OnePlus Pad 2 Review: Never Settle for Any Other Android Tablet!

It might have moved into the premium segment in smartphones, but when it comes to tablets, OnePlus seems to be sticking to its OG flagship-killing roots. The brand surprised a lot of people when it released the very sleekly designed and close to flagship level specced OnePlus Pad in 2023 at a very competitive price. Some of us felt that OnePlus had decided to give its tablet a miss this year when it was not announced in the first part of the year, but the brand is not ready to leave the tablet table yet.

It has released the OnePlus Pad 2, which improves almost every aspect of the OnePlus Pad and does so without a substantial increase in price. The OnePlus Pad 2 out-specs every Android tablet in its price segment by some distance and can lay claim to not just being the most powerful Android tablet out there but a formidable productivity tool when combined with a keyboard cover and a stylus.

OnePlus Pad 2 Design and appearance: Moving from green to gray, staying sleek as ever

When it comes to design, OnePlus has clearly decided not to fix what was not broken. The OG OnePlus Pad had turned heads last year with its sleek design and striking green shade. The OnePlus Pad 2 broadly sticks to the same design, although it ditches the green for what it terms a Nimbus Gray. The back and sides remain metal, and while the gray color will not turn heads like the green, it does look very quietly elegant. The single camera on the back remains on the center of the left side, indicating that it is best used with the tablet in landscape mode. Like the OnePlus Pad, the Pad 2’s sides are curved, except for one, which is flat to allow for the wireless charging of a stylus that attaches magnetically to it (yes, like on the iPad).

The OnePlus Pad 2 is exactly as slim as the OnePlus Pad – a super thin 6.5 mm – but it is larger in other proportions. It is 268.7 mm tall as compared to 258 mm and wider at 195.1 mm as against 189.4 mm. It is a bit heavier, too – 584 grams to 552 grams, but you are unlikely to notice this weight as it is distributed over a bigger area. The front now features a 12.1-inch display as compared to the 11.6-inch one, but it has the same 7:5 aspect ratio (ReadFit, as termed by OnePlus) that the OnePlus Pad did, giving it a slightly more square than a rectangular look.

Its slimness and use of metal give the OnePlus Pad 2 a very sleek, elegant appearance. It is a little slippery and as it is bigger, a little more difficult to manage than the previous OnePlus Pad, and there is no mention of protection on the display or dust and water resistance. Still, all said and done, the OnePlus Pad 2 cuts a very sleek, smart figure, and thanks to the camera positioning on the back and its curved sides, is unlikely to be mistaken for an iPad.

OnePlus Pad 2 specs: Flagship specs, spearheaded by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3

The OnePlus Pad 2 is a total spec monster. The larger 12.1-inch display has what is called a 3K resolution of 3000 x 2120 pixels with a pixel density of 303 ppi, which is actually higher than the 2752 x 2064 px resolution and 264 ppi seen on the 13-inch iPad Pro. It is not OLED, but it is impressively bright and colorful and has a refresh rate of 144 Hz, one of the highest in the market.

That is not all. The OnePlus Pad 2 is hands down the most powerful Android tablet in the Indian market in terms of processor. While the OnePlus Pad had come with the MediaTek Dimensity 9000, which was a powerful and flagship-level processor, the OnePlus Pad 2 has gone for the chip that is considered the most powerful in the Android segment, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, seen on devices like the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and the OnePlus 12. This is paired with 8 GB and 12 GB of LPDDR5X RAM and storage of 128 GB and 256 GB, although this is UFS 3.1, as compared to UFS 4.0, which is seen in most flagship devices.

The rear camera is a 13-megapixel one, while the front-facing one, which is also on the longer side of the tablet (designed for landscape orientation use), is an 8.0-megapixel. The battery is similar to that of the OnePlus Pad – 9510 mAh with support for 67W SuperVOOC charge and a charger in the box. That might seem odd given the fact that the OnePlus Pad 2 has a bigger display, but OnePlus says that there are a number of battery optimizations in OxygenOS 14.1 (running on top of Android 14), which actually result in better battery life.

