OnePlus Pad Go Review: An Affordable Tablet for Content Consumption

OnePlus forayed into the tablet market in 2022 with the OnePlus Pad. A year later, the company has launched its second tablet — an affordable version of the same tablet, the OnePlus Pad Go, purpose-built for entertainment without being a drain on the wallet.

What really makes the OnePlus Pad Go appealing is its enticing price. For a starting price of Rs 19,999, the OnePlus Pad Go, powered by a MediaTek Helio G99 processor, gives you a 2.4k display, an 8000mAh battery, quad speakers, and 33W SUPERVOOC charging and takes on the likes of the Realme Pad 2, Galaxy Tab A9, and more.

But is it worth your money? Our OnePlus Pad Go review should help answer that.

OnePlus Pad Go Review: Design and Build

The OnePlus Pad Go features a design that’s reminiscent of the OnePlus Pad. It retains the circular camera module, positioned right above the centered OnePlus logo at the back, in landscape orientation, similar to the OnePlus Pad.

That said, the back panel design is a slight departure from its elder sibling. OnePlus calls it a two-tone design, and it essentially adds a glossy strip on the top part of the Pad Go. This two-tone finish gives the tablet a refreshing look while keeping the overall aesthetics in line with the previous model. Mind you, though, that this metal strip is a fingerprint magnet and smudges easily, so you may want to use a folio case (sold separately for Rs 1,399), which also adds some level of protection for the tablet.

As for other design elements, the OnePlus Pad Go has the same button placement as the previous model, wherein you get the power button on the top-right edge and the volume keys on the right, with the tablet held in portrait orientation. Then, there are quad speakers—a pair of two—located on each side of the tablet, held in landscape orientation. And you also get a USB Type-C port on the right side for charging. If you opt for an LTE version, you also get a SIM card tray at the top. The SIM card tray also has a slot for microSD card.

OnePlus has used polycarbonate for the tablet’s construction, though it has a metallic finish in hand, which is a nice touch. Additionally, the rounded edges, combined with the lightweight, make the tablet easy to hold and use even for long hours.

OnePlus offers the OnePlus Pad Go in only one color, Twin Mint. While it looks good, we’d have loved to see more color options, as some of the other tablets in this price range come in more than one colorway.

OnePlus Pad Go: Display

Flip the OnePlus Pad Go over, and you’re greeted with an 11.35-inch LCD screen. It’s a 2.4k (2408x1720px resolution) display with a 7:5 aspect ratio, which gives you ample screen estate to perform multiple tasks simultaneously while also offering you a comfortable experience using apps in portrait orientation.

I find the screen very good for content consumption. It’s sharp, gets sufficiently bright (with 400 nits) for indoor use, and has good viewing angles. Plus, despite being an LCD panel, it still offers good color vibrancy.

One thing about the Pad Go’s display that’s noticeable right away is the bezels. It’s there—evenly surrounding the display on all sides—but I don’t find it bothersome. In fact, if anything, I feel the bezels work in the user’s favor and act as a nice resting spot for your thumbs to rest while using/holding the tablet.

The OnePlus Pad Go supports a maximum refresh rate of 90Hz. While some of its competitors, like the Realme Pad 2, for instance, offer a faster 120Hz refresh rate display, OnePlus has decided to cut corners here, which feels a bit of a downgrade when you know there are other manufacturers offering it on their devices in the same price range. That said, if you’re coming from a device with a 60Hz or 90 Hz panel, you wouldn’t mind this much.

Lastly, the Pad Go comes with Widevine L1 support. This means you can use the tablet to watch 1080p videos on all major OTT platforms, like Netflix. Sadly, HDR support is missing on the Pad Go despite its HDR-capable processor.

OnePlus Pad Go: Performance

OnePlus is powering the Pad Go with a MediaTek Helio G99 processor. To give you some background, the Helio G99 was launched in 2022 and is, at large, similar to the Dimensity 700, except for a newer fabrication process (6nm) that makes it slightly more power efficient.

It comes with two Cortex-A76 cores and six Cortex-A55 cores, with an Arm Mali-G57 MC2 GPU for handling graphics. And it’s also the same processor that powers one of Pad Go’s competitors, the Realme Pad 2, which is priced similarly.

On the Pad Go, the Helio G99 is paired with 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM, and you get a choice for UFS 2.2 storage between 128GB and 256GB. In everyday use, its performance is satisfactory. It handles tasks like browsing social media, reading news and ebooks, casual gaming, and watching content on OTT platforms fairly decently without a hitch and displays no signs of heating.

However, playing heavy games, like Call of Duty or Battlegrounds Mobile India isn’t as pleasant an experience, nor is using the tablet for productivity or office tasks. But to be fair here, the Pad Go isn’t meant to serve those needs, and that’s evident by the fact that OnePlus has skimped on adding support for a folio keyboard and a stylus on the tablet. That said, for times when you need to write an email or two or respond to messages on Slack, you can connect a Bluetooth keyboard to the tablet and go about doing your thing without any trouble. Similarly, you can also pair a Bluetooth mouse if required.

However, one area where I feel the OnePlus Pad Go could do better is RAM management, as I experienced the tablet struggling to keep things in memory on multiple occasions during my testing. I noticed this while browsing the web on Chrome (and also Firefox) with apps like YouTube, Twitter, Kindle, and Feedly running in the background. With about 7 or 8 tabs open, the browser seemed to hold up just fine, but as soon as this number reached two digits, it started reloading the tabs. Similarly, some of the background apps also began reloading content. Offering a higher RAM option, at least on the higher-end model, would perhaps have been a good thing to do for OnePlus.

