OnePlus Pad Review: Best Mid-Range Android Tablet?

OnePlus has lengthy been identified primarily for its smartphones in India. However, over the previous three years or so, it has additionally launched sensible TVs, displays, private audio merchandise, and smartwatches. The firm additionally designs and sells its personal smartphone equipment together with backpacks and different journey gear. At a latest occasion, the model even introduced its personal mechanical keyboard which has but to go on sale in India.

Bragging rights apart, OnePlus can also be identified for its distinctive designs and well-optimised software program. So, what occurs when OnePlus makes a pill? Let’s discover out.

OnePlus Pad worth in India

The OnePlus Pad is obtainable in a single end known as Halo Green. Thankfully, there are some choices in the case of the configuration. There’s the bottom mannequin with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, priced at Rs. 37,999. The second variant with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage is obtainable at Rs. 39,999. In my opinion, it is sensible to go for the top-end mannequin.

OnePlus Pad design and equipment

OnePlus’ smartphones have usually maintained a rounded design language, except for maybe the OnePlus 10R 5G. With the OnePlus Pad, the corporate has caught with this identical design philosophy and this helps it stand out when in comparison with some other pill at present out there in India.

Its metallic unibody design seems to be and feels very premium. The Pad is extremely skinny at simply 6.5mm and can make any latest Apple iPad seem chunky compared. Despite its slim design, the pill is kind of sturdy with completely no flex or creaking sounds upon making use of stress.

The OnePlus Pad affords a premium metallic unibody design

 

Even after utilizing aluminium for its development, the OnePlus Pad nonetheless feels fairly heavy at 552g when performing common duties, or when merely holding it with one hand for searching. I typically ended up sitting on the sofa or laying it on a desk when utilizing it, particularly with the keyboard accent which is bought individually. The finely etched texture on the again aspect offers it a really distinctive look, however it additionally makes it a smudge magnet and these marks are very tough to wipe off. Thankfully, there are two elective cowl equipment, to maintain that messy rear floor lined always.

The sides of the OnePlus Pad are additionally rounded which makes it snug to carry, in contrast to most different tablets which have flat sides and flat corners that may poke into your palms. While the underside, left and proper sides are rounded, the center space on the prime is flat as a result of that is the place the magnetic connector for the OnePlus Stylo accent resides. The three flat pins to energy and use the keyboard accent are on the backside.

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The rear of the OnePlus Pad turns right into a smudgy mess which is difficult to wipe clear

 

While the perimeters of the pill have been given a rounded remedy, the show glass is flat and is  seamlessly built-in with the body, making swipe gestures close to the perimeters of the show an excellent expertise. The show glass additionally gathers smudges, however these could be wiped off simply.

The OnePlus Magnetic Keyboard accent is obtainable at Rs. 7,999 in India. The high quality is top-notch and it feels fairly premium with a grippy faux-leather texture on the entrance and rear panels. The keyboard connects and is powered by way of its three pins so it must be bodily related to the pill as a way to operate and can’t be used wirelessly as a Bluetooth keyboard.

The keys on the Magnetic Keyboard have good journey for its sort and in addition produce a pleasant tactile suggestions, which makes for assured and largely error-free typing. However, they’re a bit stiff so my palms did find yourself feeling fatigued after a number of hours of typing. The keyboard structure can also be fairly compact, however I surprisingly obtained used to it virtually immediately.

The keyboard has a operate key, which when mixed with the quantity keys, can be utilized to set off particular features comparable to navigation for the again, dwelling and recents features or for adjusting the quantity. There’s additionally a command key which might set off quite a few pre-defined keyboard shortcuts like locking the display, when mixed with different keys.

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The OnePlus Magnetic Keyboard lacks backlighting however affords a assured typing expertise for gentle work

 

OnePlus has absolutely labored its magic in the case of the keyboard expertise. What I actually like about it’s that it has a minimal studying curve and a lot of the features are simply identifiable as they’re much like the way in which Windows or macOS works. The trackpad was spot on, each by way of sensitivity and performance. Gestures labored superbly as soon as I turned off “tap to click” mode within the settings. The trackpad could be pressed down with little stress however it’s only one giant button, so it doesn’t have a proper or left click on. I primarily ended up utilizing it for choosing objects or coming into textual content fields. Selecting textual content needs to be executed utilizing the shift and arrow keys, which is why this mixture is best suited to gentle work.

However, I want there was a minimum of a 1cm hole between the highest row of numbers keys and the pill when mounted, as I did find yourself tapping the show unintentionally when hitting the quantity keys.

The OnePlus Stylo stylus, which is priced at Rs. 4,999 in India, works as anticipated and prices rapidly when positioned on the magnetic space on the prime fringe of the pill. However, it isn’t simple to seek out the right contact patch on the stylus itself when docking it, so there have been instances when it didn’t snap on completely and got here off simply even with a slight faucet.

