OnePlus has launched its first tablet, the OnePlus Pad. The device has received impressive characteristics and a low cost, but will this help the new product to withstand the fight against the market leader in the face of the iPad? The Gazeta.Ru correspondent, an active user of the flagship iPad Pro M2, compared both tablets and found out whether it is worth overpaying for an “apple” gadget.
Equipment
The OnePlus Pad comes in a slim box that contains the tablet itself, a proprietary red USB-A to USB-C cable, documentation, and a OnePlus Community Red Cable Club card.
You will have to buy a charger for OnePlus separately, or use another one from gadgets from BBK Electronics, which, in addition to OnePlus, also includes Oppo, Vivo and Realme brands. During testing, there were no problems with charging from Realme.
In the case of the iPad, the package seems to be “richer” – there is a tablet, a Lightning to USB-C cable, documentation, branded stickers with a bitten apple, and even a charging unit that you will not find in Apple smartphones .
None of the devices offer out-of-the-box screen protectors or cases, as is usually the case with smartphones, so if you buy a tablet, you should take care of this in advance.
Design
The design of the iPad Pro is known to everyone – it is a thin metal tablet with flat edges and a square block of cameras. Apple has been following this style for several years, and many are happy with it.
However, some users face inconvenience when using a tablet without a case – flat edges can dig into their hands. In general, the assembly and materials of the tablet are made at a high level, as is the case with other gadgets from the company. The weight of the iPad without additional accessories is 466 grams.
OnePlus Pad also has a metal body, which is built with high quality. It has rounded edges, which makes the tablet more pleasant in the hands and somewhat reminiscent of the iPhone 6.
The main drawback of the OnePlus tablet, which immediately catches the eye, is not a very good camera position. When using the tablet horizontally, there are no questions, but if you switch to vertical mode, your hand will somehow block the lens. The weight of OnePlus is 552 grams. Sometimes because of this, hands become numb – holding the tablet over your head while lying on the bed will not work for a long time.
Screen
OnePlus Pad is equipped with an 11.61-inch IPS screen with a resolution of 2000×2800 and an atypical 7:5 aspect ratio for an Android tablet. And, as it turned out, this is a very good decision.
The iPad Pro comes with an 11-inch IPS screen with a resolution of 1668×2388 and a 3:2 ratio. The Apple tablet display works with an adaptive frequency of up to 120 Hz in several gradations (24, 30, 40, 60, 120 Hz). However, high frequency is available only in iPad Pro models, which are several times more expensive than the same OnePlus Pad – in licensed iPads and even iPad Air there is no such function. The Apple tablet display is also capable of displaying HDR10 content and supports Dolby Vision technology.
Both tablets are ideal for watching movies, surfing the web and reading books. Moreover, the OnePlus Pad provides a similar TrueTone function, which is popular among users of Apple technology. Thanks to her, the picture on the screen adjusts the temperature of the screen to the surrounding conditions, making it cold or warm, so that the eyes are less tired.
shell
Android provides two types of navigation through the system: using the three buttons at the bottom of the screen or using gestures.
In iPadOS, management is implemented in mixed mode. In some application, this is a gesture in which you need to swipe your finger from the edge of the screen, and in another, you need to click on a button specially designated for this. Because of this, when using a tablet, confusion can arise, despite the well-established belief that Apple gadgets are thoughtful.
In addition, due to sanctions, it has become impossible for iPad users to install many applications.
However, what should be noted in iPadOS is the number of professional applications. Designers, architects, musicians and editors can find many quality profile programs. Often they are paid and are not cheap, but in capable hands they quickly pay off. For Android, the choice of such applications is small.
I would also like to note that the manufacturer came up with an original solution to enable multi-window mode – just swipe two fingers from the top edge of the screen to the bottom, after which the screen will be divided into two halves. You can, for example, put Telegram on the left, and your favorite movie on the right.
OnePlus Pad is no exception in terms of limitations – its keyboard has only one available opening angle. In addition, there is no Cyrillic alphabet on it, so if you buy it, you will have to engrave it – it is inexpensive and looks better than cheap sliding stickers.
