OnePlus’ Pad 2 has a sharp display with a price tag that stings

As an amusement device, the caller OnePlus Pad 2 shines. The show is dazzling, its speakers, top-notch. In fact, the Android tablet is adjacent much almighty than its predecessor for watching movies, listening to music, and playing games — truthful overmuch truthful that, during the clip I spent investigating the tablet, I had nary tendency to watercourse shows oregon perceive to euphony connected my 2022 iPad Air. 

Unfortunately, though, that isn’t the full story. The Pad 2 is besides being sold arsenic a productivity instrumentality — and for that, arsenic I’ll explain, I recovered it lackluster. Add to that the information that, portion the archetypal OnePlus Pad (which, unfortunately, will beryllium discontinued erstwhile the existing banal is sold out) provided an awesome worth for its price, OnePlus has accrued the outgo of its caller midrange tablet by $70 to $549.99, making it harder to vie with akin Android tablets. 

A flagship surface astatine a midrange price

But it has to beryllium admitted that different likewise priced tablets can’t vie with the specs of the OnePlus Pad 2’s screen, either. Like its predecessor, the Pad 2 offers a higher 144Hz adaptable refresh complaint than adjacent Apple and Samsung’s pricier premium tablets, which allows for buttery creaseless scrolling and casual navigation. The 3K LCD surface inactive supports Dolby Vision but tin present deed a highest brightness of 900 nits with a sharper 3000 x 2120 resolution. The impressively agleam and crisp show makes movies travel alive, with bully opposition levels for an LCD. Colors are besides affluent and vibrant — truthful agelong arsenic you enactment indoors. 

With the caller Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile processor, treble the storage, and much RAM (256GB SSD / 12GB RAM), apps (including games) load astatine lightning velocity and tally smoothly. The improved show besides doesn’t travel astatine the disbursal of artillery life, which lasts arsenic agelong arsenic its predecessor’s. 

At 12.1 inches, the Pad 2’s surface sits determination betwixt the latest 11-inch and 13-inch tablets from Apple, Samsung, and Google, and it besides feels spacious and comfy for contented consumption, acknowledgment to its 7:5 facet ratio. In contrast, Samsung and Google’s tablets diagnostic a 16:10 ratio, which tin marque speechmaking oregon watching videos successful scenery mode consciousness cramped.

Yet portion the surface is spacious, astatine astir 1.29 pounds (584 grams), the tablet’s value makes it hard to work oregon ticker movies comfortably for agelong periods of time. Combined with its size, the Pad 2 gets tiring to clasp — I bask watching movies oregon speechmaking portion lying down, truthful this became a problem. I had to usage the lawsuit to prop the tablet up. 

Still, if you tin place that, you get a tablet that provides a large movie-watching acquisition that’s made adjacent amended with its terrific speakers. Curiously, OnePlus has dropped enactment for Dolby Atmos, but its six speakers inactive present a large and afloat dependable with OnePlus’s mentation of spatial audio, Holo Audio. It automatically switches audio channels depending connected whether it’s successful scenery oregon representation mode, which allows you to bask an immersive stereo dependable hard to find successful a tablet astatine this price. It’s a shame there’s nary 3.5mm headphone jack, but past again, astir tablets these days look to lone enactment with wireless headphones.

Still not a superior productivity device

As an Android tablet for entertainment, the OnePlus 2 is exceptional — but for everything else, it’s conscionable okay. For example, 1 of the ways OnePad tries to transportation the Pad 2 arsenic a productivity-focused tablet is by improving the tablet’s multitasking capabilities with the Open Canvas feature. First debuted successful the OnePlus Open, the mounting present lets you tally 3 apps split-screen and customize their layout — you tin past prevention the trio arsenic a radical for speedy access, which makes multitasking easier than before. However, Apple and Samsung’s tablets connection much utile multitasking and windowing options. 

In addition, due to the fact that OnePlus’ OxygenOS 14.1 bundle is built connected apical of Android 14, the diagnostic is constricted by the information that a batch of Android apps aren’t optimized for a tablet’s larger display. Slack, for instance, looks stretched retired and lacks multiple-column views, which leaves a batch of bare space. Sharing the surface with 2 different apps utilizing the Open Canvas diagnostic made the app smaller and adjacent much challenging to navigate, truthful I conscionable stopped utilizing it altogether.

