The first OnePlus tablet has arrived, and it's quite the debut. Coming in at a price of just under $500, it's up against stiff competition from the likes of the Apple iPad - so is this premium Android slab up to the task?

With an impressive spec sheet, a large lavish display and a gorgeous design, it seems like it just might be.

The OnePlus Pad is also the first ever tablet to adopt a 7:5 aspect ratio, a unique size that finds itself right between the 4:3 display of an iPad and the 3:2 screen of a Microsoft Surface Pro.

We've been putting the new tablet through its paces, here's how we got on.

OnePlus Pad
OnePlus Pad
Recommended

Source: OnePlus 

Pros
  • Excellent display and speakers
  • Fantastic battery life
  • Solid accessories
  • Good performance
Cons
  • Cost of accessories adds up
  • No charger in the box

Design

  • Dimensions: 258.03 x 189.41 x 6.54mm
  • Weight: 552g
  • Colours: Halo Green only

The OnePlus Pad has a lovely, premium design and it's a little different from your average slabs too. The slim aluminium build has what the company calls a stylised metal back with a "Star Orbit" pattern.

OnePlus Pad (1)

Essentially, this is how OnePlus is choosing to describe the machined circular lines that surround the large camera lens that sits in the centre of the back of the device. It's this element that makes its design a little different to your average Android tablet.

The camera lens is nice and prominent on the rear, making it a distinguishable feature. The edges of the tablet itself meanwhile, are predominantly rounded, with softly curved corners and the overall design is lovely.

There is a magnetic strip on the top right corner, allowing you to attach and charge the stylus and this is flat rather than rounded. The tablet itself is relatively light too - lighter than the Lenovo Duet 3i and Apple's iPad Pro 12.9, making it nice and easy to handle.

OnePlus Pad (2)

There are uniformed bezels around the display - more on that in a minute - and there is a separate stylus and keyboard case, just like the iPad offers. Like the Apple option, they're sold separately, and they're fairly costly, too. The keyboard case will set you back an additional £149, while the Stylo pencil goes for £99.

A pogo pin connector is positioned on the bottom edge of the OnePlus Pad, allowing it to reassuringly snap into the folio case, while there's a power button on the top edge. There's no fingerprint sensor, instead, this tablet has Face Unlock, or you can use a passcode.

A camera lens is centralised at the top of the display - in landscape mode - just like the iPad, making it more useful for video calls, while on the right edge you'll find the volume rocker. There's also a USB-C port for charging and audio. The top and bottom edges when in landscape mode are where you'll find the speakers.

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There's only one colour option - Halo Green - but it's a great colour so we're ok with that. It's not too in your face - more like a subtle green hue and it's designed to match the green colour of the OnePlus 11 5G and the OnePlus Buds Pro 2. So, if you're a OnePlus fan, and green has been your colour of choice for those other devices, you'll have a great matching collection.

Accessories

  • OnePlus Magnetic Keyboard - £149
  • OnePlus Stylo Pencil - £99
  • SuperVOOC 80W Charger - £39

The keyboard case works quite well, it's a little cramped, due to its physical size but despite that, the keys are positioned well and we were able to touch type without much difficulty.

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The same goes for the trackpad. It's smaller than you'd find on the majority of laptops, but we didn't find that to be a hindrance in use. It supports the usual two-finger scrolling and pinch zoom gestures, too, which makes navigation a breeze.

The key feel is pretty unremarkable - it's not bad, but nowhere near as tactile as the keyboards found on high-end laptops like the Surface Laptop 5. Still, it gets the job done without feeling too mushy.

Otherwise, the fit and finish are high quality throughout, and the tablet feels secure when magnetically attached to the folio. There's a nice leather-effect material wrapped around the exterior, in a matching green colourway, and we think it looks ace. OnePlus is hoping that you'll feel the same because, again, it seems to be the only colour option.

OnePlus Pad (25)

The Stylo pencil is our favourite accessory, and we had a lot of fun doodling in apps like Sketchbook. It secures itself well on the magnetised side of the Pad and wirelessly charges while in place, ensuring it's always topped up and ready to use.

Pairing was a breeze, we just snapped it to the side of the tablet and followed the on-screen instructions. Once paired, the stylus was responsive and felt natural to use. Pressure sensitivity and palm rejection worked wonderfully, too. We really have no complaints, other than the price - it would be nice to see that come down a little.

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Be aware that no charger is included in the box. This isn't a huge issue for us - we have more chargers than we know what to do with - but we know that most people aren't in such a position.

OnePlus does sell an 80W SuperVOOC charger compatible with the Pad, as well as more humble options too, but it's a shame that no charger is included here. Apple, who spearheaded the no-charger-in-the-box movement, still includes a charger with the 10th gen iPad. So it's puzzling that OnePlus would choose to omit the charger here.

