OnePlus Pad (2023)

[Desertlap]

This one has been in the rumor mill for years, but we started seeing credible/plausible rumors about 18 months ago.

According to one Vietnamese customer of ours that got a very quick look at one, will have “new very high-quality screen tech” and will be priced “significantly below Samsungs’ S Tabs”

It’s also pen enabled “the stylo” according to Engadget though the actual pen tech is still unknown.
It also has the MediaTek Dimensity 9000 chip set which is an upper tier performer though it doesn’t compete with the SnapDragon 8CX gen series.

OnePlus has been aggressive in their pricing especially with “new” devices, so it’s bears watching. The customer I mentioned has soft committed to purchasing some, so we likely will be testing it for them.

The 7:5 aspect ratio is unique as far as I can tell and there is only one OEM producing such a panel and the only information they have is “coming soon”

OnePlus Pad is the company’s first tablet | Engadget

[Bishop]

Had to do the math.

4:3 = 1.33333
7:5 = 1.4
3:2 = 1.5

Interesting straddle. I don’t NEED a large format Android tablet, and the OS software issues w/ Android are still a YUGE PITA. When I’m EOL with the Duo Deux, I’m not sure I want the hassle of keeping up with Android.

Let’s see what the pen tech is …

[Desertlap]

It wasn’t in the engadget article and I forget where I actually read it, but the display was supposedly specifically designed for a “digital moleskin” type of application based on a common type of personal notebook used by secondary school age students in China

[Neongolden]

Considering they mention 2ms response time, I bet the stylus will be art-grade. It looks pretty interesting — I feel like the nib will surely be something you insert rather than screw on, as it appears to be about half the size of the Apple Pencil nib but the whole stylus is obviously going for that same school of design.

I wish I could wait for it to come out to try it, but I think I’m already set for the Galaxy ecosystem.

The other thing is, even though the screen and orientation are really cool, I gather from the photos that it is just too small for me, even though I really do get into that spunky little sketchbook feel. I just need the big beefy widescreen Tab Ultras at the end of the day.

[Desertlap]

I’d really like to get this tablet in our test bench, but alas I’m at the mercy of our customers in that I have to wait/hope one will submit them for our certification testing.

The pen and the fairly unique aspect ratio of the display both intrigue me.

[Kumabjorn]

@Neongolden

I feel like the nib will surely be something you insert rather than screw on

Ahh, the days of nib insertion. Glory days of the beyond.

[Bishop]

A 4:3 screen ratio? Geez, I wish Android was a better tablet OS.

[Tams]

I heard you like to screw though.

[Kumabjorn]

Not with nibs. Need something more substantial.

[James]

I admit, I’m intrigued by the aspect ratio and the potential for a new contender in pen tech. It’s been some weeks and pricing was supposed to be announced in “weeks”. Anyone heard anything on pricing yet?

[Dellaster]

It looks promising. I’m especially intrigued by this:

Direct 5G data access from your phone that bypasses the hotspot? I wonder how they’ll get that past the cellular companies here in the US. They make a lot of money charging high prices for meager data allowances on their hotspots.

Copied from:

OnePlus Pad

[Desertlap]

I haven’t gotten a 100% confirmed answer from OnePlus, but the initial response I got makes me think it to be a OnePlus customized version of the software that Samsung uses for their S phones and Tabs (which they license from a 3rd party). And sadly it may only be 100% functional with OnePlus phones.

TLDR It’s not any software/hardware that would eliminate the need for a phone with hotspot functionality

PS: We have a customer that has committed to trialing these when they actually release, so we will be putting them through our certification tests.

PPS: I can’t find it now since I don’t recall where I read it, but there was some talk of a 5G enabled version specifically for the US market, and likely a T-mobile exclusive

[Dellaster]

@Desertlap

TLDR It’s not any software/hardware that would eliminate the need for a phone with hotspot functionality

Wow, that’s some heavy duty marketing twist if so.

OnePlus: “Skip the hotspot and share 5G mobile data with your phone under the same secure account.”

How they can go from that claim to “no, you still need an active hotspot and it’s limited to your hotspot data allowance” is kinda amazing… and drops my opinion of OnePlus a notch.

