Asus MemoPad 7 HD vs Amazon Fire HD 7 Specs Comparison

Written by B Johnson January 30, 2016
Asus MemoPad 7 HD vs Amazon Fire HD 7 Specs ComparisonRecently, I just showed you the comparison review between Asus MemoPad 7 HD and one of my favorite gaming tablets from Archos - Archos GamePad 2.

And according to that review, Asus MemoPad 7 HD came out in the second place against Archos GamePad 2 especially in terms of gaming performance.

(Asus MemoPad 7 HD vs Amazon Fire HD 7 Specs Comparison)

Not to mention, the gaming experience as a whole, like its great sound speaker quality, physical gaming buttons, high graphics, comfortable gaming design, etc, which all of these are taken into account that make this device a true and even perfect gaming tablet.

Today, I want to do another comparison review that involves Asus MemoPad 7 HD against other competing device. And the challenger for this Asus’ tablet in this review today is coming from Amazon.

Asus MemoPad 7 HD vs Amazon Fire HD 7 benchmarks and gaming performance

The tablet I’m referring right now is Amazon Fire HD 7 2014 (not Kindle Fire HD 7 released in 2013).

It’s actually the newer-gen tablet from Amazon in its 2014’s tablet lineup. So I think it’s still relevant to compare this device with Asus MemoPad 7 HD, which also was released in 2013.

Well, if you’re interested to see how this comparison review goes, including my take on their gaming performances, as well as their entire aspect like display, UI, battery and more, then here you go, my comparison review between Asus MemoPad 7 HD and Amazon Fire HD 7.

Enjoy!

Introduction

Amazon Fire HD 7 is one of Amazon’s huge efforts to conquer the low-end tablet market that is dominated by many great quality devices like Google Nexus 7 (2013), HP Slate7 Extreme, HP Slate7 Plus or Asus MemoPad 7 HD.

But the question is, will it succeed in achieving that noble goal?

Well, some part of that question will probably be answered at the end of this review. So you better stick around!

Anyway, if we look closely at this tablet on the sector of hardware, Amazon Fire HD 7 is actually pretty nice for a cheap $130 budget tablet.

It already adopts the 720p resolution on its 7-inch display, it has an adequate processor to enjoy media contents like movies, books and music, plus it’s also not half-hearted when it comes to satisfying its users.

And that is shown perfectly by Amazon’s decision to put a 2MP camera on the back with VGA shooter on the front in order to make this device a well-rounded tablet, despite being a low-end tablet.

Even the cheapest tablet from Amazon in its 2015’s tablet lineup, Amazon Fire 7 (without HD), is also equipped with 2MP and VGA cameras back and front.

So I think it’s good to see Amazon finally take this photography department seriously, especially when knowing that a rear-facing camera has been lacking on older-gen Amazon tablets, even the mid-end model - Kindle Fire HDX 7.

There is also 1GB of RAM, 8/16GB of internal storage and its battery life is stated to last around 8 hours in mixed usage.

So overall, Amazon Fire HD 7 has almost all sectors covered, but of course, Amazon’s usual tradition is still kept alive with the absence of microSD card support, which means you're not going to have a lot of space to keep all of your favorite contents on this device.

Meanwhile, the challenger for Amazon Fire HD 7 today in this review, Asus MemoPad 7 HD, actually looks more prepared than Amazon’s tablet especially in the hardware department.

Okay, it may come with some equal hardware specs like a 7-inch 720p display (just like Amazon’s tablet), a quad-core Mediatek processor alongside PowerVR SGX544 GPU, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage and some other standard features.

However, its 5MP rear-facing camera plus microSD card slot for up to 32Gb surely make Amazon Fire HD 7 look inferior than Asus MemoPad 7 HD.

And amazingly, even with more complete package of hardware, this Asus’ tablet only costs at $150 in its first launch in 2013 (probably even cheaper right now), so we can totally see how Asus MemoPad 7 HD is just more worthy to buy than Amazon Fire HD 7, which cost around $180 in its first debut in 2014.

Not to mention, the Asus’ customized Android UI on Asus MemoPad 7 HD has a lot of offer than the light-weight Sangria UI on Amazon Fire HD 7.

