OnePlus enters the tablet game with OnePlus Pad
OnePlus is now making tablets! And we just got to spend some hands-on time with its very first tablet, the new OnePlus Pad.
OnePlus has gone a long way. It started as a company that makes just one flagship phone at a time to one with a wide portfolio and now a brand new category of devices to its arsenal. But does the new OnePlus Pad have enough special sauce to convince users to switch from a Samsung Galaxy Tab or even an iPad?
OnePlus Pad: what's special about it?
The OnePlus Pad comes in a slightly different aspect ratio than most tablets on the market, it's wider and it's made to resemble the experience of holding a book. It's a beautiful display with 2800x2000 resolution and 144Hz refresh rate.
It has the whole shebang: a full on keyboard with a trackpad, a magnetically attaching pen, it's a full-on laptop replacement.
Hands-on Impressions
We got a chance to use the OnePlus Pad and the one thing that grabbed our attention first was the light-weight yet solid construction. The OnePlus Pad is just 6.54mm thin and weighs 552g. The material used for the body is metal and the overall build is quite elegant.
Overall, the tablet feels well made, and while the software was not the final version, it felt quite polished and zippy, as typical for OnePlus devices. A two finger swipe down from the center brings you to the split-screen multitasking view, a really easy shortcut that we appreciated.
The OnePlus Pad will be available in two colors: Titan Black and Eternal Green. We had the Eternal Green unit to test for a little while, and you can see how it looks on the photos above: a recognizable look with a centered camera on the back and the OnePlus logo in the dead center of the tablet.
As you can see, the keyboard folio for the OnePlus Pad is also in a matching color and looks quite good. The OnePlus Stylo is white and can magnetically attach to the OnePlus Pad for a premium experience. It's a bit early to say whether or not the tablet will be able to take on and replace a laptop. For that - we'll tell you when we get some more time with the device!
The OnePlus Pad supports Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision - we didn't have the opportunity to test the sound just yet, but when we do, we'll make sure to share our impressions with you.
Hardware
The OnePlus Pad is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 9000 chipset, a flagship grade processor featuring the same high-performance Cortex-X2 as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 (but clocked slightly higher at 3.05GHz).
It also comes with a whopping 12GB RAM, working together with OnePlus' custom RAM-VITA technology, and the company says it can run 24 applications alive in the background.
The battery size is quite massive too, at 9510mAh capacity. Expect 1-month standby life or more than 12.4 hours of video watching time. The Pad also supports 67W SUPERVOOC charging: a full charge is completed around an hour, says OnePlus.
OnePlus Pad availability
The tablet was announced during OnePlus' event on February 7. Pre-orders will start in April, so you will be able to get it in a little bit more than a month. When we know more information about its release and availability, we'll let you know for sure, so stay tuned!
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: