Asus Pad review: Bullseye or playing a decade of catch-up?
After a decade, ASUS has made a comeback in India’s tablet space with its ASUS Pad (T3201); the last time we saw an ASUS tablet was in 2016 with the ZenPad 8, when tablets weren’t that popular. But in 2026, with doomscrolling consuming most of our smartphone time and laptops out of reach because of RAM and storage price hikes, demand for tablets is growing as a secondary device for productivity and on-the-go entertainment.
At first glance, a tandem OLED display, quad speakers, and a sleek, lightweight design look compelling. But is it good enough to beat the competition, or does ASUS have a lot to catch up to bridge this decade-long gap? That’s what we are here to find out in this ASUS Pad (T3201) review.
Table of Contents
What’s in the package?
Starting with what’s inside the package, costing INR 45,990 for the 128GB model or INR 49,999 for the 256GB model.
- ASUS Pad (T3201)
- 45W charging adapter
- Type-C to Type-C cable
- Protective transparent folio case
- User Manual
Design and Build: lighter on the wrist
Design is highly subjective, and ASUS, being a renowned name in the PC space, understands it well. Instead of going for a full metal build like tablets from OnePlus, Xiaomi, Samsung, or Apple, they opted for a plastic build to keep it lightweight at just 523g in a slim 6.5 mm chassis, whereas most similarly sized tablets weigh upwards of 600g.
The subtly curved frame makes the tablet comfortable to hold, and its lightweight build makes it portable and handy, without putting stress on your wrist during extended use when reading on the go. Carrying it alongside a laptop felt effortless too; it’s so sleek that I could fit it in my completely stuffed backpack without worrying, so it never felt like extra baggage. And if you prefer to set it up on a dock rather than keep it handheld, the included folio case doubles as a stand, similar to the Zenbook Duo series.
However, one thing to note is the lack of color options: the ASUS Pad is available only in pure white. I hope we do get to see more options in the future. Moving to the ports, towards the right, you get a microSD card slot, volume rocker and power button, and two microphone holes, which remain unobstructed regardless of orientation. At the bottom is a USB 3.0 port supporting DisplayPort™ 1.4 / PD 3.0, paired with two speaker vents at the bottom and top.
Display and Audio: Entertainment Entertainment Entertainment
The major highlight, or USP, of the ASUS Pad is its display for two reasons: firstly, a tandem OLED screen and a non-conventional 12.2-inch size, and the bezels are the slimmest on a tablet I’ve ever seen. In 2026, finding an OLED tablet is itself a daunting task, as the entire market is filled with IPS tablets, and those with an OLED panel cost upwards of INR 80K. The fact that ASUS offers an OLED display under INR 50,000 makes it a compelling option; the 2.8K resolution, 144 Hz refresh rate, 92% screen-to-body ratio, typical brightness of 600 nits, and peak brightness of 2000 nits are icing-on-the-cake features that even top-end tablets from Apple and Samsung can’t match.
The 3:2 aspect ratio comes in handy when reading, as it provides more vertical screen real estate, and when watching content shot in 16:9, the black bars aren’t hideous. I watched Marvel, DC, and other titles, like Project Hail Mary, and I really enjoyed the experience. Since it’s an OLED panel, the picture output is very rich in terms of colors, 100% sRGB and 99% DCI-P3 accuracy, and deeper blacks. The TÜV Rheinland certifications for low flicker and low blue light are also welcome. Apart from the reflective screen, I had no problem using it both indoors and outdoors.
The only gripe I have is that there’s no option to tweak the display color profile for regular use in the settings; if ASUS had provided that, it would have been perfect.
The second-best thing on the ASUS Pad is the quad speakers, which get decently loud and offer enough separation to make movies and games enjoyable; Dolby Atmos adds a wider, more immersive presentation. I could sit back with a group of two or three people and enjoy the latest music drops, web series, or movie; I never felt the need to pair it with an external speaker or soundbar.
Simply switch the Dolby Atmos profile from the Dolby Audio X3 app based on the content, and you are sorted. One thing to note here: it doesn’t support hi-res codecs like LHDC or LDAC on the speakers.
Software and Performance: the base isn’t sturdy
This is where the ASUS starts to fall back. It comes with Android 16 out of the box, pretty good actually; it’s almost the latest version, right? I get it, but ASUS is silent on its OS upgrade policy; all we know is that the ASUS Pad will receive 3 years of security updates. Spending nearly INR 50K on any device, one would expect a decent software update guarantee, given that OnePlus offers three OS upgrades, Google offers five years of support for the Pixel Tab, and Apple and Samsung offer seven OS upgrades.
