When I reviewed OnePlus’s first-ever tablet last year, I knew the brand had a winner on hand. Almost one and a half years later, I’ve been using the successor, the OnePlus Pad 2, and here’s a look at if it elevates the Android tablet experience or not.
Design and Display
The aesthetics of the 12.1-inch tablet mostly remains unchanged. Its all-metal unibody looks professional in Nimbus Gray, the only colour variant available. I do miss seeing the trademark Halo Green option this time. The tablet is fairly slim at 6.49 mm but weighs a bit more, at 584g, compared to last year’s tablet.
The screen size feels ideal for all kinds of use — be it media consumption, responding to emails, catching up on product briefings, reading, gaming or binge-watching. This time around, there’s Dolby Vision integrated, along with six stereo speakers that make for an excellent multimedia experience — be it movies, shows or games.
I started watching Lovely Runner on Netflix, a Korean romance drama that’s winning hearts this summer! With the 7:5 aspect ratio, there is a fair bit of blank space both on the top and bottom, even when zoomed in. However, any hitches are pushed to the background with the quality of visuals as well as the impressive acoustics on the tab. The colours are bright and vibrant, and the audio deep. The refresh rate on Pad 2 remains the same as that of its predecessor, at 144 Hz, which varies based on the content on-screen.
Productivity
The review unit I’ve been using shipped with the OnePlus Smart Keyboard, and made opting out of my laptop easy when I wanted to. If you also use a OnePlus smartphone, the brand promises super-fast NFC file transfer between devices. The keyboard is lightweight and easy to carry around. The layout feels specious enough to type away documents and emails without feeling cramped in any way.
The new Open Canvas feature on the tab lets me view up to three different apps simultaneously. While I don’t have much use for this, if you’re a student or professional multitasker, then you might benefit from this three-screen split view.
There’s a rather handy Recording Summary feature built into the recorder now. It took about 10-12 seconds to summarise a 20-second voice note. The written summary was accurate and professionally presented in bullet points and gets automatically saved in the Notes app. Google’s Gemini AI is built-in to the messages app and gives quick suggestions and replies to text.
The tab comes with a 13 MP rear camera and an 8 MP front camera, which is just about good enough for video meetings on-the-go. Not that many users might turn to the tablet for clicking photos but there are new editing features added to the Pad 2. There’s the AI Eraser 2.0 that lets me edit out aspects of a photo that I don’t want to retain. There’s also Smart Cutout 2.0, which lets me outline cut and use objects from a photograph in notes or memes!
Two more features, AI Speak, which can read text aloud while you multitask, and AI Writer, which can create original content based on image and text prompts, will most likely be added to the device through an OTA update by September 2024.
Tech Specs and Battery
The OnePlus Pad 2 features the top-of-the-line Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 platform, along with 12 GB RAM and 256 GB storage space. Multitasking on the tablet was a breeze, with no lags or stutters while switching between multiple apps or between apps and games.
The Pad 2 has a massive 9,510 mAh battery and I could use it for a couple of hours a day and go 3-4 days before having to plug it back in. My primary usage was watching movies or TV shows, reading books and catching up on emails.
Verdict
With the OnePlus Pad 2, the brand offers consumers a tablet that provides a great multimedia experience, meaningful AI features and excellent battery life — all packaged in a svelte professional aesthetic.
The added accessories, such as the OnePlus Stylo 2 and the OnePlus Smart Keyboard, are truly useful, and it would have definitely sweetened the deal to include at least the keyboard at this price tag.
