Just a few years ago, almost all phone manufacturers were churning out tablets left and right. Most people projected tablets to take over the portable productivity category, effectively rendering smaller laptops obsolete. Looking in retrospect, they were partially correct. Mobile processors have reached that point wherein they come close in power to laptops. However, with thin-and-light ultrabooks, gaming laptops, and convertible 2-in-1s rushing to the scene, the advantage tablets once had is now diminished. In a field where all others besides the iPads and Galaxy Tab devices are considered as non-productivity toys, how does the OPPO Pad fare?

The OPPO Pad is the company’s first attempt at a tablet and is set to be announced in their upcoming event this February 24. According to leaks by historically reliable source Digital Chat Station, the front of the tablet should be a clean, symmetrical design with minimal bezels. At the center will be the 10.95-inch LCD display with a resolution of 2560×1440 and a 120Hz refresh rate. We’re glad that this rate is slowly becoming the standard in this segment, leaving behind 60Hz as a thing of the past.

OPPO Pad Rear Side Look.
3 Colours pic.twitter.com/JH4st70Ld1

— Mayank Kumar ? (@MayankkumarYT) February 14, 2022

As expected in 2022, the USB port is of the Type-C variety. A quad-speaker system with Dolby Atmos tuning should also be present. Powering this entire package is the Snapdragon 870, a capable upper mid-range chip that is a buffed version of 2020’s flagship 865. 6 or 8GB of RAM will be available for multitasking purposes, with 256GB of storage on board as well. We haven’t heard of microSD expansion yet – but the tablet should stay on for a long time since battery capacity is rumored to be at 8,360 mAh with 33W quick charging.

Without a doubt, these are some capable hardware specifications even if they aren’t cutting-edge (except for WiFi 6, hooray!) The biggest surprise though is the OPPO Pencil that finds itself in the leaked advertisement. It’s an amazing sign of an actual ecosystem being built around this OPPO Pad. We’ll get to why we find that impressive here:

The budget Android tablet space is perceived to be for devices that will mostly be used to browse social media, watch Netflix/YouTube, and do some light gaming. An example we can use is the realme Pad: we found it extremely impressive, but we have to admit that we were disappointed when the company tried to get away with almost no software updates for the device. Only when current sales were threatened did realme promise future updates for it. The company didn’t sell any accessories for it either.

The fate of a budget tablet is simply to be used by the casual person, while supported productivity devices such as a Galaxy Tab S or iPad Pro will cost you a pretty penny. This pattern could find itself on its backside with the OPPO Pad, which may have accessories and an ecosystem built around it in the future. If the tablet is priced right at the $350-500 mark, we could possibly have a winner.

I haven’t been this excited for a tablet since the budget king 2013 Nexus 7, and I’m itching to see how this tablet will propel the space forward.