‘Big’ is the first word that came to my mind when I first laid eyes on the new OnePlus Pad 3. But considering the package closely, one can see that the latest tablet isn’t just big on the outside. OnePlus has gone all out to make the device big in almost all aspects, covering everything from screen size, performance, battery life, the features on offer, and more. Let’s take a closer look at everything that’s on offer here.
According to OnePlus, the Pad 3 is beautiful on the outside, powerful on the inside, comes with a smart OS, and offers the cleverest accessories, which sums up the device nicely.
Table of Contents
Design and specs
Encased in an aluminium chassis which is less than 6mm in thickness, and yet, it seems well put together in terms of build quality. And for a tablet sporting a 13.2-inch display, the 675g weight seems quite light too. The 13.2-inch display is quite the centrepiece, of course, as it should be. Other than the fact that it’s LCD and not AMOLED, the 144Hz adaptive refresh rate, 3.2k (3,392 x 2,400 pixel) resolution, 315 ppi density, 12-bit colour support, and 600 nits brightness make it a nice, expansive window into the content you’re likely to use the tablet for. The 7:5 aspect ratio makes it great for productivity use, too. The TUV Rheinland Eye Care 4.0 certification promises not to strain your eyes when you’re peering into it for long hours. And what’s a nice tablet screen if not complemented by good audio? No less than eight speakers are on offer here, with four woofers and four tweeters promising immersive audio.
A flagship slate deserves a flagship chip, and that bit is handled, expectedly so, by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite. We’ve seen this SoC in action quite a few times by now, hiding inside premium smartphones and handling not only the grunt work well but also doing that in a manner that doesn’t consume much power. And that’s exactly what’s on offer here. Mated to up to 16 gigs of RAM and 512 gigs UFS 4.0 storage (on the top variant), there’s ample power. Heat buildup is kept in check thanks to the graphene vapour chambers inside, promising sustained performance for longer periods of time.
The Pad 3 is a large slate, and that translates into a big battery… in keeping with the ‘big’ scheme of things. The 12,140mAh unit inside is said to offer a standby time of no less than 70 days, or power AAA games up to 6 hours straight. That does sound quite good. And topped off by 80W SUPERVOOC charging, promising a full charge in just over an hour and a half, OnePlus is trying to ensure you don’t stay tethered to a power socket for long. A compatible charger and cable in included in the box, thankfully, straying away from the alarming trend of skimping on in-box chargers.
Features
There is one trend it does stick to, and that’s AI. The OnePlus Pad 3 offers a bunch of AI tools and features, designed to make you more productive and more creative, including the AI Toolbox that comprises tools for writing, translating and summarising documents, and photo customisation tools too. There’s Circle to Search, and a dedicated AI key on the keyboard accessory to summon Google Gemini. The device runs OxygenOS 15 Tablet Edition, with special features designed to help make the best use of the large screen. These include multitasking features like the revamped Open Canvas, which suggests splitting your screen between two apps you’re using, without being too obtrusive and breaking your workflow. Keeping the OnePlus ecosystem game going are features that promise smooth collaboration between the Pad 3 and a OnePlus phone. What’s more, OnePlus has even included features that make the tablet work well with Apple Macs too, offering remote control and file sharing via drag and drop. Suffice it to say that there’s a lot on offer here, especially from a productivity standpoint.
Speaking of productivity, what’s a tablet these days that doesn’t come with a keyboard attachment option? The new keyboard cover accessory adds a kickstand to the rear of the Pad 3, and includes large, well-spaced-out keys along with a generously proportioned trackpad to take the user experience as close to a full-fledged laptop as possible. There are useful command keys and a dedicated AI button, too. The tilt can be adjusted between 110 and 165 degrees so you can find the most optimum angle for comfy typing, and handily, the keyboard can not only connect to the tablet via the magnetic pro pin connectors on the back but also over Bluetooth, so you can prop up the slate on the kickstand on your desk and use the keyboard from a little distance away, if you find that better. Then there’s the Stylo 2, the pen accessory that can sense 16,000 different pressure levels and lets you draw, annotate and scribble notes to your heart’s content.
To sum it up
With premiumisation at play, and tablets priced above Rs 30k said to clock over 60 percent growth on e-commerce platforms, things are looking up in this segment, and that should help the OnePlus Pad 3 as well. The brand is yet to announce the price and availability details for India, but if the US pricing of $699.99 is any indication, the OnePlus Pad 3 will command a premium — something is quite obvious even if one considers everything that’s on offer here. I’ll be working on a detailed review to see how well it delivers on the promises, but on the face of it at least, the OnePlus Pad 3 is looking like a promising contender in the premium tablet space.