OnePlus Pad specs and software program

The OnePlus Pad has a MediaTek Dimensity 9000 SoC, which is often seen on premium smartphones. My evaluation unit got here with 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. The pill doesn’t have a SIM card slot, so there isn’t any cellular knowledge performance or expandable storage both.

Connectivity choices embrace Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3 and help for the same old satellite tv for pc navigation techniques. The pill lacks mobile connectivity, however OnePlus makes hotspot knowledge sharing simpler with its Cellular Data Sharing function which auto-connects the pill to a OnePlus smartphone. For this to work, the pill needs to be between one to 5 metres away from a OnePlus smartphone. The pill is powered by a 9,510mAh battery and OnePlus features a 100W charger within the field. However, the charging fee is capped at 67W for the pill.

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The OnePlus Stylo works as anticipated and sticks firmly to the top-edge of the pill

 

OnePlus has minimize a number of corners by ditching the three.5mm headphone jack and never together with a safe biometric mode for unlocking the pill like a fingerprint sensor. The pill could be unlocked utilizing the usual PIN or by utilizing face unlock by way of the entrance digital camera which is not the most safe however works reliably beneath good lighting.

Despite missing mobile connectivity, I used to be in a position to place voice and video calls by way of WhatsApp from the OnePlus Pad and all the things labored as anticipated, with the particular person on the opposite finish with the ability to hear me clearly utilizing the pill’s built-in mic. The selfie digital camera comes with OnePlus’ Limelight digital camera function and it labored fairly effectively throughout video calls and was in a position to preserve my face centred, supplied I didn’t transfer to the intense edges of the digital camera’s body.

The OnePlus Pad runs OxygenOS 13.1 which relies on Android 13, together with a number of tablet-friendly customisations. These customisations come within the type of a dock on the backside, which exhibits pinned apps and just lately used apps very similar to one can discover on an Apple iPad with iPadOS. A swipe up from the underside reveals the app drawer.

OnePlus has added a number of software program options which make OxygenOS extra helpful on a much bigger show. You can open one app in a resizable floating window and even two apps aspect by aspect by utilizing the break up window function. This permits a complete of three apps to be displayed without delay. However, not all apps scale effectively after they resize to suit a floating window and this additionally contains a few of Google’s personal apps like Drive, Docs, Sheets and extra. Indeed, this appears to be a bug and hopefully will likely be resolved in a future replace.

OnePlus Pad efficiency

The OnePlus Pad has a 11.61-inch LCD show with a decision of 2800 x 2000 pixels. The show is kind of vibrant at round 500 nits, which is sweet sufficient to be considered outside and beneath direct daylight. Viewing angles are additionally fairly good, however showcase barely saturated colors on the default Vivid color profile. Blacks are fairly good, despite the fact that they can’t match as much as an AMOLED panel. The pill’s show is Dolby Vision-certified and content material seems as anticipated on Netflix and YouTube. Accompanying that show is the quad-speaker setup which will get loud and sounds immersive due to Dolby Atmos help.

What units this show other than the remainder of the competitors is its facet ratio. OnePlus has gone for a moderately odd 7:5 facet ratio with the Pad’s show. While I agree that it manages to ship a bit extra vertical display area for searching internet pages or excel sheets, I did discover the structure a bit squished when viewing two apps aspect by aspect or in break up view. This is extra so, as a result of the show’s scaling has solely two choices, Standard and Small, with no setting increased than small, which might let me view much more content material in the identical display area.

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The OnePlus Pad affords a vibrant however barely saturated 7:5 facet ratio show

 

The LCD panel on the OnePlus Pad affords a 144Hz refresh variable refresh fee and might swap between 30Hz, 60Hz, 90Hz, 120Hz and 144Hz when wanted. During the evaluation interval I did discover that the 144Hz refresh fee is just out there in sure apps comparable to Chrome, which have been “whitelisted” by OnePlus. Even when utilizing the interface or searching the homescreen, the show robotically switches between 60Hz (when idle) and 120Hz (when in use) more often than not.

Most video games together with some informal titles (that really help excessive refresh fee shows) had been capped at 60Hz, with just some comparable to Call of Duty: Mobile which allowed to utilise 90Hz refresh fee when utilizing the ‘Ultra’ framerate setting. I did not discover the display drop to 30Hz in my testing and neither is it absolutely utilising its 144Hz functionality more often than not.

The SoC within the OnePlus Pad performs as anticipated managing 8,29,370 factors in AnTuTu (v10). In phrases of graphics, the pill managed 32fps, 55fps and 60fps in GFXBench’s Car Chase, Manhattan 3.1 and T-Rex check suites respectively.