Add Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and six speakers (as compared to four on the OnePlus Pad), and the OnePlus Pad 2 emerges as one of the most powerfully specced tablets around. There are some gaps in the spec sheet, though – OnePlus has again decided against having a 5G variant of the tablet, the cameras seem similar to the ones on the previous tablet, and there still is no fingerprint scanner, which is an odd omission in such a well-specced device, which clearly has a strong productivity side to it.

OnePlus Pad 2 Accessories: An improved stylus and a keyboard that adds typing and NFC!

The OnePlus Pad 2, like its predecessor, comes with a keyboard cover, the OnePlus Smart Keyboard, and a stylus, the Stylo 2. Both are significant improvements over their initial versions.

The Smart Keyboard seems to have drawn some inspiration from Apple’s iPad Magic Keyboard Folio, which actually comes in two parts – a keyboard and a back cover with a kickstand, both of which attach magnetically to the tablet. Incidentally, the keyboard can also connect over Bluetooth, so if you wish, you can use it even without attaching it to the tablet. The part of the keyboard that attaches to the tablet folds over conveniently, converting it to a super slim keyboard, although we could not use it with any other device.

At 504 grams, the Smart Keyboard does not add too much bulk to the OnePlus Pad 2, taking its total weight to just over a kilogram. The kickstand on the back cover lets you get more than the usual viewing angles, giving the tablet a very Surface feel. The keyboard itself features keys as well as a trackpad. Our experience of both was a little mixed – the keys have a nice, clicky feel to them but seemed a little on the small side, and while the touchpad worked very well, it was prone to the odd accidental touch.

Interestingly, the keyboard actually adds NFC functionality to the OnePlus Pad 2 (which does not have NFC!). It enables what OnePlus calls OneTouch Transmission, which allows you to transfer files from select OnePlus phones to the tablet with just a touch, even when the tablet is locked, which is kind of cool, although we still wonder why NFC was not part of the tablet specs (imagine buying a keyboard to get NFC connectivity). We would have liked larger keys and a smaller touchpad, but the Smart Keyboard is still a very good keyboard accessory although its Rs 8,499 price tag might seem a little on the higher side.

The Stylo 2 stylus is 165.3 mm tall, making it comfortable to hold, and comes with a slightly leather-like finish. It pairs smoothly with the OnePlus Pad 2 and attaches to its side magnetically. It comes with 16,000 levels of pressure sensitivity and tilt sensitivity onboard, making it great to write and draw with. It has no buttons, but a double tap on it will allow you to switch between different drawing tools. One of Stylo’s coolest features is Handwriting Feedback, which tries to imitate the writing experience on paper, depending on the writing instrument you have chosen – you can actually sense the difference between using a pen and a pencil, for instance. While its sensitivity and ease of use are admirable, the stylus does not have handwriting recognition at the time of writing, which is surprising, given its price of Rs 5,499. Even so, it is very good value for money for those who would like to sketch and write on this tablet.

Both the keyboard and the stylus charge wirelessly off the OnePlus Pad 2. We have been given no battery figures, but we have sailed through days of use without any problems, and of course, every time we attach them to the OnePlus Pad, they start getting charged again. They are a little on the pricey side, given the prices of Android tablet accessories, but blend in well with the OnePlus Pad 2 and give it an extra productive and creative streak.

OnePlus Pad 2 Performance: Top of the tablet tablet performer

The OnePlus Pad 2 is one of the smoothest working Android tablets we have used. The display is magnificent and very impressively bright, making it great for viewing content. The hardware ensures that the tablet can handle pretty much everything you throw at it, from high-end gaming (Genshin Impact looks glorious on that display) to multimedia presentations and documents to simple, old-fashioned web browsing. This is a great display for those who want to read and even write – that high pixel density and 7:5 aspect ratio mean you have so much more space (even in split screen mode) and sharper fonts, although videos have some ‘banding’ thanks to the slightly odd resolution. The six speakers deliver some very impressive audio, perhaps the best we have heard out of iPad-land – we could actually sense the applause in the Olympics coming from around us as we watched a telecast!

In terms of sheer power, the OnePlus Pad 2 is the boss of Android tabletland. We were actually able to edit videos on it without any problems. The tablet does not get too warm, even during intense gaming or multitasking sessions. It works very well with the Smart Keyboard and the Stylo 2 as well, with pairing happening seamlessly and with zero lags. This article was written using the Smart Keyboard, and while we would have preferred larger keys and accidental touchpad touches that made the cursor leap from time to time, the overall experience was a decent one and comfortably on par with a basic notebook!