So not only will you get the standard Android layout just like any other tablets out thee, but also some cool added features here and there across the pre-loaded apps.

But with all of the great things found on both tablets, the questions remain: which one between Asus MemoPad 7 HD and Amazon Fire HD 7 that has what it takes to be best gaming tablet in this review?

Which one that is so much better in the whole aspect?

Is it worth it to buy any of these tablets, especially for gaming?

Well, if you want to know about the conclusion of this comparison review, be sure to read the rest of this review to find out more about it.

Design

As 2 cheap budget tablets in the price range of around $150 - $170, both Asus MemoPad 7 HD and Amazon Fire HD 7 definitely don’t have anything to write home about when it comes to design and build quality.

They both look really generic with their designs and look cheap with their materials. And that is totally expected and tolerable given how cheap they are.

However, if you look at other budget tablets like Google Nexus 7 or HP Slate7 Extreme, you can see how their affordable price tags don’t make their manufacturers compromise their design and build quality.

They still look modern, sophisticated and have their own characteristics than other competitors out there.

As I’ve seen in Cnet’s video review on YouTube, Asus MemoPad 7 HD has some kind of weird shaped edges on specific areas around the side of its trimming, which feel really sharp and uncomfortable to hold on our hands. And this really ruins the experience of using this device.

Meanwhile, the glossy plastic finish used all over the side of this tablet also makes it look and feel really cheap.

Amazon Fire HD 7 is probably more on the better side compared to Asus MemoPad 7 HD in terms of build quality. Even though this tablet uses cheap plastic finish all over the place, according to Zdnet, the rear side of this device still feels good and comfortable to hold on our hands.

Back to Top

Asus MemoPad 7 HDAmazon Fire HD 7
No SIM
Released July 2013
7.0 inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 800 x 1280 pixels (~216 ppi pixel density)
Quad-core Mediatek MT8125 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7 CPU
PowerVR SGX544 GPU
1 GB RAM
Android OS, v4.2 (Jelly Bean), upgradable to v4.2.2 (Jelly Bean)
microSD card slot for up to 32 GB
Internal 16 GB
5 MP rear-facing camera with autofocus
1.2 MP front-facing camera
No GPRS
No EDGE
Wi-Fi 802.11
No Radio
GPS
Java MIDP emulator
Bluetooth
USB
Non-removable Li-Po battery
No SIM
Released 2014, October
290 g (Weight)
7.0 inch 800 x 1280 pixels IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, (~216 ppi pixel density) 16M colors
Android OS, v4.4 (KitKat - customized)
Dual-core 1.5 GHz & dual-core 1.2 GHz CPU
1 GB RAM
Corning Gorilla Glass
- Fire OS 4 Sangria UI
Dolby Digital Plus sound enhancement
2 MP rear-facing camera 1600 x 1200 pixels
VGA front-facing camera
No Memory Card slot
8/16 GB
No GPRS
No EDGE
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth
microUSB v2.0 (SlimPort)
Accelerometer, gyro Sensors
No Radio
No GPS
No Java
Black, White, Cobalt, Magenta, Citron Colors
Up to 8 hours Talk time

When pitted side-by-side, we can totally see how Asus MemoPad 7 HD has a lot to offer than Amazon Fire HD 7, especially as a tablet that costs cheaper than Amazon’s tab.

And that’s shown perfectly on almost sectors of both devices.

So Asus MemoPad 7 HD comes with a 7-inch display sporting the 720p resolution, a quad-core MediaTek processor, 1GB of RAM, PowerVR SGX 544 GPU, a 5MP camera on the back and another 1.2MP shooter on the front, 16GB of internal storage plus the support for microSD card for up to 32GB, Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and some other standard features.

On the other side of the ring, Amazon Fire HD 7 probably looks less appealing than what Asus’ tablet has to offer in terms of hardware.

Okay, it may have the same sharpness with its 7-inch 720p display and performance with its quad-core CPU (with only 2 set of cores allowed to work at the same time).

