Xiaomi Redmi Pad test: the right sacrifice

Tablet. A product category that has always been dominated by the Apple iPad, but is experiencing some competition from Windows in the professional market. How about Android? Well… The findings are mixed. If the market has not been completely abandoned, it must be admitted that it is still struggling a bit.

However, it has recently been gaining momentum, mainly supported by excellent references such as the Xiaomi Pad 5. To continue to attract new users, it is the turn of the Redmi Pad (2022) to try to make a name for itself. at the entry level.

Want another tablet?

These are the thoughts that prompted us at least as soon as we picked up the Redmi Pad. It’s apparently not here to encourage people to update their devices, but rather to hack or hack people for the category. And it works: once we have it, we are immediately tempted by its thinness which is only 7.05 mm, or even its light weight which is 445 grams.

Although the price is very controllable, Redmi Pad also features an all-metal design with the most beautiful effect. You do have to be fussy to find a standout element where Xiaomi has been able to recover, such as certain wedges that are a little too marked to grip the skin a bit. But you get used to it, this is a necessary sacrifice not to spend a lot of money on high-tech products.

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What surprises the Redmi Pad when you haven’t touched the tablet for a while is that it is clearly optimized for use in landscape mode. For a long time, following the example of the iPad, tablets preferred portrait mode. The placement of the buttons is quite the opposite, with the lock button placed on the left and the volume buttons on top which feel more natural to use when in landscape mode. However, that doesn’t mean portrait mode can’t be used…

Annoying ratio

Format. It’s the tablet format that blew us away a little. So yes, we found it on the Redmi Pad a very nice 10.61 inch IPS LCD panel which offers an excellent contrast of 1500:1 and a maximum brightness of 400 cd / m is mostly enough for indoor use (outdoors, bad). But in use, it’s the definition of 2000 x 1200 pixels that comes as a surprise.

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This definition equates to a ratio of 5:3, or “not quite 16:9 but really not that far off”. Again, this ratio encourages the device to be used in landscape mode, portrait mode gives the impression of using too large a sheet when browsing the internet for example. Here, the Redmi Pad seems to be telling us: “I am primarily made for entertainment, and not for productivity”. It’s true that this last category now supports 3:2 ratios, even 4:3 on tablets, to find the right balance for any display of content.

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Redmi Pad looks very natural when used to watch YouTube videos, for example, where the speakers placed on the left and right of the device offer very good volume. However, once used in portrait format, it immediately looks uncomfortable.

Fluidity is not his forte

This observation was also made when we abandoned the use of video. If you want to play the latest games on your Redmi Pad, we hope you prefer card games and not MMORPGs. The simple MediaTek Helio G99 tucked into a tablet is definitely the biggest tradeoff what did this tablet choose to stay within the price range?

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It’s not a bad processor, far from it, but it’s not exactly capable of properly handling the latest 3D games. Genshin Impact is indeed launching, yes, but with a definition and framerate that is not necessarily very convincing. If you’re a Hearthstone or Yu-Gi-Oh player, no problem!

Especially on the MIUI 13 side we can detect some issues. There’s already the fact that it’s under Android 12, a version of the system that isn’t fully optimized for tablets yet (we’ll have to wait for Android 13 for that). Xiaomi’s favorite OS, however, offers all the features we’ve come to love in Android tablets, including a well-optimized multitasking mode with an app bar we can call up anywhere.

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But it’s also filled with small animations. It’s so beautiful… as the SoC follows suit. But the Helio G99 tends to flounder, and can sometimes paddle a bit before returning to steady state. Not to say that this drop in speed also can’t be attributed to its storage at UFS 2.2 (128GB in our test version) or its “only” 4GB of RAM (from 3 to 6GB in trade) in LPDDR4X. But is it surprising? Given its product category and its intended use, the Redmi Pad makes logical sacrifices to make itself accessible to all budgets.

There is no lie about autonomy

The Redmi Pad incorporates a massive 8000 mAh battery and is compatible with 18W fast charging. In the box, there is a 22.5W USB C charger. The tablet itself has a very good sleep mode which allows it to almost lose power when not in use.

In use, it can be used quietly for twenty hours of video, and ten hours of playback if you push it on for a 3D experience. Exactly what you’d expect from a modern tablet.

Should you buy the Redmi Pad (2022)?

On other Android tablets, we tend to say today to wait for Android 13 to come out, so that the OS is fully optimized for the format. But in fact, the Redmi Pad is a very easy product to recommend thanks to its price placement so no doubt anyone hesitating to pick up or repurchasing a tablet today won’t be disappointed by it. At least, if he realizes that to arrive at this price, Xiaomi has to sacrifice its power, and therefore a little fluidity.