Display and speakers

  • 11.61-inch LCD, 7:5 aspect ratio
  • 2800 x 2000 pixel resolution,144Hz refresh rate
  • Omni bearing sound field speakers with Dolby Atmos support

The OnePlus Pad has an 11.61-inch LCD display with a resolution of 2800 x 2000 pixels, which delivers a pixel density of 296ppi. That's pretty standard for a tablet, whether Android or iOS, though Samsung's pricier tablets have AMOLED displays rather than LCD.

OnePlus Pad (10)

What's a little less common is the OnePlus Pad's 144Hz refresh rate, as well as a 120Hz or 144Hz touch sampling rate. This makes system navigation look and feel buttery smooth, although we did feel that there was more motion blur than we're used to from similarly fast OLED phone displays.

The OnePlus Pad offers great detail, though, along with decent brightness. It maxes out at 500nits which is a little higher than the Lenovo Duet 3i, and there's support for HDR formats like Dolby Vision, which makes TV shows look superb.

Not only do they look good, but they sound fantastic, too, thanks to the quad-speaker array that dynamically adjusts depending on how the tablet is held. This means that stereo positioning always works as intended, and makes watching content on this little machine more immersive, without the need for headphones.

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The speakers are far from the loudest that we've tested, but the clarity and bass response are a cut above most of the competition. This makes the OnePlus Pad a delight to use for watching YouTube and Netflix around the house.

The screen has a slightly different aspect ratio to the norm at 7:5, which is designed to be similar to a piece of A4 paper and it works really well, especially for web content and ebooks. The screen-to-body ratio is just over 88 per cent so the bezels are lovely and slim all around.

Performance and software

  • MediaTek Dimensity 9000
  • 8GB RAM/128GB storage
  • OxygenOS 13.1 based on Android 13

Under the hood of the OnePlus Pad is a MediaTek Dimensity 9000 SoC, supported by 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. You won't find a microSD slot so there's no storage expansion.

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The Dimensity 9000 is a pretty powerful chip, it's a little older, but it's the same one found in 2022 flagship phones like the Vivo X80. This, combined with the speedy refresh rate of the screen, might make you think this is ideal for gaming.

In some respects that's true, it's faster than most other Android tablets that we've tested, but the fact that games are running at such a high resolution means that performance takes a bit of a hit.

We found that Genshin Impact needed to be set to 30fps on the medium graphics preset in order to run smoothly, and you can just about get away with high settings if you don't mind the occasional stutter. Of course, less graphically intensive games, such as Minecraft run like a dream.

OnePlus Pad (9)

A 9510mAh battery powers the OnePlus Pad, which is claimed to last for one month in standby, or 12 hours playing video. We charged it up when it arrived about a week ago, and haven't needed to charge it since.

Our use has been fairly light, mostly checking emails, browsing the web and doodling in the evenings. But the fact that it hasn't died yet is highly impressive.

When it eventually conks out, it supports up to 67W charging, which equates to a full charge in about 80 minutes. That's plenty fast enough for us, especially as we'll be charging it far less frequently than a smartphone. Just make sure you purchase the correct charger to get the full benefit.

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The rear camera is a 13-megapixel snapper, supporting 4K recording up to 30fps, while the front camera is an 8-megapixel sensor supporting 1080p recording at 30fps. The cameras aren't overly impressive and certainly don't hold a candle to modern smartphones, but they do the job for the occasional snap.

We like how wide the front-facing camera is, it means that you can include a group of people in the shot during a Zoom call - which is something that tablets are great for.

In terms of software, the OnePlus Pad runs on Android 13 with OxygenOS 13.1, though the software has been optimised for tablets so it's not exactly the same as you would find on your OnePlus phone.

OnePlus Pad with keyboard attachment.
Source: Pocket-Lint 

There are some clever features on board too, such as a two-finger swipe down from the centre of the display when in landscape mode to enter a split view mode. You have to have a compatible app already open but as you swipe your fingers down, a line appears on the screen and you can then select another app to open alongside the first app and work across both.

There are numerous integrations with OnePlus smartphones, including the ability to share your data across the devices as well as share one-time passwords without the need to copy across to the tablet. This is something we couldn't test, as we don't have a OnePlus handset in-house, but it could be an added bonus for OnePlus loyalists.

Verdict

The OnePlus Pad is a great Android tablet, and likely the best in this price range. Samsung, for example, is selling its S7 Tab FE for the same price, and it has far poorer specifications throughout than the nimble OnePlus Pad.

We're not sure it's quite as appealing as the 10th Gen iPad, but for those who want to steer clear of Apple's proprietary ecosystem, it presents a compelling alternative.

There's also the Google Pixel Tablet on the horizon, but with concrete details few and far between, it's hard to estimate how that will compare.

For now, the OnePlus pad is one of the best Android tablets you can find. The excellent display and speakers make it a delight for watching content, while the 7:5 aspect ratio lends itself perfectly to web browsing.

It performs well, has superb battery life and can be improved with some top accessories. We think it's a bit of a winner.