OnePlus has further refined OxygenOS for the tablet (it comes with no bloatware – our unit only had Netflix and WPS Office preinstalled), and gestures like swiping down with two fingers to split the screen worked smoothly and with impressive animations. The UI remains a little barebones as compared to those on the Galaxy Tab, but there is a lot of productivity and entertainment potential here, with a whole new bunch of AI tools coming in September (some, like AI Eraser, are already available).

There is also smooth content and connection sharing with OnePlus phones over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The 5G connection sharing is actually useful and compensates for the absence of 5G connectivity. It is a bit like an iPhone and an iPad, with the ability to cut and paste content from one device to another seamlessly. Of course, you would need to be signed into the same OnePlus account on both devices for this to work.

OnePlus also has brought in a feature it calls App Auto Adaption to adjust apps to fit the tablet screen properly, which improves the viewing experience, although some apps still look like stretched versions of their tablet avatars, and some seemed oddly unresponsive at times (Android tablet app blues, we think).

The battery life of the OnePlus Pad 2 is extremely impressive. We regularly got 12-14 hours of normal usage with Wi-Fi being on right through. The 67W charger in the box can charge that massive battery in about 90-100 minutes, which is very impressive again. The cameras are, however, a little disappointing and best used for video calls and snaps when you have no other device handy. The absence of a fingerprint scanner is surprising, but in all other regards, the OnePlus Pad 2 is pretty much the Android tablet boss.

OnePlus Pad 2 Price: Flagship killing material

The OnePlus Pad 2 is available in two RAM and storage variants at the following prices:

• 8 GB/ 128 GB: Rs 39,999
• 12 GB/ 256 GB: $549/ Rs 42,999

These prices are very impressive when you consider that the OnePlus Pad released last year was priced at Rs 37,999 and Rs 39,999 for similar RAM and storage configurations. For the extra Rs 2,000, the OnePlus Pad 2 comes with a bigger display, two more speakers, and a faster processor.

While there are other tablets in its price zone, there is absolutely nothing that matches the OnePlus Pad 2 in terms of specs. As we mentioned earlier, it is the first (and at the time of writing, the only) Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3-powered tablet in the Indian market, which, in itself, puts it in a league of its own. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 might have an AMOLED display, come with an S Pen, and also have dust and water resistance, but it is not only more expensive (Rs 72,999) but runs on the previous generation Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor and also charges competitively slowly. The more affordable variant of the Tab S9, the Galaxy Tab S9 FE, might get in the way of the OnePlus Pad 2 at its price of $549/Rs 34,999.

That said, its 10.9-inch display has a refresh rate of only 90 Hz, and although it comes with an S Pen, the tablet runs on the Exynos 1380 chip, which, while being very able, is hardly a flagship category. The base iPad (10th generation) now starts at Rs 34,999 for 64 GB but comes with an older processor and a much smaller display, while the iPad Air, which also has a slightly older M2 processor, starts at Rs $749/59,999.

OnePlus Pad 2 Review Verdict: Why Settle for another Android premium tablet?

The OnePlus Pad 2 is perhaps the most affordable device (including smartphones) that runs on the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor. That itself puts it in a zone of its own in the Android tablet universe. Add to that some very good hardware (including an excellent display), good speakers, a sleek design, and handy accessories, and we honestly feel that this is as good as it gets in Android tablets, not just in the vicinity of Rs 40,000, but even well beyond that.

In fact, we can only think of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 rivaling it, and that too because of its S Pen and AMOLED displays – but that worthy tablet not only has an older chip but is also way more expensive at Rs 72,999. Yes, the iPad still has a software edge over it (iPadOS works more smoothly than Android on tablets), but we still think the OnePlus Pad 2 is hands down the best Android premium tablet in the market in terms of sheer value for money. If OnePlus can refine the OS a little, this could even give the mighty iPad Air a run for its money. If you are chasing value for money, Never Settle for any other premium tablet.

Buy OnePlus Pad 2