realme Pad Review Philippines: Solid Debut Tablet Offering

realme Pad Review Philippines: Solid Debut Tablet Offering

Review verdict: The realme Pad is a solid debut offering for the brand’s tablet efforts in the Philippines, though the tablet’s premium build and solid hardware are undercut by the small internal storage for the base option.

Pros:

  • Good processor of choice for its price
  • Premium build
  • Great quad-speaker system

Cons:

  • Lack of accessories (for now)
  • Just 32GB of storage available for the base variant

realme Pad Philippines Review specs

  • MediaTek Helio G80 processor
  • 3GB/4GB/6GB RAM
  • 32GB/64GB/128GB internal storage, expandable via microSD
  • 10.4-inch IPS display, 2000×1200 resolution
  • 8-megapixel rear camera
  • 8-megapixel front camera
  • 4G, LTE
  • WiFi, Bluetooth
  • Quad speakers, Dolby Atmos
  • 18W fast charging
  • 7100mAh battery
  • Android 11, realme UI for Pad

realme is ready to tackle the tablet segment with the realme Pad. Their new tablet is an entry-level offering for people looking for a compelling value-for-money slate, but does it really deliver the goods? Let’s find out:

Design

realme made sure to give its first tablet the best possible build with its generous use of aluminum for the frame and back panel. Plastic is used on one part of the back panel to hide the Pad’s WiFi, Bluetooth, and LTE antennas. Staying true to its premium looks, the Pad has a boxy frame that’s just a hair under 7mm. The back panel has a bump for the 8-megapixel rear camera, along with a line for the antennas and realme branding at the bottom.

While the Pad earns points for using a versatile USB-C port and having a slot for a NanoSIM card for LTE connectivity, it also manages to keep the headphone jack in its slender frame–albeit in a rather unusual location. Unfortunately, realme hasn’t announced any kind of accessories for their first tablet as of yet–adding a whole family of accessories to improve its usability like a kickstand, wireless keyboard and the like should increase the tablet’s appeal, especially for homeschooling and light office and productivity work.

Display and speakers

As a tablet geared towards both productivity and entertainment, the Pad comes with a 10.4-inch IPS display with a 2000×1200 resolution. While colors are not as vibrant as AMOLED panels seen on more expensive tablets, realme used a high-quality IPS panel with great viewing angles and decent overall brightness. In general, the display is good enough for binging videos and playing games (more on that later).

Despite being marketed as a budget tablet, the Pad shines with its quad-speaker system that produces one of the best audio quality in its class. They also have support for Dolby Atmos for a more immersive listening experience. If you prefer your trusty wired earphones, the Pad does have a headphone jack.

 

Cameras

While the Pad also uses an 8-megapixel rear camera like the competition, it has a higher-resolution 8-megapixel camera for selfies and video calls. While the Pad can take generally decent photos they do suffer from loss of detail in low-light situations. The colors and overall sharpness are typical of what you expect on an 8-megapixel snapper, so we only recommend using the Pad for taking photos if it is the only device you have in your bag.

The higher megapixel count of the front camera–along with a 105-degree FOV–makes the Pad great for video calls and Zoom meetings. Should you need to record video, both the front and rear cameras are capable of shooting Full HD video.

 

 

Internals and Battery Life

There are multiple variants of the realme Pad that will be offered in the Philippines as of this review. The entry-level variant (which was the one we reviewed) has 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. There’s also a 4GB/64GB variant as well, with the top-end variant coming with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. All variants offered will run MediaTek’s Helio G80 processor.

The Helio G80 is a powerful chip for its price, which allows the tablet to run circles around similar tablets in the same price range. That being said, the amount of storage available for the entry-level variant is pretty mediocre – 32GB of storage isn’t much, especially considering newer games have huge storage requirements. Genshin Impact, a popular game that runs extremely well on the realme Pad, requires almost 16GB of storage. While there is space for more storage via a microSD slot, access speeds using expandable media will be drastically slower than built-in memory.

Outside of gaming, the Pad is great for general productivity, though we will have to wait for realme to release official accessories for the Pad like a keyboard case.

Keeping the lights on is a 7100mAh battery. The Pad lasted us for around 13.5 hours in our video loop test. It comes with 18w wired charging, and it took us around 2 hours to top up the battery to 100%.

Wrap up and conclusions

Our review shows that the realme Pad is definitely off to a good start as the brand’s first tablet in the Philippines. Aside from having a premium-looking build and a great set of speakers, the real Pad’s tour de force is its use of an Helio G80 processor for its price point, though the lack of space especially for the entry-level 3GB/32GB variant might be a problem for some. Between the three variants being offered, the 4GB/64GB offers the best price-to-specs ratio for a tablet, and realme can further improve the Pad’s edge by offering accessories to maximize its potential as an all-around productivity device.

realme Pad Review Philippines Price

The realme Pad is priced at Php 10,990 for the 3GB/32GB model, Php 14,990 for the 4GB/64GB model, and Php 16,990 for the 6GB/128GB model. The base 3GB/32GB model will have a special price in Shopee, where it will be available for Php 8,990 starting October 22. In realme stores and partner dealers nationwide, the 3GB/32GB variant will have an early-bird price of Php 9,990 from October 21 to 31.

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