OnePlus Pad - Finally a decent tablet for Android lovers?
Tablets. Aside from your grandma having a very different kind of tablet, it’s probably safe to say that most households feature more Apple tablets than Android.
But, one thing’s for sure when you press add to basket on the Apple store, complete the purchase, and then proceed to your online banking – your grandma’s tablets might start to look appealing.
With devices coming out of our ears these days, price can be a deal breaker and if you’re not looking to break the bank, the OnePlus pad might just cut it.
OnePlus is a name synonymous with phones, earbuds, even TVs but not so much tablets – until now that is. Hot off the press the OnePlus Pad is their attempt to crowbar their way into a pretty jam-packed sardine can but is this a flag-bearer or flag-burner?
Let’s take a look.
Overview and Design
Rating - 8/10
At £449 the Oneplus Pad packs a lot of bang for its buck. That puts it £50 cheaper than a 10th Gen IPad and means it’s significantly cheaper than a Galaxy Tab S8 (£749) or an IPad Air (£669).
When it comes to the look and feel of the device the immortal words of Eminem might come in handy here. “On the surface it looks calm and ready.”
It’s a gorgeous slab of smooth sleek wall-to-wall glass with a slight curve around the edges. Constructed from aluminium alloy it sports a matte finish which comes in any colour you like as long as it’s halo green.
Display
Rating- 9/10
How about that display? A 7:5 ratio, 11.61 inch¹ screen means it’s great for side-by-side app and web browsing and means it can just about be held by a single hand- depending on the size of your high five machines (hands).
The OnePlus Pad features an IPS LCD panel with a 2800 x 2000px resolution which leads to nearly 300 PPI (296).
The 144hz refresh rate keeps it silky smooth and it’s easy to forget it’s an LCD screen despite some of those blacks not being quite as crisp as an OLED.
Only a handful of high-end tablets currently use OLED panels but the LCD here ensures the contrast and colours remain the same regardless of whether you are looking at the screen straight on or at an angle (no shifting).
500 nits of brightness also mean you can use it on a sunny day without squinting like a mole at a flashlight factory.
Audio
Rating- 8/10
The quad-speaker system, which supports Dolby Atmos (like its fellow high-end tablets, the iPad Pro and Tab S8), could probably wake up the dead. Okay, maybe not, but it's still pretty darn loud and clear.
The only bummer? There's no 3.5mm headphone jack. So, unless you want to share your tunes with the world (or just your nosy neighbour), you'll need to opt for Bluetooth headphones or shell out some extra cash for a USB-C adapter.
Performance and Gaming
Rating - 6/10
If you’re looking for an Android tablet for watching movies, playing games, browsing the web, and reading, the OnePlus Pad does the job and does it well.
For the price point, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage means it stands up well against the 10th gen Ipad and the Ipad air. But, no microSD card slot and no options for more storage is a slight disappointment.
A MediaTek Dimensity 9000 chip provides the juice instead of the typical Qualcomm Snapdragon we usually see in Android devices.
In general, the chip holds up well — the Dimensity provides a snappy performance like a hot knife dipped in chilli sauce. Websites load quickly, switching between apps is smooth, and the UI is responsive.
Gaming is where the OnePlus pad might stumble when compared to an iPad Pro and Samsung’s Tab S8. Medium graphics will be handled quite well but expecting the same processing power for this price point is like a frog hoping to become a prince by kissing itself.
Battery
Rating- 9/10
The battery life on the other hand is a different story and no doubt this thing would be the last pad standing during a zombie apocalypse. OnePlus themselves claim it has a one-month standby time.
But, safe to say after a full day of Youtube and various apps it will still have some juice left in the tank and in just over an hour you can charge it back to full health.
Camera
Rating- 7/10
When it comes to snapping a pic of your own beautiful face because let’s be honest – no one else will – the pad has a single-lens, 13-megapixel camera with an LED flash on the rear, and an 8-megapixel front camera located in the Correct Spot: in the bezel on the long edge of the tablet.
That means when you’re on a video call and holding the Pad in landscape orientation, half your face isn’t missing like on the iPad Pro.
Overall
If you're on the hunt for a tablet in 2023 and are feeling rebellious enough to skip out on Apple's products, the OnePlus Pad is a solid alternative. It's got a display and speakers that could go toe-to-toe with even the best from Apple and Samsung's 11-inch tablets, making it a perfect companion for streaming movies or getting lost in a good book.
And at a fraction of the cost of an iPad Pro or Tab S8, you can treat yourself to all those fancy tablet features without having to sell your firstborn child.
Just be warned: if you're an iPhone or Galaxy phone user looking for seamless integration, the OnePlus Pad may leave you feeling like a black sheep. But if you want a tablet, that does what it says on the tin with some premium features you could do far worse than the OnePlus Pad.
But let us know what you think. Is the OnePlus Pad exactly what you’re looking for or will you stick to your gran’s tablets for now?
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