However, if we go further to other sectors like camera and storage capability, then we can see how these 2 devices have a huge discrepancy against each other, especially considering how Amazon’s tablet costs more expensive than Asus MemoPad 7 HD ($170 vs $150).

So Asus MemoPad 7 HD has a 5MP rear and 1.2MP front cameras, while Amazon Fire HD 7 is only equipped with 2MP and VGA cameras back and front respectively.

Meanwhile, on the sector of storage, Amazon’s tablet with its 8/16GB of internal storage sadly doesn’t support microSD card slot, while Asus MemoPad 7 HD has it for up to 32GB to complement its already-huge 16GB internal storage.

So as a tablet that costs more expensive, I think Amazon Fire HD 7 is not really well-equipped in hardware department compared to a cheaper Asus MemoPad 7 HD.

And if you decide to get the smallest 8GB model, I don’t think you’ll get enough of space to keep your favorite contents given how pretty huge Fire OS is gonna be in consuming some of its internal storage.

Screen

Both Asus MemoPad 7 HD and Amazon Fire HD 7 feature the same equal 7-inch displays with 720p resolution. Even though most of tablet manufacturers already jump to the 1080p territory with their affordable tablets these days, having the 720p HD resolution on a small 7-inch tablet is actually still pretty good for enjoying contents like movies, books or games.

Besides, both Asus MemoPad 7 HD and Amazon Fire HD 7 are not equipped with some kind of high-end processors and GPUs inside.

So having only HD resolution on these tablets is actually a good decision by Asus and Amazon in order to ensure their fast and smooth performance, plus efficiency with the use of battery.

So they both are capable to perform smoothly and last really long without recharging during the day.

User Interface

If there is one thing that noticeably separates these 2 devices in this comparison review, then it’s definitely their UIs.

And that’s shown perfectly by how different they look and work with their UIs and especially their homescreen layouts.

So despite using the same Android operating system, Asus MemoPad 7 HD and Amazon Fire HD 7 come pre-installed with 2 entirely different UIs.

Asus’ tablet has the standard looking Android layout covered in Asus’ fully-customized UI, while Amazon’s tablet is running on the light-weight and simple-to-use Sangria UI (Fire OS).

Asus MemoPad 7 HD, with its standard layout of Android OS, has a lot going on with its UI filled with added features and customized visual presentations. And this is probably why this tablet doesn’t perform well especially when playing heavy games like GTA Vice City (which we'll get more on that later).

Meanwhile, Amazon looks simpler to use because its UI has been brilliantly shrunk down by Amazon into a really light-weight simple UI.

So on its homescreen, you will be directly shown with all of your downloaded contents like movies, books, music, games, etc.

As a result, there will be no widgets, wallpaper and many other features you’re already familiar with on most of regular Android tablets out there.

But this is actually a great decision by Amazon because this company wants to provide users a tablet that they can just use on the get-go to enjoy all media contents like movies, books, music or apps straightly on Amazon web stores.

So if they want to buy new movies or books, they can just simply tap the specific menu of ‘movies’ and ‘books’ found on the top of the homescreen.

And if they’re interested, they can simply buy the contents with simple payment system and enjoy them directly on the tablet.

Between these 2 devices, I have to say that both tablets have pretty great UIs.

But if I have to choose, I think I’m gonna go with Asus’ customized UI because it offers a lot of great features on it like battery saving mode for example and some other features that surely will come in handy for users in the long run.

And besides, the visual presentations of its pre-loaded apps look more attractive and intuitive, especially compared to the stock Android UI.

Back to Top

Both Amazon Fire HD 7 and Asus MemoPad 7 HD are equipped with adequate hardware to perform well especially for doing some heavy stuff. However, when it comes to gaming performance, these 2 tablets are actually not very ideal for gaming.

Well, I’m not saying that both devices are horrible at playing games, but if you are a true gamer and you love playing serious Android games, I strongly recommend you to switch to other options like HP Slate7 Plus, HP Slate7 Extreme, Google Nexus 7 (2013), Nvidia Shield Tablet, HP Slate8 Pro, Nvidia Tegra Note, Xiaomi MiPad or Amazon Fire HDX 7.

