Last year, OnePlus set the bar for midrange Android tablets by releasing its debut ‘Pad’. This year, the Chinese tech company launched the second iteration of the Pad with a bigger display, more power, improved audio, and minor design tweaks. If you don’t want to splurge an exorbitant amount of money on Samsung’s premium tablets, the OnePlus Pad 2 is the next best thing. Sure, it makes some trade-offs to keep the price down, but it does not compromise any power to get there. The flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset at the heart of this tablet is an immense step up from the Dimensity 9000 SoC in its predecessor. You can get a lot of value out of the Pad 2’s Rs 40,000 price tag. We used the tablet for a couple of weeks, putting it through a series of tasks and benchmark tests. Here is our OnePlus Pad 2 review.
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In This Article
OnePlus Pad 2 Review: Design and Display
Before we talk about the Pad 2’s design, let’s take a look at what you get inside its retail box.
- Tablet
- 67W SUPERVOOC power adapter
- USB Type-A to Type-C cable
- Red Cable Club membership card
- Quick guide
- Safety guide
OnePlus pretty much nailed the form factor and design of its debut tablet so we’re not surprised by the lack of any radical aesthetic changes on the Pad 2. There are some minor tweaks, though. The tablet is available in a single ‘Nimbus Gray’ colour scheme. The radial pattern has been ditched for a much better matte texture. The circular cutout at the top of the aluminium back panel has been retained and houses a 13MP sensor and LED flash.
The edges of the aluminium frame are rounded on three sides and offer a very good grip. The top edge is flattened at the centre to accommodate the magnetic strip for the stylus. It also houses the volume rocker keys and microphone. The bottom edge has a three-pin magnetic connector for the keyboard folio case. On the left edge lies the side button. The USB Type-C port is positioned on the right. These side edges also house the six-speaker setup. There is no 3.5mm headphone jack on this tablet.
OnePlus Pad 2’s 12.1-inch display is noticeably larger than its 2023 counterpart. This is still an IPS LCD panel as AMOLED displays are hard to come by in this price segment. Nevertheless, the pictures produced by this display are vibrant and pack a good level of contrast. Its 2,120 x 3,000p resolution plays its part in maintaining a superior image quality and packing a lot of details. This LCD panel can now reach a peak brightness of 900 nits and adapt its refresh rate to 144Hz.
What really seals the multimedia experience on the OnePlus Pad 2 is its exquisite six-speaker setup. The audio output is loud enough to fill the room. This output doesn’t get distorted even at 100% volume. The soundstage has a very prominent low end, which many midrange Android tablets struggle to replicate. There’s Spatial & Holo Audio tech on board to take the movie-watching experience to the next level. We streamed a bunch of titles across OTT apps like Netflix, Disney+ Hostar, and Prime Video, and never once felt the need to switch to our headphones.
OnePlus Pad 2 Review: Performance and Cameras
Last year’s OnePlus Pad had the respectable MediaTek Dimensity 9000 SoC doing the heavy work. This year, OnePlus has kicked things up a notch by equipping the Pad 2 with Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor. The astonishing thing is that Pad 2 debuts at the same price as its predecessor. The 8GB RAM (LPDDR5X) + 128GB Storage (UFS 3.1) variant is priced at Rs 40,000 while the 12GB RAM + 256GB Storage model fetches Rs 43,000.
We used our OnePlus Pad 2 review unit for a variety of tasks. Our average day started with checking emails on the tablet followed by browsing the web for news and catching up on social media feeds. The Pad 2 was our primary device for video calling and media streaming. The tablet handled multitasking expertly without throwing any lags or delays our way. The apps loaded instantly, the touch response was smooth, and the device kept up with our pace. We ran the Geekbench 6 app on the Pad 2 and it returned 940 points in the single-core test and 4,548 points in the multi-core test.
Playing gaming titles like Call of Duty Mobile and Asphalt Legends Unite proved to be an enjoyable experience on the OnePlus Pad 2. The tablet maintained a steady performance even on maximum graphics and did not cause any frame drops. The back panel started heating up after 40 minutes of gameplay. The general gripe we have with tablet gaming does not lie with the performance but the stubbornness of Android games to adapt their layout to larger displays. Most games are just stretched-out versions of their mobile counterparts. Oftentimes, this messes with the controls.
Good software is the key to unlocking the potential of a large display and that is precisely what OxygenOS 14.1 does on the OnePlus Pad 2. The software is well-optimised for the tablet’s layout. Apart from Netflix and WPS Office, there is no bloatware on this tablet. The clean look of the OS earns the tablet additional points.
Split window multitasking is an integral part of this tablet. It allows the user to run three apps in split-screen mode and seamlessly switch among them. The dock at the bottom comes in handy while switching among apps. We particularly like the option to drag and drop images from your device’s storage to any target destination with ease. You can also use the File Dock in the sidebar to quickly store documents or images.
There are a bunch of AI features on the OnePlus Pad 2 as well. Using AI Speak you can get the tablet to read out any piece of text. AI Summary, as the name suggests, generates a summary of any article or text. These tools can be triggered from the sidebar. The native recorder app can transcribe and summarise your voice memos. It does a great job of avoiding the weird pauses and utterances. The transcription is accurate and well punctuated.
The OnePlus Pad 2 packs a massive 9,510mAh battery pack. OnePlus claims over 40 hours of battery life on standby mode. While we didn’t use the tablet for that long, we can attest that the overnight battery drainage was negligible. On average, we used the tablet for up to 4 hours every day. On a full charge, the device lasted up to 2 days, which is pretty impressive. Our daily tasks on the OnePlus Pad 2 during the review period included web browsing, video calling, instant messaging, and gaming. Using the 67W charger provided in the box, it took us just over an hour to fully charge the device.
Moving on, the camera performance of the OnePlus Pad 2 is pretty standard for a tablet. Its 13MP primary shooter takes passable pictures in outdoor daylight conditions. The camera angle of this tablet isn’t as wide as the average smartphone camera lens. The resulting images are vibrant, albeit a little soft. In limited lighting, the camera produces dim and grainy images.
We don’t mind the ordinary camera performance too much because the primary job of the camera system is to deliver a consistent video-calling experience. The OnePlus Pad 2 does this with ease. The 8MP selfie camera is positioned on the longer bezel, which means the tablet needs to be aligned in a landscape position during video calls.
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Verdict
When it comes to midrange Android tablets, the OnePlus Pad 2 is as good as it gets. You get a lot of value for the Rs 40,000 price tag. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC puts up a rock-solid performance, powering the tablet through demanding tasks. The six-speaker setup on this tablet is one of its understated highlights. It singlehandedly elevates the media viewing experience to another level. On the OS front, you get a bunch of AI features which is something most Android tablets in this price range cannot boast about. All things considered, it is hard not to make a case for the OnePlus Pad 2 to be one of the best Android tablets in the market right now.
OnePlus Pad 2: Pros
- Big display
- Amazing six-speaker setup
- Powerful processor
- AI features
OnePlus Pad 2: Cons
- No fingerprint scanner
