Review Verdict: The TechLife Pad Neo gets the job done as an affordable tablet, though it has its fair share of shortcomings–that we honestly don’t mind given its Php 6k starting price.

Pros

• Affordable price for a tablet with LTE
• Stock Android out of the box

Cons

• Only up to 720p streaming on YouTube
• Limited RAM

After the TechLife Pad, the brand has a more affordable tablet with the Pad Neo, which arrives in time for the holidays. With a price tag under Php 8k, the Pad Neo aims to be a budget tablet that can be a nice gift to students, children, and first-time tablet owners. We got our hands on the TechLife Pad Neo and see if this affordable tablet is a perfect present.

 

TechLife Pad Neo Review Philippines: Design

Being an entry-level tablet, the Pad Neo has a polycarbonate unibody frame that can be availed in Storm Grey and Sky Blue. It has an 8.5mm thick profile, and you get stereo speakers and a headphone jack with it.

You also get a SIM tray, where you can put either two SIM cards or a SIM card and a MicroSD card to suit your storage needs. Like realme’s other tablets, you’d probably find its placement strange–but at least you still get a headphone jack in case you prefer using your wired earphones.

 

TechLife Pad Neo Review Philippines: Display and Speakers

You get a 10.1-inch IPS display on the Pad Neo with a 1280×800 resolution and a 60hz refresh rate, which should be fine for the needs of most students. Despite being an entry-level offering, the Pad Neo’s display has decent colors and a brightness range that’s suitable for most uses

While the Pad Neo will most likely be used for binge-watching videos, do note that streaming on YouTube is limited to 720p, so you’re not maximizing its 10.1-inch display. We suspect that this might be due to hardware limitations–we encountered a similar issue with the Note 50, which uses the same processor as the Pad Neo–but it’s nice if TechLife finds a way to allow 1080p streaming on YouTube.

 

TechLife Pad Neo Review Philippines: Cameras

You have a 5-megapixel selfie camera and an 8-megapixel rear camera with the Pad Neo, which is what we usually expect on budget tablets. We are familiar with that camera setup, and our general sentiment is that the rear shooter takes photos that are good enough for social media as long as you have good lighting.

Don’t expect great shots when shooting in low light conditions, as image quality dips significantly. It’s interesting to see that the Pad Neo has a 2x digital zoom option–and the photos we took using this mode are actually decent considering its price tag and hardware.

Like other budget tablets we reviewed in the past, the Pad Neo can shoot videos at up to Full HD–but we doubt if you’ll use it for videos unless you need to take a few clips and it is the only device you have on hand.

 

TechLife Pad Neo Review Philippines: Internals and Battery Life

The TechLife Pad Neo comes with LTE connectivity and a Unisoc T612 processor that’s paired with 4GB RAM. In the Philippines, it is available in 64GB and 128GB storage, with both versions having a MicroSD card expansion of up to 1TB. The processor rings a bell, as it is used on several entry-level realme devices like the Note 50, C51, and C53. To recap, the Unisoc T612 is roughly at par with the Helio G85 and Snapdragon 680, making it suitable for general use like productivity work and Zoom calls.

The TechLife Pad Neo comes with Android 14 out of the box, which is a nice thing to have especially for a budget tablet. While the software updates are not disclosed, we expect it to have two Android updates if TechLife follows the same trend as the Note 50. At the very least, you’re getting a bloatware-free version of Android 14, saving you time from deleting unnecessary apps.

You get a 6000mAh battery with support for 10w USB-C charging. The charging speeds may be slow, but we’d give it slack since the TechLife Pad Neo is an entry-level tablet. While we weren’t able to benchmark its battery life using PCMark, we were able to comfortably use the Pad Neo for a day.

 

TechLife Pad Neo Review Philippines: Wrap-up and Conclusions

Being the most affordable tablet under realme’s TechLife sub-brand, the Pad Neo has all the basics that students, children, and first-time tablet users will need. The inclusion of LTE connectivity is a big plus especially at this price point, since it means that you can keep the Pad Neo connected to the internet even without WiFi.

TechLife Pad Neo Review Philippines: Price

The TechLife Pad has an official price of Php 5,999 for the 4GB/64GB model and Php 7,499 for the 4GB/128GB model.