Anyway, as far as the gaming performance is concerned, Asus MemoPad 7 HD is definitely on a much better position here compared to Amazon Fire HD 7. And that’s mostly because this Asus’ tablet has more sufficient hardware (CPU and GPU) to deliver the best performance to play heavy games.

As shown in some video reviews on YouTube, I’ve seen that Asus MemoPad 7 HD is capable to handle games like Minion Rush, Real Racing 3, GTA III and Dead Trigger in buttery smooth performance in full graphics.

Unfortunately, when thrown with GTA Vice City, this tablet really struggles to run smoothly in medium to high graphics.

So I can tell that this device will also suffer a lot in performance when playing other heavy games like Asphalt 8: Airborne, Modern Combat 4, NOVA 3 and especially GTA San Andreas in full highest graphics.

But Asus MemoPad 7 HD is actually still far better in gaming performance than Amazon Fire HD 7.

And that’s shown perfectly by how Amazon’s tablet is only able to run some casual and simple apps like Jetpack Joyride, Sonic 4 Episode 2, Minecraft Pocket Edition and Sonic Dash, which mostly are not heavy to load.

But of course, for other older 3D games released in around 2012, I believe this Amazon's tablet still has the power to 'execute' these games in great smooth performance.

Between the 2, of course Asus MemoPad 7 HD deserves the crown here as a better gaming tablet than Amazon Fire HD 7 in this review.

However, if you ask me, I strongly recommend you to switch to other tablets like HP Slate7 Plus, HP Slate7 Extreme, Nvidia Shield Tablet, Xiaomi MiPad, HP Slate8 Pro or Nvidia Tegra Note as these devices are cheap to buy right now but they have more solid hardware and especially gaming performance than Asus MemoPad 7 HD or Amazon Fire HD 7.

So if you are a gamer, your hobby will be accommodated well on these alternative devices.

Cameras

Both Asus MemoPad 7 HD and Amazon Fire HD 7 are well-equipped on the sector of camera. Asus’ tablet features a 5MP rear-facing camera and another 1.2MP shooter on the front, while Amazon’s slate comes with lower megapixel counts on its cameras, 2MP on the back and VGA on the front.

On paper, of course Asus MemoPad 7 HD is definitely the one that has the edge here especially in terms of sharpness. But it’s actually not just on paper.

According to PhoneArena, the photos taken with the 5MP rear camera of Asus MemoPad 7 HD actually look decent for a $150 budget tablet, while the video recording on this device is also not too shabby at all.

And thanks to the great display on this tablet, enjoying all of your photos and videos is definitely a pleasing experience because the photos will look colorful and bright on this device, as told in the quick review by CNET.

As for the rear camera of Amazon Fire HD 7, I haven’t seen any photos or videos taken by this tablet. So I don’t have anything to say in this regard.

Battery Life

One of the strongest points found on Amazon Fire HD 7 is probably its great long lasting battery life. And that actually has been the ‘trademark’ on almost all Amazon tablets.

As stated by Amazon on its website, Amazon Fire HD 7 is believed to last around 8 hours in mixed usage or moderate use.

It’s actually pretty believable especially given how light the UI of this tablet really is. And not to mention, the great optimizations made by Amazon on its processor to work efficiently without consuming a lot of power.

This is probably why Amazon decides to use a unique working quad-core processor that only allows 2 set of cores to work at the same time, similar just like the big.LITTLE architecture used by Samsung on its Exynos 5 Octa processor.

So the first 1.5GHz dual-core processor will be activated when thrown with some heavy stuff like playing games or watching HD movies, while the other 1.2GHz dual-core processor will take over the job when users only do some simple stuff like checking out photos or emails.

Meanwhile, similar just like Amazon’s tablet, the battery life of Asus MemoPad 7 HD is also pretty neat as it’s able to last around 9 hours and 41 minutes, according to a various source across the web.

But Amazon Fire HD 7 follows it behind with 8 hours and 30 minutes for mixed usage or moderate use. So I think both tablets are pretty good on the sector of battery life.

My Personal Opinions

So in conclusion, as 2 budget tablets in the price range around $150 to $170, I have some mixed feelings about these 2 tablets.

