful. I'd been looking for a new tablet with LTE since my HP Spectre x2 broke, and while it's Android and not Windows, the Z10 is great.

I used it for navigating on my drive to Utah, as a general use tablet, along with Android games (which run quite well despite being a midrange SoC and GPU). If I buy a BT keyboard, it could easily double as a productivity device despite lacking split screen/floating windows.

The biggest con to this tablet though, is one of it's greatest strengths - Verizon. It's locked to their network and only supports their bands.
The second con that most will consider the biggest one is that the capacitive touch keys used for navigation aren't backlit! They aren't backlit on the Z500M, Asus's non-branded version of the tablet (which is slightly better as it has 4gb ram, Z-Stylus support and 64gb storage), which is a bizarre decision on Asus' part.

Overall though, I quite like the tablet. It's worth the $350 retail (or even what I paid for it, $389 - $149 and 2yrs or $10/mo service).

My Lenovo Tab2 A10 is out!
 

FeuerFrei

Diamond Member
Mar 30, 2005
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I'm giving the Z500M, ZenPad 3S, a serious look.

Any further comments regarding the Verizon-exclusive Z10? I know it has a larger battery than the model I'm investigating.
Any accidental screen touches due to the thin bezel? Any trouble maintaining WiFi connectivity? Any fluctuation in volume levels (possible compensation for background noise)?

Sorry to hear about the navigation buttons missing back-lighting. Android Police says they light up when pressed, FWIW.
 

Raduque

Lifer
Aug 22, 2004
13,140
138
106
No problems with accidental touches. Radios work great and volume is very loud, but not terribly tinny. No bass at all though.

The buttons do not light up at all. Not even when pressed. They might on the Z500M (and you get the active stylus support too - but no LTE), but I read that they don't.

The biggest problem I'm having right now is since I've put a glass screen protector on it, the back button doesn't respond to a light touch (I kinda have to press hard) and the top left corner (holding in portrait) of the glass doesn't stick down.
 

FeuerFrei

Diamond Member
Mar 30, 2005
9,144
929
126
OK, thanks.
Further research indicates Verizon disabled the button back-lighting on the Z10 model. Also dropped the RAM from the 3S's 4GB to 3GB, and halved the storage down to 32gb. While I'm comparing models I should note the Z10 is endowed with a superior CPU, GPU, and battery.

I may go for the Z10 yet. I already have a Verizon plan, but it's pre-paid.
 

Raduque

Lifer
Aug 22, 2004
13,140
138
106
OK, thanks.
Further research indicates Verizon disabled the button back-lighting on the Z10 model. Also dropped the RAM from the 3S's 4GB to 3GB, and halved the storage down to 32gb. While I'm comparing models I should note the Z10 is endowed with a superior CPU, GPU, and battery.

I may go for the Z10 yet. I already have a Verizon plan, but it's pre-paid.

I was going to mention the superior SoC and battery. I don't think it was right, but I can understand Verizon requesting the lower the RAM and storage count for cost reasons - halving the storage and losing a gig of ram might have been able to allow them the Qualcomm Soc with it's built-in LTE modem and still meet the price point.

I do enjoy this tablet, though, a lot. I recommend it for anybody who's in the market for a big tablet on Verizon.