Realme Pad Review

Android device manufacturers are not going to give up and are trying with might and main to revive the tablet segment. Of course, the iPad is still far away, but self-respecting vendors are systematically releasing their new tablets to the market. Today we will talk about Realme Pad, one of the examples of the development of this class of devices. In part, the recent growth in popularity of tablets is due to the transfer of work and study to home conditions. In which the gadget can often help out no worse than a PC or laptop in simple office scenarios and video calls. Therefore, it is not at all necessary to make such gadgets expensive and heavy-duty, although such options are also already available.

Appearance and ergonomics

After getting acquainted with the simple packaging of the box, we take the device in our hands and immediately note two things: Realme Pad is quite thin, and the frames and the main part of the back are made of metal. In its upper part there is a small plastic insert, separated from the metal panel by a slot with a glossy finish. From the side, the difference is practically not visible, except that if you look closely in good lighting, the difference between the textures of the materials will become obvious. Design:

• Materials. The design is calm, not to say that the original, while quite versatile, looks strictly in both gray and gold. Back metal matte fingerprints and dirt on it are visible, but significantly less. Of the visual elements on the back, in addition to the mentioned glossy strip, there is only a camera and the Realme logo, located at different angles diagonally from each other.
• Front From the front, the tablet is not very remarkable: a noticeable thickness of the frame, a camera in one of them, and, perhaps, All. On the side panel adjacent to the side with the front camera, there is a dual volume control key, two microphones for more convenient sound capture during calls, and a memory card slot.
• Networks. If you take such a tablet with you, then you need to provide for a connection to a wireless network or distribute the Internet from a smartphone.
• Sidebar. The opposite sidebar is free of controls and ports. At the ends there are two speakers, on one of them there is a power button, on the contrary there is a Type-C connector and a headphone jack, located on the fold of the panel, almost at the corner.
• Ergonomics. This location of the connector may raise questions in terms of ergonomics of use, the wire, and plug may get in the way of hand in certain scenarios. On the other side, even in third-party cases there are no problems with it, and if you wish, you can use your favorite wired model and not waste battery power on connecting wireless headphones.
• Usage options. The layout of the controls immediately says that the manufacturer sees more frequent use of the tablet in landscape orientation. However, the dimensions make it possible to use Realme Pad in portrait orientation.
• Weight. The tablet is well-balanced in terms of weight, there is no skew in any direction. Just enough screen width to grab it across with one medium-sized hand. I was pleased with the assembly, in this case there is no hint of squeaks and the progress of materials. The overall impression of the design is a calm exterior, standard placement of buttons and connectors. A thin case will not make the tablet a hindrance in a backpack, the use of brushed metal is seen as a plus for your money, the bezels around the display could be smaller.

Screen, cameras, and multimedia

In terms of its characteristics, the IPS-matrix installed in the Realme Pad represents the golden mean and a slice of the budget Android tablet market. With a diagonal of 10.4 “the display received QHD resolution, which is essentially an extended FHD + format and falls short of the generally accepted 2K format. The coating is glossy, prints are collected and erased quickly. Display:

• Hz. Despite the presence at the processor level of support for an increased screen refresh rate, this option bypassed the tablet. Apparently, the emphasis was placed on energy efficiency and, perhaps, this is a justified step. Which- or there are no additional tools to ensure smooth scrolling in the settings.
• IPS. And in general, the settings are the most basic: auto brightness adjustment, eye protection from the blue spectrum, reading mode, light and dark themes, screen saver and shutdown time. The brightness at the peak is unlikely to allow you to adequately use the tablet under the sun, it is quite enough for the room. Any wide color gamut is not declared here, the display adequately reproduces colors, but nothing more, black goes a little into gray, which is typical for IPS.
• 8 MP. Front and main cameras have the same resolution, 8MP For video chats, you can use any, except that the front has a wider shooting angle. No one has yet invented a flagship photo tablet, so in the case of Realme Pad, you should not count on fantastic shots. It shoots tolerably, the zoom works up to 6x, the video is shot in FHD with 30 frames per second. For those, who would not mind setting the frame settings on their own, the “Expert” mode is provided.
• Dolby Atmos. The already mentioned 4 speakers are responsible for the sound, there is support for Dolby Atmos, enabling this option in the quick switch menu makes the sound more voluminous and louder. The speaker cutouts are spaced apart on the sides of the tablet, this achieves a stereo effect and reduces the likelihood that all 4 speakers will be covered by the user's hands. This option, of course, is not excluded, hence the presence of a headphone jack, we also remember about the wireless connection protocol.

Performance and autonomy

The MediaTek Helio G80 processor installed in Realme Pad has been on the market for a long time and is well known from many smartphones: Redmi 9, Realme 6i, Samsung Galaxy A32/M22/M32, the list is extensive. The core layout of the chip is focused more on autonomy than on super performance. Specs:

• 4 GB. You can play if you like, but in demanding games you won't be able to jump above the average graphics settings. With regular 4 GB of RAM, if you can talk about games, then rather about simple casual games and puzzles, or the same. This is how the results of synthetic tests look like, the screenshots are vertical because not all applications are optimized for tablets.
• Lags. In normal use, some then I didn’t notice critical lags and freezes, of course, there is no smoothness like that of more productive models, but again it’s worth reminding yourself of its cost. Of course, ideally I would like to see faster permanent memory and at least 128 GB. Of the built-in 64 GB, a little more than 50 GB is available to the user.
• 7100 mAh. The battery is not the most capacious – 7100 mAh, apparently, this was done to maintain a slender profile of the tablet. I think the step is correct in the context of a desktop / bedside device scenario, as a rule, there will definitely be a charger nearby.
• 18W Fully charged tablet in online browsing mode — video at 30% of full brightness in my scenario worked for almost 14 hours, in offline mode, the performance will be even better. But the Realme Pad charges for a long time, a full charge from the bundled adapter will take about 2.5 hours, yet 18 W is not the fastest protocol. On the other hand, thank you for not 10 watts.

Shell and preinstalled software

The fans of the “clean” version of Android will undoubtedly rejoice here, this is how the interface in Realme Pad feels. Yes, externally the shell is similar to Realme UI, the same wallpapers, the same icons in the settings, but otherwise the visual part is close to stock. During the first setup, you can select a children's profile, YouTube Kids is also preinstalled. Settings, as in any Android device, are flexible, but it can be seen that the list has been cleaned up and brought to a more or less standard form for tablets. At the same time, the interface quickly adjusts to your preferences, all regular features are available, there is no unnecessary “garbage”, a pleasant, adequate user experience. They promise an update to Android 12, which is an additional plus.

Summary