Talking about the multitasking experience, wherein you can either use the Split Screen feature to put two apps side-by-side or take advantage of the Floating Window option to open any (supported) app in a tiny floating window over your maintain app window, the Pad Go does a good job of handling things, and I encountered no major issues during my testing.

Related Read: How to Multitask on OnePlus Pad

However, I do want to point out that I occasionally encountered animation glitches when switching orientation while in the Split Screen view. Now, this could entirely be due to software (and I say that because there are similar issues with the software that I’ll talk about below)—and easily fixable through a software update—but it’s something to keep in mind.

Among other things, the OnePlus Pad Go comes with a USB Type-C port with USB 2.0 support. Then, you get cellular connectivity—with support for 4G LTE—on the tablet, which allows you to make calls and send messages right from the tablet. If you prefer carrying a tablet for your daily commute or travel, this is the variant you should buy.

Lastly, you get a quad-speaker setup with support for Dolby Atmos. The speakers sound good and get sufficiently loud. What’s also nice is that they don’t crackle or sound tinny at high-volume levels. All in all, combined with the 2.4k display, this makes the Pad Go a great device for media consumption.

One thing that the OnePlus Pad Go doesn’t have, though, is a fingerprint scanner. As such, the only biometric system you get is face unlock, which works and is still better than a PIN or pattern lock but isn’t very reliable and needs good lighting for faster recognition and unlocking.

OnePlus Pad Go: Software

OnePlus offers OxygenOS 13, based on Android 13, on the OnePlus Pad Go out of the box. It’s a tweaked version of the operating system, which means you get a few tablet-specific features to navigate your way around better and perform a bunch of actions on the tablet, like multitasking, for instance.

If you’ve used a OnePlus device or currently do, you’ll feel right at home with the Pad Go. It feels clean and minimal and comes with a bunch of smart features. Cellular Data Sharing is one such feature, which lets you access 5G connections from your smartphone on your Pad Go. Then, you have Auto Connect, which makes it easy to cast your phone screen to the tablet for multitasking; the Content Sync feature for seamlessly moving data between your tablet and the connected phone; and a few more.

However, one thing to note about the software is that the experience isn’t very snappy, as there are instances where you may experience unusual behavior. As I mentioned earlier, I noticed some issues during my time with the Pad Go. These issues include random stutters while scrolling on certain third-party apps, laggy animations when closing apps like YouTube or while accessing the Recents menu, and animation glitches when switching orientation in Split Screen view.

OnePlus Pad Go: Battery Life

OnePlus packs an 8000mAh battery on the Pad Go. It’s slightly smaller than the OnePlus Pad but offers good battery life nonetheless. Depending on your usage, this can last you anywhere from two to five days. In my usage, I was getting between 8 and 10 hours of screen-on-time on the Pad Go with a single charge. I was switching back and forth between LTE and Wi-Fi during my use.

As for charging, OnePlus offers a 33W SUPERVOOC charger in the box with the Pad Go. The charger takes around two hours to charge the battery from zero to full.

OnePlus Pad Go Review: Camera

The OnePlus Pad Go sports an 8MP rear camera. It’s decent for document scanning and occasional snapping (under favorable lighting), but you shouldn’t expect much from it.

Moving to the front, you get an 8MP sensor here, too. The sensor works fine for video calling, given you’re in a good lighting environment. Sadly, you don’t get the Limelight feature, as seen on the original OnePlus Pad, on the Pad Go.

Talking about video capabilities, OnePlus lets you record up to 1080p videos at 30fps from both cameras. But again, the quality is subpar here.

OnePlus Pad Go: Variants and Pricing

OnePlus offers the Pad Go in two configurations: 8GB + 128GB and 8GB + 256GB. In addition, it gives you two options for connectivity: Wi-Fi and LTE. Here’s what the pricing for these models looks like:

Wi-Fi

• 8GB + 128GB: Rs 19,999
• 8GB + 256GB: Rs 23,999

LTE

• 8GB + 128GB: Rs 21,999
• 8GB + 256GB: Rs 23,999

At the time of writing, OnePlus is also running bank offers on the Pad Go. Plus, there’s also an exchange offer available, which you can avail to exchange your old device and bring down the Pad Go’s price further.

OnePlus Pad Go Review: Verdict

If you’re looking for an Android tablet for content consumption but don’t want to spend a lot of money, you can’t go wrong with the OnePlus Pad Go. It’s a solid performer in that department; the beautiful display and excellent quad-speaker setup give you a good entertainment experience without any compromises.

Heavy gaming or office work, of course, isn’t Pad Go’s strong suit. But truth be told, it isn’t meant for that. You’re better off picking OnePlus’ other offering—the OnePlus Pad (review)—for this purpose, which starts at Rs 36,999 and comes with support for a folio keyboard and pen that makes it a better fit for some office/school work.

If your budget is under Rs 20,000, and you want a tablet with a higher refresh rate screen, the Realme Pad 2, for a starting price of Rs 17,999, is a good option. For someone looking for a well-rounded tablet—and willing to spend some up to Rs 25,000—Xiaomi’s Pad 6 (review) is the best option. Not only does it come with a 144Hz display, but it also offers a more powerful Snapdragon 870 chipset and support for accessories like keyboard and stylus.

Buy OnePlus Pad Go