Today (Jan. 24) Asus launched the ZenPad 3S 10 LTE, a new version of its premium 9.7-inch Android tablet, which, as its name suggests, adds cellular connectivity. Currently, the LTE ZenPad is available only in Malaysia, where it costs 1,799 Malaysian Ringgits (around $405).
The original ZenPad 3S costs $299. In addition to the cellular modem, this more expensive model includes an upgraded CPU (a hexa-core 1.8GHz Snapdragon 650 chipset vs. a Mediatek 8176 Turbo Dual CA72 2.1GHz + Quad CA53 1.7GHz).
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In addition to a new processor, the LTE ZenPad 3S also includes a Z Stylus pen, which the previous model did not. The pen includes up to 1,024 levels of pressure (the same as Microsoft Surface Pen) and Asus claims it lasts up to 150 hours.
Speaking of battery life, while the Wi-Fi-only ZenPad 3S offered 8 hours and 9 minutes of battery life, Asus is claiming the LTE model lasts almost twice as long, with "up to 16 hours." We look forward to testing this claim with the Laptop Mag Battery Test.
Otherwise the tablet is relatively the same as the original ZenPad 3S 10, which we gave a 4-star review to, albeit slightly thicker (0.26 inches vs 0.23 inches) and heavier (17.2 ounces vs. 15.2 ounces). Both tablets feature a 2048 x 1536-pixel panel, 4GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel rear camera, a 5-MP front shooter and Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
The one downside to the LTE model vs the Wi-Fi-only original is that it comes with less storage space, with 32GB as opposed to 64GB. There's no word about when a version of this device will be coming to the U.S.
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