Xiaomi launched the first Redmi Pad, the company’s first tablet in the Redmi series in India and global markets, earlier this week. 10.6-inch 2K LCD screen with 90Hz refresh rate that you rarely see in the price range. It is powered by the latest MediaTek Helio G99, has quad speakers and Dolby Atmos. Is the tablet worth the price? Let us dive into the review to find out.
Box Contents
- Redmi Pad 6GB + 128GB version in Graphite Grey colour
- 2-pin 22.5W fast charger
- USB Type-C cable
- Quick Start Guide
Starting with the display, the tablet has a 10.61-inch (2000×1200 pixels) WUXGA+ (Widescreen Ultra eXtended Graphics Array Plus) with a pixel density of 220 PPI and 80.93% screen-to-body ratio. The display is bright to view indoors since it has 400 nits brightness. The viewing angles are good as well, but the screen is glossy and is prone to fingerprints. It has 70% NTSC color gamut and since it’s a 10-bit display, it has over 1 billion colours.
It has 90Hz display refresh rate, which when enabled offers a buttery smooth user experience, especially when you are scrolling through the UI and when gaming. You can set it to 90Hz or use the default mode that dynamically adjust the refresh rate depending on the content.
Under the display options, there are different options to adjust colours and contrast based on your preference. There is also a reading mode that lets you reduce the display’s blue light emission, so it doesn’t cause eye strain when you are reading at night. The tablet is also accredited with low light certification by TÜV Rheinland. There is Dark mode.
The tablet has an 8MP front-facing camera with 105° FOV.
The power button is present on the left side, along with speaker grills. There is Dolby Atmos branding. Other dual speaker grills are present on the right side, with the USB Type-C port in the middle.
On the top there are dual mics, volume rockers and a microSD slot that accepts cards up to 1TB. The tablet doesn’t have a 3.5mm audio jack.
The tablet is just 7.1mm thick and weighs 464 grams, even though it packs a huge, 8000mAh battery and has a large 10.6-inch screen. At the launch event, the company introduced a flip case for the tablet which will be available soon.
Even though it doesn’t look like it, the tablet has an elegant all-metal unibody chassis and flat frame. It feels solid, offers a good grip and doesn’t slip easily. In addition to the Graphite Grey colour, the tablet also comes in Moonlight Silver and Mint Green colours. The tablet has third-party pen support.
Camera
Coming to the camera, the tablet has an 8-megapixel rear camera on the back without flash. There is an 8-megapixel camera on the front which has 105° wide viewing angle. Both the cameras can record videos in up to 1080p 30 fps which is decent. The front camera is good for video calls, and the rear camera takes decent images.
It comes with new FocusFrame (Available only for 4GB and 6GB models) that offers intelligent movement tracking to keep the person in the centre of the frame for videos.
The camera UI is just basic with option to take photos, videos, night mode, short video and there is also a document mode. It has HDR, AI, Movie frame and tilt-shift options.
Check out the camera samples.
Software, UI and Apps
Coming to the software, the tablet runs Android 12 with MIUI 13 for Pad. It was launched running Android security for August 2022, and got September 2022 security patch recently. The company has promised 2 versions of Android and MIUI update and 3 years of security updates, which is good.
There are options like Multi-Window and Split screen that let you run two apps side-by-side simultaneously. There is also floating window feature.
The UI looks similar to the one on Xiaomi or Redmi phones, but the MIUI for tablets offer good optimization. It only has Google apps, and there is no bloatware.
Out of 6GB LPDDR4x RAM, you get 5.8GB of usable RAM, and about 2.2GB of RAM is free when default apps are running in the background. Out of 128GB, you get about 108GB of free storage. The tablet uses UFS 2.2 storage, and we got sequential read speeds of about 967.9 MB/s.
Face unlock
The tablet doesn’t have a fingerprint scanner, so you have to rely on face unlock, which is quick to unlock the device. However, it doesn’t work in low light. Xiaomi also says that you can use your Band/Watch to unlock the Redmi Pad instantly with Bluetooth.
Multimedia
YouTube Music is the default Music Player, and there is Dolby Atmos. It doesn’t have FM Radio support. Audio through the quad speakers is brilliant without any distortion even in full volume. Audio through earphones is decent.
This has Widevine L1 so that you can play HD content on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and other apps. It doesn’t have HDR support for the apps. Since this has 5:3 aspect ratio, you get a tiny black bar on the top and the bottom, but this is hardly noticeable. You can pinch to zoom.
Connectivity
The Redmi Pad only comes in Wi-Fi model, so you get Dual-Band Wi-Fi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz). Wi-Fi range is good, and could be better. Other connectivity options include Bluetooth 5.3 and there is also USB OTG support to connect external drives. It doesn’t have any sort of location sensors like GPS, GLONASS or NaVIC. GPS would have been useful for Google Maps, but I guess Xiaomi has decided that it was not important enough for a tablet that also doesn’t have LTE option.
Performance
This is one of the first tablet to be powered by the MediaTek Helio 99 6nm SoC. It has 2x Cortex-A76 clocked at 2.2GHz and 6x Cortex-A55 at 2GHz. It has Arm Mali-G57 MC2 GPU. The tablet has up to 6GB LPDDR4X RAM. We did not face any issues or frame drops in the graphic-intensive games. It gets a bit warm on intensive gaming for long, but it doesn’t get too hot.
Battery life
Coming to the battery life, the tablet packs a 8000mAh (typical) battery that promises up to 21 hours of video playback and 12+ hours of gaming. Based on my use, I got over 16 hours of streaming videos on Netflix, YouTube and slight gaming. This might vary if you set the brightness to high. The tablet has support for 18W fast charging. With the bundled charger, it takes about one and half hours to charge up to 50% and 100% charge takes over 3 hours
Conclusion
Overall, the Redmi Pad offers a great value compared to other models in the range. The large 90Hz display is good, and the quad speakers with Dolby Atmos offers a good multimedia experience. The huge battery that offers a good battery life. Wish the company had launched the 4G option as well.
There is realme Pad X at a slightly higher cost that has 5G option. If you need something premium, you can get the Xiaomi Pad 5 with a 120Hz screen and a better build quality.
Pricing and availability
The Redmi Pad is priced at Rs. 14,999 for the 3GB + 64GB, Rs. 17,999 for the 4GB + 128GB model and the 6GB + 128GB model costs Rs. 19,999. The limited-period introductory pricing for the models are Rs. 12,999, Rs. 14,999 and Rs. 16,999, respectively, which is a good deal.
It is available from Flipkart, mi.com, Mi Home stores and offline stores.
Pros
- Large high-resolution 90Hz display
- Quad speakers with Dolby Atmos
- Good performance
- Ultra-sleek design, metal body
- Long battery life
Cons
- No GPS support
- No 3.5mm audio jack
- No 4G option