OnePlus Pad Review: A Fine First Attempt

Price When Reviewed

$479

Best Prices Today: OnePlus Pad

The Android tablet renaissance is showing no signs of slowing down. Not too long ago, this was almost exclusively Samsung’s domain, but we now have decent slates from the likes of Xiaomi, Oppo, Nokia and Lenovo to choose from. 

OnePlus is the latest company to join the party with the appropriately named OnePlus Pad. This $479/£439 tablet doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but does provide a compelling experience for the money. 

Does that mean you should buy one, though? I think yes, but only if you use your tablet in a particular kind of way.

Design & build

• Premium glass and aluminium design
• Only available in dark green
• Face unlock, but no fingerprint sensor

The OnePlus Pad has the usual blend of glass and aluminium we’ve come to expect from modern tablets, yet it still manages to stand out. 

That’s primarily due to the eye-catching Halo Green finish on the rear. It shimmers attractively in the light, yet manages to avoid picking up many fingerprint smudges or other dirt. 

But in a world where so many tablets are black or grey, it’s a brave move for OnePlus to not offer an alternative colour option. I personally really like the dark green aesthetic, but you might not. Unlike with smartphones, many people will be using the OnePlus Pad case-free. 

Despite its mid-range price, the OnePlus Pad looks and feels like a flagship tablet

At 552g, it’s not especially light for an 11.6in tablet. But I had no issues holding it for long periods of time, with the aluminium back making it more grippy than glass might be. 

The other defining feature on the rear is a circular rear camera module. It’s a nod to OnePlus’ smartphones, even if there’s only one lens here. It only protrudes slightly from the back of the tablet and has no effect on usability – the Pad is still relatively comfortable to hold. 

While it won’t be to everyone’s tastes, I don’t have any complaints about the design. Despite its mid-range price, the OnePlus Pad looks and feels like a flagship tablet.

It doesn’t support mobile data or expandable storage, so there’s no SIM tray. Alongside the usual power and volume controls on the side, you’ll find four speakers and a pogo connector for docking into the optional keyboard. 

Charging and data transfer are via USB-C, although there’s no 3.5mm audio jack. That’s not unexpected, considering almost all OnePlus phones have ditched the port, but lack of space can’t be used as an excuse here.

Disappointingly, OnePlus has also decided not to include a fingerprint sensor on the Pad. Face unlock isn’t as secure, but it’s easy to set up, reliable and very fast. The selfie camera that it relies on is in a natural position – above the screen when used in landscape mode. 

Screen & speakers

• 11.6in LCD display
• 144Hz refresh rate
• Excellent quad stereo speakers

The display on the OnePlus Pad is undoubtedly its best feature. It’s an 11.6in, 2800×2000 LCD display, with that resolution giving it an unusual 7:5 aspect ratio. OnePlus says this is inspired by physical books, and it certainly feels very natural to hold and use. 

Excellent detail makes it a good option for casual reading, but the Pad is capable of so much more. Superb, vivid colours help content come alive, whether it’s regular photos on social media or a feature-length film. The OnePlus Pad is a total knockout when it comes to content consumption – everything just looks so good.

Before testing the OnePlus Pad, I was concerned that the lack of an OLED display would negatively affect the viewing experience. But I needn’t have worried – the LCD panel is just as impressive in nearly every situation. The only real exception is darker scenes, where colours can appear more grey than deep black. 

But that’s a small compromise that most people will be willing to make at this price, especially when you get the highest refresh rate of any tablet. The Pad’s display can hit an incredible 144Hz, making everything feel extremely slick and fluid. While the effect isn’t quite as impressive as smartphones, you do notice a real difference compared to 60Hz, which is what Apple’s $599/£669 iPad Air is stuck at.

What’s more, LTPO tech means the refresh rate can dynamically drop all the way down to 30Hz, helping to conserve battery life. It feels like you’re getting the best of both worlds, although you can set a maximum of 60Hz if you’d prefer. 

Alongside a touch sampling rate of 144Hz (how many times the display can register touch input per second), the OnePlus Pad is one of the most responsive tablets you can buy. 

The OnePlus Pad is a total knockout when it comes to content consumption – everything just looks so good

The screen is highly reflective, so the 485 nits of brightness still isn’t enough for comfortable outdoor visibility. But if you’re in the car or on public transport, it’ll be just fine. 

Watching stuff on tablets often relies heavily on sound. The good news is that the OnePlus Pad has some of the best speakers in the game. There are four in total – two either side – and they deliver some impressively punchy audio.  

It’s particularly apparent while playing music, where the Pad delivers a rich, full-bodied sound with a nice hit of bass. Crystal-clear vocals mean podcasts sound just as good, too. While the volume doesn’t get loud enough for room-filling audio, you do manage to avoid any audible distortion to the sound. 

The speakers are even sensitive to direction, meaning the tablet can adjust which speakers output which sound depending on how you’re holding it. In portrait orientation, the two speakers on the right side will be different to landscape mode, for example. 

Accessories

• All accessories sold separately
• Unconvincing Magnetic Keyboard
• Impressive Stylo digital pen

Buying the OnePlus Pad will only get you the tablet itself, but there are plenty of extra accessories worth considering. 

A regular $39/£59 Folio Case is one option, although I tested the premium $149/£149 version with a keyboard built in. Pairing is automatic once you attach the tablet – no Bluetooth required. 

With a smaller display than almost all laptops, the keyboard experience is inevitably compromised. All the regular keys are still here, but things feel very cramped. It took me a while to get used to, and typing speeds remained slower than usual throughout testing. 

Combined with low key travel and no backlighting, the keyboard is underwhelming. The tiny trackpad below it is similarly frustrating – you’ll almost certainly have to connect a mouse for any serious browsing. 

Despite relying on Bluetooth, the $99/£99 OnePlus Stylo digital pen is much more successful. It magnetically attaches to the top of the tablet for pairing and charging, while the experience using it is impressively close to pen on paper. 

A 2ms response time means there’s no noticeable delay before handwritten notes or sketches appear on the screen. Good palm rejection tech avoids any unintentional marks, but it isn’t pressure sensitive – you’ll need to manually select different shades to simulate it. 

The whole set up with keyboard and pen is very reminiscent of either iPad Pro or Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra, but the OnePlus Pad costs a lot less.

Specs & performance

• MediaTek Dimensity 9000 chip
• Impressive performance, even while gaming
• 128GB of storage, no cellular option

The OnePlus Pad is powered by Dimensity 9000 chipset. It isn’t MediaTek’s latest and greatest – that award goes to the Dimensity 9200 – but at the time of writing, the Dimensity 9000 is still one of the most capable chips on any mobile device. To see it on a mid-range tablet is mightily impressive, and means performance on the OnePlus Pad is superb – I couldn’t ask for much better.

Despite 8GB of RAM being your only option, the tablet handles all of the most common tasks with ease. For me, this included plenty of web browsing, email, social media and watching videos, plus some occasional photography.  

There was no noticeable slowdown or hesitation whatsoever, even when quickly switching between them or using side-by side. It doesn’t feel quite as zippy as one of the latest iPads, but it’s not far off. 

Performance on the OnePlus Pad is superb – I couldn’t ask for much better

Impressively, this great performance extends to gaming, one of the most demanding use cases for the OnePlus Pad. The experience playing the likes of Call of Duty: Mobile and PUBG Mobile was indistinguishable from the best tablets out there – although very few titles can output at the full 144Hz refresh rate. 

While there was some noticeable dropped frame on Asphalt 9: Legends, it was still very playable. The Pad also remained only slightly warm to the touch, even after around half an hour of gaming. Even without a fan, I have no concerns about thermals here. 

The OnePlus Pad is one of the most capable Android tablets you can buy, the benchmarks are a mixed bag when compared to the competition:

Internal storage might be an issue for some people. There’s 128GB on the only model available, with no option to expand via microSD. With around 15GB taken up with system files you can’t uninstall, it leaves just over 100GB, which is fine if you rely on cloud storage and mainly stream videos, but if you want to install many games and save music or video files, you might run out faster.

The lack of any cellular option is also disappointing. You’ll have to make do with Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3 for connectivity instead. 

Cameras

• Decent 8Mp selfie camera
• Supports 1080p video
• Underwhelming 13Mp rear camera

Cameras aren’t a priority on tablets in the same way as smartphones, but they are still useful in many situations.  

The most obvious is using the front-facing camera for video calling, which relies on an 8Mp sensor on the OnePlus Pad. It can capture in up to Full HD (1080p) at 30fps, and I was pleasantly surprised with the results. 

In general, you can expect clear, well-exposed footage with plenty of detail. The selfie lens is nothing special, but it gets the job done for casual video calls or work meetings. Stills are of a similar standard, and comparable to budget phones in many cases. There is a portrait mode here, but it’s not the best.

I don’t recommend using a tablet as your main photography device, but the 13Mp rear sensor is still worth having. Stills and videos (up to 4K at 30fps) tend to look slightly grainy and washed out, but they’re totally fine for reference photos or the occasional home video. 

If you want a rear camera for anything more than the basics, just get a good smartphone instead. Everyone around you will thank you. 

