The OnePlus pad Go tablet is quite worthy buying option for the user who wants to buy a tablet at a reasonable price. Around the 36,000 price segment, it used to offer the incredibly fast chipset- Dimensity 9000 by MediaTek which is a flagship one and almost has greater CPU processing and power efficiency.
OnePlus has been constantly adding products to its varied portfolio. From smartphones and earbuds to monitors and even keyboards, the brand has a lot to offer. In February this year, OnePlus came up with its first-ever tablet called the OnePlus Pad.
And a month back, OnePlus launched yet another tablet, the OnePlus Pad Go, aimed at those looking for an affordable tablet without compromising on the quality.
There are a lot of benefits that comes with the OnePlus Pad Go tablet. For example, like Easy Connection, and effortless efficiency auto connect hooks you up smoother and faster across devices.
Level up from your smartphone display to the OnePlus Pad – and to an even larger screen – to simplify your work and amplify your play. Supersize Your Sound Introducing Omni bearing Sound Field technology.
OnePlus Pad supports Microsoft Office applications, allowing users to utilize the suite of productivity tools on this sleek and powerful tablet. With the ability to create, edit, and view documents on the go, the OnePlus Pad offers a seamless experience for individuals and professionals alike.
OnePlus Pad Go Specifications
- Body: 255.1×188.0×6.9mm, 532g; aluminum frame, aluminum back; Stylus support.
- Display: 11.35″ IPS LCD, 90Hz, 400 nits (typ), 1720x2408px resolution, 12.6:9 aspect ratio, 260ppi.
- Chipset: Mediatek MT8781 Helio G99 (6nm): Octa-core (2×2.2 GHz Cortex-A76 & 6×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55); Mali-G57 MC2.
- Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM; UFS 2.2; microSDXC (dedicated slot).
- OS/Software: Android 13, OxygenOS 13.2.
- Rear camera: 8 MP.
- Front camera: 8 MP.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 1080p@30fps; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
- Battery: 8000mAh; 33W wired.
- Connectivity: LTE; Wi-Fi 5; BT 5.2, aptX HD.
- Misc: Accelerometer, proximity (accessories only), gyro, compass; stereo speakers (4 speakers).
OnePlus Pad Go review: Design
Compared to the more expensive model, the OnePlus Pad Go specs are lopsided in favor of having a better visual and audio experience rather than focusing on things like gaming, heavy productivity, or even photography. Considering the intended usage, the compromises here may not be that detrimental.
The OnePlus Pad Go is absolutely stunning in terms of design. It features a sleek design with a premium look and has a great in-hand feel. The rounded edges make the tab easy to hold for long hours but this also means that the tab can easily slip from your hands if you don’t pay attention.
While the OnePlus Pad doesn’t come with any additional accessories, either, it does support the OnePlus Stylo pen, the OnePlus Magnetic Keyboard with trackpad, and the OnePlus Folio Case.
The Pad Go only gets a OnePlus Go Folio Case, which attaches using clamps as it does not have magnets to attach the case. It is not compatible with any of the OnePlus Pad accessories.
The only difference on the front is that the OnePlus Pad Go has sharp edges around the display as it uses a flat glass with a plastic border whereas the OnePlus Pad glass has gently curved edges that blend into the metal frame.
The sides of the OnePlus Pad Go seem similar at first; you have the same curvature that makes the tablet easy to hold and pick up from a flat surface. You have a similar four-speaker system with one driver in each corner.
The physical buttons are still awkwardly split with the power button on the left and the volume buttons on the top. Having them on the same side as the power button would have made them much easier to access. As it stands, the buttons are never within reach no matter how you hold the device.
The back panel has a dual finish. There is a sleek, glossy panel that houses the rear camera. The rest of the panel has a soft matte finish. During the usage of the device, they could see fingerprints and smudges on the glossy part of the back panel. The matte part resists smudges like a pro.
Indiatoday.in said that at the centre of the back panel is the iconic OnePlus logo and it surely captures attention. The camera lens is protruding and surrounded by a glossy frame. It is located in the centre, which is a unique position. The tab is available in a single color –– Halo Green, and it is quite a distinctive color with a soft and soothing appeal.
The top edge has a power button along with two speakers. The LTE variant of the tab will also have a SIM slot on the top edge. The right edge houses the volume buttons and the bottom edge has another set of speakers with a Type-C charging port. There is no 3.5mm jack in this tab.
Display
The OnePlus Pad Go has an 11.35-inch, 2408 x 1720 resolution, IPS LCD. The display supports 60Hz and 90Hz refresh rates with a 180Hz touch sampling rate. It has a claimed peak brightness of 400 nits. There is no HDR nor always-on support on this device.
The display has somewhat similar specifications to that of the more expensive model. It’s less than a centimeter smaller with about one and a half million fewer pixels, which gives a pixel density of 260 PPI vs the 296 PPI of the OnePlus Pad.
Not something you are likely to notice. Just like how you are unlikely to notice the slightly thicker bezel around the display, 8mm vs 7mm. The IPS panel has okay color accuracy, decent contrast, good viewing angles, quick response times, and adequate brightness.
Compared to the OnePlus Pad, the Pad Go doesn’t get as bright and the color accuracy is a bit worse with a slight magenta tint on our unit but other than that they look very similar.
Unlike the panel on the OnePlus Pad, which is mounted in landscape orientation and is right side up, the panel on the OnePlus Pad Go is mounted in portrait and the wrong way up.