Overall gaming efficiency is kind of good. The pill did get heat when enjoying Call of Duty Mobile at ‘Very High’ graphics and framerate settings, however didn’t get scorching even after gaming for half-hour at a stretch. Asphalt 9 Legends appeared virtually console-like by way of graphics with buttery clean body charges because the gadget additionally supported the 60fps mode. What I did discover a bit inadequate was the 120Hz/144Hz contact sampling fee when enjoying Call of Duty Mobile because it simply wasn’t fast sufficient regardless of tweaking its sensitivity utilizing its built-in gaming instruments.

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The OnePlus Pad can show three apps at a time, however is best used for gentle productiveness work

 

Apart from the extreme lack of tablet-optimised apps on the Google Play retailer, the OnePlus Pad manages to do a very good job at dealing with apps which can be primarily stretched-out variations of smartphones apps. Sadly, there are some official apps from Instagram and Reddit which nonetheless refuse to run or help a horizontal structure, regardless of being out there for tablets.

As for software program efficiency, the 12GB of RAM is greater than ample to deal with the multitasking capabilities and widgets, together with conserving app pairs and floating home windows in RAM for a very long time. In phrases of bloatware, OnePlus has stored it beneath management by together with solely the Netflix and WPS Office apps, each of that are helpful however will also be uninstalled.

OnePlus Pad cameras

Image high quality from the OnePlus Pad’s 13-megapixel rear digital camera is respectable at finest. While colors seem largely pure, resolved element is kind of low, even with objects nearer to the digital camera. The 8-megapixel front-facing digital camera is just not the most effective when taking pictures selfies as the main points are on the decrease aspect and the photographs typically have a dream-like, HDR impact.

Still picture high quality in low gentle utilizing auto mode was under common and satisfactory when utilizing Night mode as a result of they showcased a noticeable watercolour-like impact with flat textures.

OnePlus Pad digital camera samples. Top to backside: Close-up (major), Portrait selfie, Night mode (major) (Tap to see full measurement)

 

The rear digital camera is able to recording video at 4K 30fps and it appeared sharp with good dynamic vary and particulars, however was fairly shaky. 1080p 30fps video utilises digital stabilisation for lowering hand shakes however seems a bit mushy with much less element. Low-light video high quality is not good with loads of noise and softer textures.

OnePlus Pad battery life

The OnePlus Pad’s battery life is kind of good and lasts over two days with common informal use. My utilization primarily included enjoying informal video games and streaming video, scrolling by way of social media apps and two electronic mail accounts in sync. It appears fairly good for a regular-sized pill which is that this slim. Our HD video loop check additionally managed an excellent 18 hours and 10 minutes of runtime, which is spectacular for a slim pill.

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The elective OnePlus Magnetic Keyboard accent has a really premium feel and look

 

I additionally used the pill in correct work mode doing all the things I might usually do on my laptop computer. With the show set to 50 p.c brightness and a timeout of 5 minutes, it surprisingly managed to final two entire work days (about 9 hours every), which was fairly spectacular.

Charging the OnePlus Pad was additionally fairly quick regardless of the capped charging speeds. The pill managed to cost to 47 p.c in half-hour, 85 p.c in an hour and accomplished the cost in an hour and 29 minutes.

Verdict

Until Google’s Pixel Tablet arrives in India (if it ever does), the OnePlus Pad is likely to be the most effective Android pill expertise you may at present get. This is particularly true when you think about its high-refresh fee show, quick charging functionality and high quality equipment, that are supplied at cheap costs. At a beginning worth of Rs. 37,999, I did discover it to be bit costly when it was introduced however after utilizing it, I feel there’s loads of uncooked efficiency out there that needs to be adequate for gentle work or informal use,  and all of it is available in a package deal that is simply lighter than most laptops at this worth level.

OnePlus has additionally executed its magic with software program, balancing sustained efficiency with options comparable to split-screen mode and floating home windows, all of which work as anticipated due to the succesful {hardware} which powers this gadget.

In quick, there’s little or no to nit-pick and complain about, until you crave an AMOLED panel for which you’ll be able to check out Lenovo’s P11 Pro Gen 2 which has similarities to the P11 Pro we reviewed earlier. It’s priced at Rs. 44,999, however doesn’t provide the identical software program expertise because the OnePlus Pad.

On the Apple aspect of issues, there’s the brand new Apple iPad (2022) (Review) which begins from Rs. 44,900 for the Wi-Fi-only mannequin, however you can be caught with an normal refresh fee show and simply 64GB of storage as solely different variant prices Rs. 59,900 (for 256GB). Those on the lookout for mobile connectivity or a sturdy app ecosystem with tablet-friendly apps may also discover the Apple iPad a lovely choice. However, equipment for it aren’t low cost, particularly if you’ll use it for work.


OnePlus just lately launched its first pill in India, the OnePlus Pad, which is just bought in a Halo Green color choice. With this pill, OnePlus has stepped into a brand new territory that is dominated by Apple’s iPad. We focus on this and extra on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is obtainable on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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