Battery life & charging

• 9510mAh battery
• Comfortable all-day battery life
• 80W charger not included in UK

OnePlus has equipped the Pad with a 9510mAh battery, which equates to around 37Wh if you’re more familiar with laptop batteries. That’s a decent capacity for a tablet of this size, although the high resolution 144Hz display inevitably puts it under strain.  

Even so, you won’t have to worry about battery life very often. The OnePlus Pad can last a full day of usage – including a couple of hours of power-hungry gaming – and still have charge to spare by bedtime. If you only use a tablet in the evening, two or even three days on a single charge is possible. 

If you only use a tablet in the evening, two or even three days on a single charge is possible

This is reflected in the PCMark app’s battery test, which aims to simulate real-world usage at 200 nits of brightness. A time of 10 hours and 43 minutes is above average, even if you’re looking at about half of that for actual screen time. 

While I wasn’t able to test it due to my shorter review period, OnePlus also claims you can get a full month of standby time. If you only use a tablet occasionally, it’s nice to have this peace of mind. 

But when you eventually run out, the charging situation varies depending on where you’re based. While US customers get the 80W charger (which charges at 67W because of US mains power restrictions) in the box, it’s £39 extra in the UK where customers only get a USB-C to USB-A cable otherwise.

If you have a fast charger lying around at home – great. But I only had a 33W version, which charged the OnePlus Pad painfully slowly. It reached just 18% in 30 minutes, which was very underwhelming. 

With no wireless charging either, I was expecting better from OnePlus. 

Software

• OxygenOS, Android 13
• Tablet-specific features work well
• Lack of capable, optimised apps

The OnePlus Pad runs OnePlus’ OxygenOS 13.1 skin over Android 13. If you’ve used a OnePlus (or Oppo) phone, the software experience will be familiar, but there are some useful extra features here.

They include a two-finger swipe down from the middle of the screen (in landscape mode) to access split-screen multitasking, which is pleasingly intuitive once you figure it out. The OnePlus Pad can display up to three apps on the screen at any one time, plus another in a separate floating window. 

OnePlus also has what it calls a ‘Smart Sidebar’, which provides quick access to these options and other commonly used apps. But I found it more annoying than useful, as a swipe from the right side can easily trigger it accidentally. 

Elsewhere, the OxygenOS experience is like what we’ve seen before. Aside from a redesigned quick settings menu and new stock apps, it’s much the same as so-called ‘stock’ Android. There are a handful of apps which could be considered bloatware, but most of these can be uninstalled. 

OnePlus’ software experience makes it easy to load up a game or start watching a video, but you’ll run into problems when trying to get work done. Most desktop-level productivity apps simply aren’t available, while those that are – such as Microsoft Word and Adobe Lightroom – are missing some key features. 

Then there’s the fact that most third-party tablet apps are simply larger versions of the phone app, with no optimisations for the larger display. The lack of powerful, optimised apps affects all Android tablets, but it’s still the main reason not to buy the OnePlus Pad.

The lack of powerful, optimised apps affects all Android tablets, but it’s still the main reason not to buy the OnePlus Pad

OnePlus has committed to four major Android version updates and five years of security updates for its flagship phones, but there’s no specific commitment for the OnePlus Pad.

Price & availability

Given the specs on offer, the OnePlus Pad is competitively priced. The only configuration available gets you 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage for $499/£449. It’s available to pre-order now.

Accessories are optional extras, with the Folio Case ($39/£59), Magnetic Keyboard ($149/£149) and Stylo pen ($99/£99) all worth considering. 

Decent Android tablets at this price point are very few and far between, with the Xiaomi Pad 5 the most credible alternative. If you’re not set on Android, other tablets including 2022 iPad (from $449/£499) and Surface Go 3 (from $399/£369) are also worth considering.  

But for everything you’re getting here, the OnePlus Pad is very good value for money. 

Verdict

OnePlus is late to the tablet game, but its first attempt has been worth the wait.

The OnePlus Pad excels at the fundamentals of a great slate, with a stunning display, excellent performance and great battery life. You even get high quality speakers, all within a slick, premium design. 

But with only one storage option and no cellular or fingerprint support, it’s worth considering other options if these things are important to you.

Ultimately, the limitations of Android on tablets means this a great tablet for entertainment, but not serious work. 

Specs

• MediaTek Dimensity 9000 
• 8GB RAM 
• 128GB non-expandable storage 
• 11.6in 2800×2000 LCD display 
• 144Hz dynamic refresh rate 
• 9510mAh battery 
• 67W fast charging (charger not included in UK) 
• Front-facing 8Mp camera 
• Rear 13Mp camera 
• Quad stereo speakers 
• 258 x 189.4 x 6.5mm 
• 552g (tablet only)