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| Cherry Mobile Fusion Bolt |
The low cost, Php3,999 Cherry Mobile Fusion Bolt has been an easy tablet to recommend. When someone asks for a 7-inch Android tablet recommendation, I recommend the Fusion Bolt or the Nexus 7. The price gap between the two is large, but what comes in between these two is not all that interesting, unless someone wants a 3G tablet.
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| Asus Memo Pad HD 7 |
The Asus Memo Pad HD 7 threatens to change all that. The Asus Memo Pad HD 7 and Cherry Mobile Fusion Bolt have similar specifications. Both are WXGA (1280 x 800) Android tablets with quad core processors and 1 GB of RAM. Both are about the same size and weight. The Asus Memo Pad HD 7 comes in two variants, the cheaper one comes with 8 GB of internal storage for Php6,995. I have not seen this one on the store shelves though. What I have seen is the 16 GB version which cost all of 2K more. Since there is a MicroSD card slot, I would recommend getting the 8 GB version instead.
Now Php6,995 is a lot higher than the Cherry Mobile Fusion Bolt's price of Php3,999. Is the Asus Memo Pad HD 7 worth it?
While Asus is a much more respected brand, the Asus Memo Pad HD 7 is not a premium product. You do not get Gorilla or Dragon glass. The glossy plastic back looks like it could pick up scratches pretty easily. In terms of performance, reviews of the Asus Memo Pad HD 7 and Cherry Mobile Fusion Bolt indicate that they would have similar levels of performance.
So what does your extra 3K get you? The Asus Memo Pad HD 7 has GPS and Bluetooth. On the other hand, you lose the mini-HDMI port and it does not appear to support USB on-the-go. The Asus Memo Pad HD 7 promises 10 hours of battery life, as against the 6 of the Cherry Mobile Fusion Bolt. The 6 hours of the Fusion Bolt is confirmed by several users. No feedback yet on the battery life of the Asus Memo Pad HD 7.
The Asus Memo Pad HD 7 is another nice low cost Android tablet to consider. It is pretty good for the price as compared to other offerings. But it misses the mark in terms of being a Cherry Mobile Fusion Bolt killer.
You might want to consider the fact that the Asus Memopad HD 7 uses a MTK8125 (the tablet version of the popular MTK6589) processor, whereas the Fusion Bolt uses an ATM7025 processor (quad-core Cortex-A5 with a pathetically weak Vivante GC1000 GPU that the PowerVR SGX 544MP on the MTK8125 crushes easily in performance).
ReplyDeleteI have. In real world use, the FuBo is not as snappy as benchmarks indicate. I'm a former member of the FB group for Fusion Bolt users and I've seen an even split; some people are able to tolerate the lag, others are not and sold their tablets.
DeleteIt is, however, worth noting that the FuBo is tolerable for basic web surfing, reading and social networking, but anything more GPU heavy than attempting to play 720p videos on it will net less than satisfactory results.
DeleteIt's normal because of the HD screens it is mated with. The SGX 544MP can only go so far after all. You'll notice that handsets with sub-HD resolutions paired with it (Arc Mobile Nitro 450QD, Memo) have FPS ratings above 50, which is the near lag-free experience we all want.
DeleteAs for Minion Rush, I do believe it's a somewhat sloppily coded game because I have read reports of even Galaxy SIIIs experiencing slight lag on it (at least in the past), and those sport a quad-core Mali-400 GPU.
DeleteYeah, unfortunately, MTK isn't open about their kernel at all (it's a contentuous issue right now in China for that reason).
DeleteIt's also worth noting that the Lenovo P780 is using the MTK6589M with the underclocked GPU while having a HD screen.
DeleteThe Cloudfone Thrill 530qx would be a better choice. Though it has the same chip (MTK6589M), it's paired with a lower resolution screen so the performance is comparable to a HD phone with the normal MTK6589 (Actually, I'm in the FB group for this phone and it shows better Nenamark 2 results than the MyPhone a919i, as it scores roughly 50FPS in Nenamark 2)
DeleteI don't own one, but CF held a raffle among the members of the 430x FB group for the first consumer unit. The winner posted relevant benchmarks as soon as he got the unit.
DeleteThis is an excellent debate between two experts. I've seen many who uses foul language to emphasize their point. Kudos.
DeleteIm a little bit of a reader, surfer and gamer. I like the asus one but the price is little bit high, but i think i will still end with it.
ReplyDeleteHi, I'm thinking of buying a FuBo as a poor-man's Nintendo DS/Multimedia Player.
ReplyDeleteI'm able to play extracted DS Roms from my nephew's cartridges on my mom's 1 GHz, 512 RAM phone with DraStic DS Emulator. The game's play at almost 100% speed most of the time! But lowers to a bearable 75% with 3D-extensive games so I'm wondering if it would make any difference if I play it on FuBo.
Also, I'd like to know more about the product's longevity. I read somewhere that no matter how careful she handled it, it just stopped working one day (it charges, indicated by the heat it emits but doesn't turn on).
Why my Asus HD7 can't download the game minion rush
ReplyDeleteA problem occurred and the download could not be Completed successfully