Moving past the updates, the UI is fairly stock, with only one extra app, the “ASUS GlideX,” that acts as a cross-device bridge between the tablet and PC for screen mirroring or extending, file transfer, shared albums, webcam, remote access, and more. Apart from that, it’s a vanilla Android device, with no fancy AI features or customization options; everything is locked to the default Google apps and settings.
Surprisingly, it doesn’t even support floating windows; instead, we have “change aspect ratio,” which also doesn’t seem to work. Other than that, there are minor glitches, stutters, and UI inconsistencies here and there.
Under the hood, powering this is the MediaTek Dimensity 8300, paired with 8GB of LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 3.1 storage. That’s sweet, but if you need headroom for heavy tasks, say video editing or color grading, given the excellent OLED display, sadly all you can upgrade is storage, up to 1TB via MicroSD, or get the 256GB variant; that, too, is still locked to 8GB of RAM. The SoC isn’t the best in its segment and can’t compete with Snapdragon 8 Elite-level performance, but it can handle most of your needs effortlessly and delivers good thermal performance. Here are some benchmarks for your reference.
Camera: the supporting actors
There’s a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front camera, which just works. You can take pictures, and they look flat, to be honest. Photography isn’t the ideal use case for a tablet, but yeah, you can use it for quick document scanning.
The front camera is really tiny, and at first glance I didn’t even notice it. It performs well in good lighting, but when used against the light, just like most meeting cams, the quality feels like it’s from a VGA camera. So don’t expect it to match your smartphone’s camera. I took a couple of pictures and found the frame to be really tight; if ASUS could have opted for a lens with a wider field of view, that would have been really useful.
Connectivity and accessories: hard choices
For connectivity, the ASUS Pad is equipped with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3; given that the tab is Wi-Fi-only, ASUS could have opted for a newer-generation wireless adapter, as competitors do, for better wireless performance, but that’s not a deal-breaker.
As for accessories, the included transparent folio case flaps with every wiggle in the air. Only if ASUS had added a few extra magnets to keep it firmly locked to the display, improving display protection and stopping the annoying flip. It also picks up dust quite easily, and there’s a high possibility the silicone back can turn yellow after a few weeks. Apart from this folio case, you need to invest in anything else you need. From the ASUS Pen and the Bluetooth keyboard to even a basic screen protector, everything is an additional expense on top of the tablet.
Battery and Charging: mixed feelings
Powering the ASUS Pad is a 9000mAh battery that easily lasts through a day of use. However, in our standard PCMark battery test, it took just 5 hours and 13 mins to drop from 100 to 20 percent, which is below average as per our testing data. The results were indifferent in our YouTube test as well; at 2160p resolution, it hogged 16 percent of the battery in an hour.
But the good thing is it recharges rapidly; to be precise, the fastest, according to our records, it took just 48 minutes to top up the battery from 20 to 100 percent with the 45W charger, putting most modern smartphones to shame.
Verdict: experienced comeback, but there’s a lot to catch up
The ASUS Pad hit the right note with an OLED panel, making it the only option in the sub-INR 50K segment. ASUS could have just stopped there and cashed in on the opportunity, but they delivered it as a complete entertainment package: a 12.2-inch 2.8K dual-layer OLED with a 3:2 aspect ratio, topped off with a 144Hz refresh rate.
However, the mid-range SoC, half-baked software, an uncertain software policy, lack of a stylus in the package, and no pre-applied screen protector are a bit concerning. If you need raw flagship power for heavy multitasking or video editing, the OnePlus 3 (review) and Xiaomi 8 (review) offer a more complete package; if you are purely into reading, consider a Kindle Paperwhite (review) or Huion Ink reader (review).
But if your priorities are clearly a slim, lightweight OLED tablet with quad speakers for in-flight, on-the-go media consumption that can also serve as a second monitor for your setup, or a ready-to-go package for enjoying AAA titles with GeForce Now, the ASUS Pad (T3201) won’t disappoint.
Editor’s Rating: 8 / 10
Pros:
- Immersive OLED 2.8K display under INR 50K
- Folio case included out of the box
- Dolby Atmos quad-speaker output
- Sturdy and sleek build
Cons:
- Mid-range performance
- Unpolished software
- Uncertain software policy
- Mediocre battery life
