The Xiaomi Redmi Pad has quite tempting specifications. New chipsets that are also on the rise in affordable gaming smartphones, premium front camera features, thunderous audio setups, large batteries, and so on.
Indeed, specifications on paper do not guarantee a device will provide a satisfying experience. Is that so? Here’s a review of the Xiaomi Redmi Pad after a week of use.
Design
Throughout this year, quite a number of smartphone vendors have joined in releasing cheap Android tablet options with attractive designs. Not only looks good, the material is of high quality. Including the Redmi Pad, which carries an aluminum unibody body material – feels premium and sturdy, although sometimes it gets a little slippery when hands sweat.
The protrusion of the rear camera module is wide enough but not too distracting, while the sharp angles actually don’t make this tablet difficult to hold. Its weight is 465 grams, with a thickness of 7.1mm, making the Redmi Pad a relatively thin and light 10-inch tablet.
Unfortunately, Xiaomi does not provide official accessories such as flip covers either in the sales package or separately. Though it can be very helpful both for protecting the device, as well as for using it at a certain angle. So you have to look for accessories made by third parties.
Overall, the design of the Redmi Pad feels quite sturdy and something to be proud of. It would be even more interesting if it also came in color options like Mint Green, for even more personalization.
Screen
If yesterday’s competitors made affordable tablets with smaller screens, Xiaomi presented the Redmi Pad with a relatively standard size. Namely 10.61 inches, with 2K resolution and IPS panel. The specifications are quite standard, the quality is quite satisfactory.
There is one feature on the screen that might be considered an advantage, where the Redmi Pad screen has a refresh rate of up to 90Hz, making the movement of content in it look smoother. It supports 1 billion colors, has a maximum brightness of 400 nits, and is certified by TUV Rheinland plus SGS for eye protection. The point is complete.
The four bezels are also quite standard, they are similar in size to the most affordable models of the latest iPad, so they can still be used to “rest” your fingers when holding them in one hand. The saturation is just right, it’s convenient for watching from your favorite streaming platform, plus it’s also convenient for split screen, aka accessing two applications at once.
How about the accuracy? By default, the white level tends to be bluish, aka bluish, but don’t worry because you can correct the color temperature and saturation via the settings menu on the Redmi Pad. Streaming in high resolution is also safe, because it already has Widevine L1 certification.
Feature
Before testing the Redmi Pad, the Alomaki team briefly reviewed the Xiaomi Pad 5, which incidentally is a more premium offering. Overall, the UI looks similar, running MIUI which is slightly customized for large screens, based on Android 12. Overall it’s still similar to a smartphone.
Why do we say “a little”? Because after being tested, there is much that Xiaomi should still be able to improve so that MIUI can take advantage of the large screen dimensions of the Redmi Pad. In fact, this issue is quite normal and can be found on other Android tablets—except for Samsung tablets, yes, which are already very mature because they have also released tablets since the beginning of Android 3.0 Honeycomb.
For me, as long as you can split screen smoothly, it’s still okay. Well, the supporting features of the Redmi Pad are quite interesting. On the camera, both on the front and back are both 8MP resolution. The front camera of the Redmi Pad has a very wide viewing angle of 105 degrees, similar to the latest iPad, which will later be embedded with an auto-framing feature to follow automatic movements.
You could say it’s cool because it’s generally only present on flagship class tablets. Meanwhile, for the audio sector, quite topnotch. Apart from four quality speakers, it also supports Dolby Atmos sound effects, even Hi-Res Audio Wireless. As if taken down from its flagship tablet.
performance
Not using Unisoc or Snapdragon releases, Xiaomi instead appointed the MediaTek manufacturer to power the Xiaomi Redmi Pad. One of their newest chips, which is quite superior in performance, is used, namely the Helio G99. Use the 6nm fabrication, the highest CPU Cortex-A76 2.2GHz, and the Mali-G57 MC2 GPU which is also superior for gaming.
Performance for daily use is more than enough, accompanied by 6GB of RAM capacity and 128GB of internal storage. In fact, the impression we got was better than the Xiaomi Pad 5, which at that time felt laggy even when accessing the menu and Settings (although this was most likely due to immature software, huh).
Both when split screen and run third applications via the floating window option, the Redmi Pad is able to run them smoothly at a 90Hz refresh rate. If you plan to use this tablet as the main productivity device – such as being paired with a keyboard and mouse – it seems that the Redmi Pad will be very capable.
Battery
Even though the dimensions are relatively thin with a weight of less than 500 grams, Xiaomi can still pin a capacity of 8,000 mAh on the Redmi Pad battery. In terms of relatively large numbers, and paired with a power-efficient chipset, it’s certainly not surprising that this tablet can last quite a long time.
For very light use, even up to three days. If you are using it intensively, it can take up to 1.5 days, depending on how long the screen is on. With support for 18W fast charging and a built-in 22.5W adapter, charging the Redmi Pad battery takes less than 2.5 hours. Relatively fast for a very large battery size.
Conclusion
The shortcoming we feel the most is the lack of software optimization to make it more useful for large screen devices. Yes, in other words, Xiaomi is also not alone in the “world” of Android tablets. There are still several other competitors who are also experiencing the same thing.
But at least, the features that are brought are very good for the price. Some of the main features of a tablet such as a screen and quality audio, virtual meeting support features such as a front camera, and sufficient performance for multitasking are carried out well through the Redmi Pad. It could be the best choice in its class at the moment.
Redmi Pad specifications
General
| Device Type | Tablet |
| Model / Series | Xiaomi RedmiPad |
| Released | 17 November, 2022 |
| Status | Available |
| Price | USD 224,5 (launch price) |
Platform
| Chipsets | MediaTek MT8781 Helio G99 (6nm) |
| CPU | Octa-core (2×2.2 GHz Cortex-A76 & 6×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55) |
| GPU | Mali-G57 MC2 |
| RAM (Memory) | 6GB |
| Storage | 128GB |
| External Storage | – |
| Operating System | Android 12 |
| User Interface | MIUI for Pad |
Design
| Dimensions | 250.5 x 158.1 x 7.1 mm |
| Weight | 465 g |
| Design Features | Glass front, aluminum frame Color: Graphite Gray, Moonlight Silver |
| Battery | 8000 mAh supports 18W fast charging |
Display
| Screen Type | IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 1B colors |
| Size and Resolution | 10.61” 1200 x 2000 (2K) IPS LCD |
| Touch Screen | Yes |
| Features | TUV Rheinland SGS Display 100% sRGB 90Hz, 400 nits max brightness |
Network
| Network Frequency | – |
| Sim | – |
| Data Speed | – |
Camera
| Multi Camera | No |
| Rear | 8MP, f/2.0 |
| Front | 8 MP, f/2.3, 105-degree wide angle |
| Flash | Yes |
| Video | 1080p @30fps |
| Camera Features | HDR, panorama, night mode |
Connectivity
| Wi-fi | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot |
| Bluetooth | 5.2, A2DP, LE |
| USB | USB Type-C |
| GPS | – |
| HDMI | No |
| Wireless Charging | No |
| NFC | |
| Infrared | No |
Smartphone Features
| Multimedia Features | Loudspeaker with stereo speakers (4 speakers), Dolby Atmos |
| FM Radio | No |
| Web Browser | Google Chrome |
| Messaging | Email, Push Email, IM |
| Sensors | Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass |
