14 DAY TRIAL // Android 5.0 Lollipop has been out and about for almost four months now and during this time it has slowly been making its way to phones and tablets. More phones than tablets, to be precise.
But mobile device makers have been slow in picking up the Android 5.0 Lollipop update for their handsets, with some exceptions. Most notably Motorola, LG followed by Samsung and HTC have been known to be concentrating on providing the new build to their flagship devices.
But others like ASUS, Lenovo or Huawei are taking their sweet time and so owners of products launched under their banners are in for quite a wait.
ASUS Fonepad 7 shows up on the company's official layer
Well, this week ASUS is looking to appease the spirits of Lollipop enthusiasts, so it has rolled out a brand new Fonepad 7 (model number FE375CL) which runs Android 5.0 out of the box.
It’s interesting why the Taiwanese company hasn't updated last year's model to the new build, perhaps because it was busy with building a new version.
While the new model doesn't look all too different from the 2014 edition, its internals have received a welcome bump.
The tablet offers a 7-inch IPS display with 800 x 1200 pixel resolution and draws power from an Intel Atom Z3530 processor clocked at 1.3GHz fitted with 2GB of RAM and either 8GB / 16GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD)
Other specifications include a 5MP/2MP camera combo, LTE, 3G, micro SIM card and 5GB of cloud storage for life (!).
The tablet’s measurements are 108.9 x 194.3 x 9.8 mm / 4.2 x 7.4 x 0.38 inches. The battery inside is said to be capable of providing a life cycle of 12 hours.
The new Fonepad 7 is one of the few tablets with Lollipop
The new Fonepad 7 will go on sale in Taiwan for the price tag of $250 / €219, but ASUS didn't mention if it plans to market the tablet around the world or not, although we hope it will.
There aren’t many tablets running Android 5.0 Lollipop. The Nexus 9 is one (the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 can be updated to the new build) and the NVIDIA Shield Tablet has also received the update.
Polaroid announced a bunch of slates with the OS onboard at CES 2015, but we’re yet to see them in retail. Recently, Samsung has been said to be prepping the Lollipop update for its Galaxy Tab S AMOLED tablet lineup.