[James]

@Desertlap

PPS: I can’t find it now since I don’t recall where I read it, but there was some talk of a 5G enabled version specifically for the US market, and likely a T-mobile exclusive

If it’s T-Mobile exclusive, that’s probably how they’re getting around the “hotspot” idea. At least for my plan, T-Mobile doesn’t charge anything for using my phone as a Hotspot already.

[JoeS]

The early reviews are mixed, with cranky Ars writer Ron Amadeo not loving the display, but other sources generally liking the device.

[Desertlap]

I suspect the ARS reviewer got a defective unit given that other reviews seem at least ok with the display.

OTOH as TV and other Android phone makers a few years ago learned the hard way, having a good high refresh rate display is more than just cranking up the hertz, but needs software changes too.

[Desertlap]

As a follow up on this tablet, customer submitted one for our certification tests last Thursday.

We haven’t completed testing yet but overall I’d say it’s a decent tablet considering the price, but Samsung and Apple won’t lose any sleep over it.

We didn’t see any of the display issues that ARS saw with their unit, which supports my belief that they just got a bad unit.

OTOH. overall the display is good but not great. On the positive side it’s reasonably color accurate out of the box, but the default setting seems to be a bit dark for most users and linearity is mediocre which could present issues with editing color photos.

We don’t go in depth on pen testing, but simply verify basic functionality. Experientially, it seems in line with the Surface Pro 7 with the standard pen and is multiple steps back from Samsung’s Tab S or Apple’s iPads.

Performance is mid range at best overall though good considering the price.

One last thing is that OnePlus still needs to do some tweaking of their software IMHO as there are still lots of odd bugs such as the occasional excessive delay opening apps (so much so you start to think the tablet has locked up).

And significantly more than Android tablets generally, many apps don’t seem to know how to display properly with the aspect ratio/dpi with many apps either reverting to phone mode or in some cases missing parts of the UI as they seem to be “off screen” for practical purposes.

I do like the keyboard feel though I’m more mixed on the trackpad which takes too much click pressure while at the same time being overly prone to false touches.

PS: The Amazon Kindle App on the One Plus is the first besides the iPad that supports pen markup in supported books/docs, but OTOH often have really weird formatting including a single narrow column in landscape mode.

I’ve forwarded the bugs we found to Amazon but have not gotten a response yet.

[hackitfast]

I received my tablet today, but still haven’t gotten the pen stylus or keyboard cover in the mail yet (they come tomorrow).

The tablet has good build quality with an aluminum body and is sturdily built. Though compared to the Robo & Kala I had, this device definitely doesn’t feel as premium: the glass has a sort of “hollow” feeling when you tap on it, as does the back of the tablet. But overall, the device is sturdy and I don’t really have any issues with it.

To preface things, I mainly bought this tablet to study for some certificates that I’ve been wanting to get for a while, and decided to specifically seek a tablet that allowed me to split the screen horizontally while in portrait mode. The only tablets capable of this are Microsoft Surface computers, the Robo & Kala, and Android tablets such as the Galaxy Tab and OnePlus Pad.

My personal phone is a Google Pixel 7 Pro, but having never used an Android tablet in the past I’m pleasantly surprised at how well the tablet performs and the functionality that OxygenOS has. There are plenty of screen gestures you can use, such as using three fingers swipe down to take a screenshot, swiping down in the center of the screen with two fingers to split the screen, or pinching active applications smaller using 4 fingers to make them a smaller window. There are many variations of these gestures that have more specificity, such as another gesture to take region-based screenshots or scrolling screenshots.

This tablet has a MediaTek Dimensity 9000. While it’s not a Snapdragon processor, it seems to be pretty speedy for everyday applications such as Google apps like Gmail, Keep, Docs, Messages, and Chrome, but also works well with other apps like Discord, Telegram, and OneNote. My favorite use case is holding the tablet in portrait mode, and splitting the screen horizontally so that Chrome is on top and OneNote is on the bottom for me to take notes on. I do also want to mention that so far every app I’ve thrown at this thing supports tablet mode, not just some blown up phone application.

Overall, I do like the aesthetics of OxygenOS as well, and the UX / UI both seem to be excellent coming from Google Pixel. The tablet doesn’t come with any bloatware (other than maybe the Netflix app if you consider that bloat), although the data analytics that inevitably pop up while you’re setting up the tablet do seem a bit sketchy. Still looking into how I can disable them, without having to root the device.