I know that these devices are really cheap to get. But in my opinion, I think Asus MemoPad 7 HD and Amazon Fire HD 7 are not the best options for you right now especially in low-end territory.

Okay, Asus MemoPad 7 HD may have a good performance, a pretty sharp display, a good quality 5MP rear-facing camera, fully-featured UI, microSD card slot support and pretty great gaming performance.

Meanwhile, Amazon Fire HD 7 is also a decent choice in cheap tablet market with its 720p display, 2MP rear-facing camera, smooth performance, simple-to-use UI and Amazon well-established ecosystem.

However, if we explore more around the low-end tablet market, we can see that there are still some other best options like HP Slate7 Plus ($150), HP Slate7 Extreme, Google Nexus 7 (1st gen) or Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 7, which all of them have better gaming performances than either Asus MemoPad 7 HD or Amazon Fire HD 7.

So I think it’s kind of pretty hard for me to recommend any of these tablets, especially if you’re looking for a reliable device to play games.

Okay, they may be great for enjoying media contents like movies, books or music. But for playing serious games, I just don’t see any good thing of buying these 2 tablets.

Anyway, to end this review, I'll try to answer some of the questions I previously asked above:

Which one between Asus MemoPad 7 HD and Amazon Fire HD 7 that has what it takes to be best gaming tablet in this review?

It’s definitely Asus MemoPad 7 HD. And that’s mostly because it has more powerful and adequate hardware to handle heavy 3D games.

Meanwhile, Amazon Fire HD 7 is only great for playing casual games. So, you cannot expect anything from this Amazon’s tablet if you’re a serious gamer (like I am).

However, Asus MemoPad 7 HD is actually not the best option right now especially for playing heavy games. There are many games that will suffer a lot when thrown on this device.

So if you want a more reliable device for gaming, you may want to switch to either HP Slate7 Plus, HP Slate7 Extreme, Nvidia Shield Tablet, Google Nexus 7 (2013) or HP Slate8 Pro, especially if you have limited budget around $150 -$199.

Which one that is so much better in the whole aspect?

Well, of course Asus MemoPad 7 HD. It has a 5MP rear-facing camera, 1.2MP camera on the front, more powerful CPU and GPU and it’s also much better performer for playing games than Amazon Fire HD 7.

Compare them with 2MP rear-facing camera, VGA front-facing camera and less powerful gaming performance of Amazon Fire HD 7, I think it’s quite easy to recommend Asus’ tablet than Amazon’ slate in this review.

Is it worth it to buy any of these tablets, especially for gaming?

Well, as mentioned many times above, as a gaming tablet, either Asus MemoPad 7 HD or Amazon Fire HD 7 is not the best option right now for playing games, especially in low-end territory.

This is why I strongly recommend you to think twice before buying any of these devices. You can switch to other alternative like Nvidia Shield Tablet, Xiaomi Mi Pad, HP Slate8 Pro, HP Slate7 Plus, HP Slate7 Extreme or Google Nexus 7 (2013) if you want a more reliable gaming tablet.

However, if you’re not looking for a great gaming tablet and you only want to buy a great tablet to enjoy entertainment contents like movies, books, music or some casual games, then go ahead! Amazon Fire HD 7 and Asus MemoPad 7 HD are still pretty good tablets for that matter.

In fact, Amazon Fire HD 7 is probably the better option here than Asus MemoPad 7 HD especially given how easy it really is to buy media contents from Amazon web stores.

Pros and Cons

Asus MemoPad 7 HD

Pros:
  • Bright and gorgeous HD display
  • Good for enjoying media contents like movies
  • Asus customized UI with lots of features
  • Has microSD card slot for up to 32GB and a good quality rear-facing 5MP camera
Cons:
  • Cheap looking design
  • Low build quality
  • Not really powerful for playing 3D games
Amazon Fire HD 7

Pros
  • Great for enjoying media contents in HD
  • Great integration to buy new contents easily from Amazon
  • Simple-to-use UI
Cons
  • NO microSD card slot
  • Only has 2MP and VGA cameras back and front
  • Low build quality
  • Cheap looking design
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