If you want to hold the display such that it is refreshing in the correct direction (top left to bottom right), you need to hold the tablet such that the USB port is pointing upwards.
Holding the tablet in landscape causes a small amount of jello motion as you scroll since you are moving sideways in the direction of the panel refresh.
Battery and charging
According to GSMArena.com, The OnePlus Pad Go has an 8000mAh battery, which is a fair bit smaller than the 9510mAh on the similarly sized OnePlus Pad. The charging has also slowed down from 67W to 33W. The OnePlus Pad Go is powered by the MediaTek Helio G99 processor and runs on the OxygenOS 13.1 OS out of the box.
The day-to-day performance of the tab was quite satisfactory and didn’t falter much. The tab is great for watching OTT content, browsing the web, playing arcade-style games, etc. However, despite the smaller battery, the OnePlus Pad Go faires quite well, in no small part due to the relatively efficient and frugal chipset.
While we don’t have full battery life figures today, the device easily lasted for 2-3 days on Wi-Fi with a few hours of use every day. While testing media playback, the tablet played for about 12 hours while streaming Netflix, and the device brightness was set to 75%.
Despite halving the charging speed, the OnePlus Pad Go charging speeds aren’t far off from the OnePlus Pad. The tablet was able to charge up to about 37% in half an hour and 70% in an hour. Full charge comes in about an hour and a half. These numbers are pretty good considering the size of the battery.
Speakers
The OnePlus Pad Go has a quad-speaker system, similar to the OnePlus Pad. The tablet has one speaker near each corner and regardless of how you hold the device, the speakers to your left will always be the left channel and those on the right will be the right channel. Like the OnePlus Pad, the OnePlus Pad Go also supports Dolby Atmos codec and audio processing.
Despite being similar on paper, the speakers on the Pad Go sound notably different than those on the Pad. The Pad Go speakers have a bassier sound with a more robust bottom-end but the top end sounds darker and less distinct. The OnePlus Pad has a more balanced sound with a brighter high-end.
The Pad Go speakers sound ever so slightly louder at every volume level but both tablets get plenty loud. The stereo separation is also great in landscape and if you play native Dolby Atmos encoded audio then the sound is especially impressive.
Software and features
The OnePlus Pad Go comes with OxygenOS 13.2 on top of Android 13. This is the latest version of OxygenOS currently only available on one other device, which is the OnePlus Open. It will also be the last as the company formally transitions to OxygenOS 14.
you also get a taskbar, which can be permanently docked at the bottom of the screen or hidden. You can place apps here and recently used content can optionally be made to appear. The app library button lets you quickly open any app or drag it out to start multitasking.
Performance
The OnePlus Pad Go runs on the MediaTek Helio G99 chipset. This is the biggest downgrade overall compared to the OnePlus Pad, which runs on the MediaTek Dimensity 9000.
The Pad Go pairs that chipset with 8GB LPDDR4X memory and either 128GB or 256GB storage. As mentioned earlier, you can increase the storage using microSD cards.
The performance of the OnePlus Pad Go can best be described as adequate. OnePlus is clearly asking a lot from the humble G99 here, a chipset designed for budget smartphones, by placing it in a device with a high-resolution display and expansive multitasking capabilities.
But despite the intensity of the work assigned to it, the G99 rarely ever feels out of breath or even out of place. The goal of the OnePlus Pad Go clearly seems to be a media consumption device and the G99 is quite adequate for that.
Activities like browsing the web, watching movies and TV shows, reading books, listening to music, and scrolling idly through Instagram are all handled with relative ease.
The scrolling isn’t always silky smooth or stutter-free but is completely fine for the most part. Even when running two apps side by side, the performance is often perfectly fine.
Camera
The OnePlus Pad Go has a fairly basic 8MP camera on the back capable of 1080p 30fps video. On the front is another 8MP shooter. The camera specs are fairly downgraded compared to the already basic OnePlus Pad. The 13MP camera on that tablet at least supported 4K video and even had a flash.
The front camera also has a wider field of view and supports Limelight, which keeps you in the middle of the frame as you move around in a video call in select apps. The OnePlus Pad Go can’t do any of that. The front camera quality is quite comparable between the two.
The OnePlus Pad has a wider field of view but the quality does suffer because of that as there’s not enough resolution to go with that lens. This means the OnePlus Pad Go front camera can actually look better at times.
Is OnePlus Pad good for productivity?
While there is no denying that the OnePlus Pad offers a good user experience, great battery life and ticks all the boxes when it comes to good looks, it cannot replace a laptop or be considered a full-fledged productivity machine. Most apps still need optimization for use on large-screen devices such as tabs.
How much is the OnePlus Pad?
The OnePlus Pad costs £449 (€499/$479) and will ship in May. For comparison, the Amazon Fire HD 10 Plus costs £190, the Apple iPad costs £499 and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 costs £749.
What is the finish of OnePlus Pad?
The OnePlus Pad comes in a single green color finish. Customers can choose between two memory variants – 128GB and 256GB. The OnePlus Pad does not have an LTE variant.
Is OnePlus Pad good for graphic design?
The tablet’s performance is speedy when carrying out tasks such as basic graphic design, but we did experience lagging content multiple times when streaming movies on Prime Video. The OnePlus Pad Go offers a 90Hz refresh rate, but 120Hz would have been a far better fit for an entertainment-focused tablet.