Compared to the OLED on the Robo & Kala however, the IPS screen on this device isn’t quite as good (though perhaps that’s not really a fair comparison!). Maybe I just need to mess with the screen settings a bit, but the colors seem a tad washed out. I’ll watch some TV shows on it to see if I can get a better idea of the screen.

There are some very minor things that I’ve noticed that I don’t like.

• My touches feel every so slightly delayed, most noticeable when scrolling. Maybe I’m spoiled on my Pixel 7 Pro, but it does feel a bit off.
• The lack of fingerprint scanner makes it annoying when using password vaults, since I have to type in my whole password when unlocking them. I can also set up a PIN but prefer not to.
• No NFC on the tablet, so I can’t use my Yubikey two-factor device in order to log in to my apps.

Some notable things that I like about this tablet:

• The 120Hz screen feels quite smooth, if the app you’re in supports the feature.
• The battery on this tablet is insanely good, and only dropped 5% while waking and sleeping the device several times over the period of 2-3 hours.
• It doesn’t crash or get bluescreens, like my Robo & Kala tablet (hah)

[JoeS]

@hackitfast delivers! Thanks for the great first impressions. Sounds pretty good so far!

[hackitfast]

Just want to finalize my review, since the stylus and keyboard arrived!

The tablet keyboard and stylus have come in (I’m actually writing this up on the OnePlus Keyboard right now). Overall I’m incredibly impressed with how this tablet, keyboard and stylus perform for how much the value is for about $600 USD, and I’d absolutely recommend this to anyone who wants to have a tablet for taking notes and maybe doing some other basic things on.

The keyboard is of good build quality. It is plastic (not aluminum like the body) but feels sturdy, and doubles as a protective case for when you’re not using the tablet. There are a few downsides that I see, although keep in mind that of course this is a mid-range keyboard and tablet so don’t expect the world of it.

The good:

• The keyboard is responsive, and has a nice feedback when typing. The key travel is reminiscent of a Dell rubber dome keyboard, so don’t expect a Mac-level typing experience
• The trackpad is responsive and does its job nicely, tracking my finger very finely as if I were on a laptop
• Protects the tablet nicely when not in use, and the external material does not feel “cheap” when held in a fully closed position for stowage

The bad (subjective and non-subjective):

• There is no backlit keyboard lighting, making it potentially harder to type in darker environments
• The trackpad is essentially touching the spacebar of the keyboard, so it is very easy to accidentally hit your thumb while typing at faster speeds. There is, however, a way to disable the trackpad using the Function key on the keyboard, and the number ‘5’
• There is one, single angle in which you are able to use the keyboard for the OnePlus Pad, so if it’s not the angle you want, tough luck!

Overall, it’s a decent keyboard! Again, just don’t expect anything to jump out at you. It just does the job its intended to do.

Onto the stylus!

The stylus, coming from an old Microsoft Surface 3, is personally disappointing to me. When using the stylus, I like to compare it to how a hockey puck on an air hockey table would slide. There isn’t a hint of resistance when using it, which to some people may be preferable, but for me this is going to take a lot of adjustment coming from an almost rubbery, friction-like feel I got while using the Microsoft Surface 3 and Microsoft Pen stylus, which allowed me a much finer precision of how I write my individual letters. I did a bit of searching and managed to find one or two paper-like screen protectors, though they are unfortunately not located within the United States and would probably cost quite a bit of money to ship them over this way. I should also add that if you want a replacement nib for the stylus, while there is one additional one in the box, third party ones just plain do not exist and the OEM ones aren’t very easy to find either. In terms of longevity, that’s not looking too great.

I can’t compare the stylus to an iPad Pencil, as I’ve never used one on the device, though I have a gut feeling that it is somewhat of a similar writing experience. My best bet in this case is probably to get a screen protector shipped overseas (as mentioned prior) that would allow a more “realistic” feel when note taking.

Overall this tablet is a crazy good deal for the price you pay. I can’t say much of the competing devices such as those by Lenovo or Samsung as I haven’t used those before, but my experience on the OnePlus Pad has been a rather pleasant one.

Quick Edit: I managed to snag a Galaxy Tab S9 with a keyboard and stylus all brand new, for $650, so the OnePlus Tab will go back like the Robo & Kala But I promise the OnePlus Pad is still worth the price!