Both tablets have a stylus, an accessory that will complement the tablet’s role as a device for entertainment and even a professional tool. And OnePlus, when designing the Stylo stylus, clearly tried to make a copy of the Apple Pencil – they seem to be the same in everything. The degree of pressure in both cases is well defined, and the delay is minimal.
Performance
The OnePlus Pad we reviewed is powered by MediaTek’s flagship Dimensity 9000 chip and has 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage (12/256GB available for some markets). In the Geekbench 6 benchmark, the tablet scored 1741 and 4473 points in the single-core and multi-core tests, respectively.
The iPad Pro based on Apple’s M2 chipset also has 8GB of RAM and scores 2489 and 9509 on Geekbench 6. The difference between the two devices may seem colossal, but in everyday use it is not noticeable.
In games, the advantage is clearly for the iPad – the tablet “pulls” Genshin Impact without any drawdowns on the maximum graphics at 120 FPS (moreover, this mode is not available at all on any Android device). However, after a few minutes, the tablet heats up so much that it burns your hands. When 60 FPS is selected, the case temperature becomes moderate and does not interfere with the process in any way.
The OnePlus Pad also runs Genshin Impact at max graphics and 60 FPS without getting too hot. However, the quality of the textures in this case is noticeably worse, as game developers release mobile versions that simply stretch to the desired screen of Android tablets. Why Google , which owns this OS, does not try to solve this problem is unknown.
In any other use case, the difference in power between the two tablets is imperceptible, so for many, what Android devices have to offer will be enough. However, in both cases, there may not be enough memory – 128 GB in 2023 is critically small if you install games and programs. For the global OnePlus, this is the only modification, and the iPad with more memory is already much more expensive.
cameras
The cameras in the tablet are mainly needed only for video calls. To do this, the OnePlus Pad has a 13-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera installed in the top frame (when positioned horizontally). It is also capable of recording videos in Full HD at 30 FPS.
The main camera in OnePlus is also wide angle and can shoot up to 4K 30 FPS.
On the iPad Pro, the 12MP ultra wide-angle front camera can shoot at Full HD 60 FPS.
The back of the iPad has two cameras – a 12MP main camera and a 10MP ultra-wide-angle one. They can write videos up to 4K at 60 FPS. The quality is far from the level of the iPhone, but it is still redundant for a tablet. The iPad also has LiDAR, with which, for example, interior designers can conduct 3D scanning of a room and objects. Useful, but not for everyone.
Battery
iPad Pro has a 7538 mAh battery with support for 18W charging, which takes almost 3 hours to recharge. It lasts an average of 6 to 8 hours of active work, depending on usage scenarios. For a tablet, this is not a very good result.
The OnePlus Pad comes with a 9510mAh battery and supports 67W charging. Owners of OnePlus, Oppo or Realme smartphones can use their charging pads, which will charge the tablet from 0% to 100% at 67 W in 80 minutes.
Other features
The sound quality in both devices is excellent. The four loud stereo speakers on the OnePlus Pad and iPad Pro deliver a rich, punchy sound experience whether you’re watching movies or playing music. At the same time, neither one nor the other has a headphone jack.
Protection in the iPad Pro is implemented on the face thanks to the Face ID scanner. The OnePlus Pad also has face unlock, but with a regular front camera, which is not very secure. It does not have a fingerprint scanner.
Outcome
When comparing the iPad Pro for 80 thousand rubles. with a OnePlus tablet for 37 thousand rubles. it was difficult to find differences that would make you want to overpay for an Apple device. At the same time, the slightly cheaper iPad Air on the M1 chip cannot boast of a high-frequency screen, and the mid-budget iPad 10 is equipped with not the most productive hardware and a screen with an air gap, which greatly spoils the picture.
A tablet in the modern sense is still not a replacement for a computer, and OnePlus Pad does a great job as an entertainment device, offering high performance and modern features at a moderate price tag.
