OnePlus Pad: Solid Performance At Sub-$500 Buy-In
Images via OnePlus
Stepping into uncharted territory typically comes with an amount of caution. That feeling out process can lead to reservation as one finds their footing and develops skills for navigating this new terrain. This is where we find OnePlus, a company known for delivering high-quality Android smartphones at great, sub-Apple and Samsung prices.
OnePlus now ventures into the unknown with its first tablet, the OnePlus Pad, entering a field of Android tablets that rests at somewhat of an inflection point. Samsung remains the most entrenched presence while Google’s Pixel Tablet is set to reinvent the Android maker’s place in the marketplace. But the OnePlus Pad carves out a solid place for itself on the company’s first $479 try.
The OnePlus Pad’s 11.6-inch display is vibrant and appears more prominent than its measurements suggest thanks to remarkably small bezels. Its 144Hz refresh rate delivers solid performance and quick input response and its wide color range helps its LCD display compete with the wide adoption of OLED displays.
The internals also help its case, packing in 128GB of storage and 8GB RAM into a tablet that costs less than competitors whose devices include smaller totals. The OnePlus Tab’s MediaTek Dimensity 9000 processor holds up in comparison to the Qualcomm Snapdragon chips that are widely used by other developers. The device impressed in my month with it, showing snappy response to the various quick gestures built into its OxygenOS operating system and supplanting itself as my on-the-go media hub.