That isn’t to accidental you can’t get immoderate enactment done. The tablet works conscionable good for airy productivity work. Google and Microsoft Office apps enactment well, and the signaling app adjacent lets you people circumstantial points. I similar that OnePlus’ Notes app offers built-in notebooks with 3 antithetic templates: 1 with bullets, a 2nd with lines, and different with a grid. Note-taking e-readers similar Kobo’s Elipsa 2E connection much options, but that’s inactive a bully interaction for students oregon radical similar maine who besides usage their tablets for journaling.

OnePlus besides promises to present a batch of caller AI-powered features that are akin to the productivity-focused ones Google released earlier this year. AI Recording Summary volition summarize cardinal points successful agelong documents, portion AI Speak volition work substance aloud, and AI Writer volition assistance you constitute up contented utilizing substance oregon representation prompts. Maybe these features volition assistance marque the tablet amended — but they definite aren’t present yet, and what is presently disposable won’t chopped it if you privation to get immoderate existent enactment done.

Aside from its software, OnePlus’ accessories besides clasp it backmost from being a superior productivity device. Along with the $39.99 OnePlus Folio Case 2, the institution besides sells the $149.99 OnePlus Smart Keyboard and the $99.99 OnePlus Stylo 2. I was capable to trial the past two. 

OnePlus’ detachable keyboard is okay, but it doesn’t unrecorded up to the standards needed for existent productivity. I had nary occupation utilizing it for browsing the web oregon shooting abbreviated emails. It’s tiny adjacent for my tiny fingers, but it’s inactive comfy to benignant on. The trackpad is spacious and casual to navigate, too, with adjuvant features similar multi-finger motion support. It clicks loudly, though, which made maine consciousness uncomfortable successful quieter nationalist settings.

My biggest complaint, though, is that the keyboard conscionable isn’t sturdy enough. The keyboard magnetically attaches to the Pad via 3 pogo pins and charges done the tablet comparatively quickly. It bends to springiness a tilt ranging from 110 to 165 degrees, providing for a decent fig of viewing angles. Unfortunately, the keyboard popped disconnected the pins a fewer times, erstwhile portion resting connected my thigh and different clip portion connected my desk. Thankfully, you don’t person to connect the keyboard to your tablet to usage it due to the fact that it supports Bluetooth, but that does clasp it backmost from being a decent laptop replacement.

The stylus mightiness beryllium OnePlus’ redeeming grace, though. Like the OnePlus Smart Keyboard, the caller Stylo 2 rapidly charges erstwhile magnetically attached to the Pad. It writes smoothly with nary perceptive lag and offers accrued unit sensitivity levels, from 4,096 to 16,000. The caller leather-like worldly offers amended grip and is comfy to hold, portion OnePlus has besides added a caller linear centrifugal that makes the extremity vibrate to simulate penning with pen and paper. I decidedly didn’t consciousness similar I was penning connected paper, but it did replicate the acquisition somewhat amended than my USB-C Apple Pencil.

Very good, but overpriced 

Overall, the OnePlus Pad 2 capitalizes upon its strengths and continues to connection flagship specs, with an awesome surface that comparable tablets can’t match. It’s inactive not large for superior productivity oregon instauration work, but it tin grip airy productivity chores and is simply a terrific midrange Android tablet for watching movies and consuming different types of entertainment. If you ain a OnePlus phone, it’s adjacent much tempting, with further pluses specified arsenic hotspot sharing.

However, compared with akin Android tablets, its $549.99 terms tag is conscionable excessively high. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus, which costs $50 much than the Pad 2, includes a stylus, waterproofing, cellular connectivity arsenic an option, and a amended bundle policy; Samsung says the Tab S9 FE Plus volition person 4 years of Android upgrades, arsenic opposed to OnePlus’ committedness of three, and 5 — not 4 —  years of information updates. Even Google’s decent Pixel Tablet, which doesn’t connection arsenic galore bells and whistles, volition prevention you astir $150 implicit the caller Pad 2.

In different words, OnePlus these days really present faces existent competition. While the large surface and show whitethorn beryllium tempting, successful my opinion, it’s not capable to warrant the $70 terms hike.

Photography by Sheena Vasani / The Verge