OnePlus Pad 2

So, it happened that I got the opportunity to review not one but two of OnePlus' new gadgets. A chance like this only comes once in a lifetime, however, I hope this is not the last OnePlus device I will have the opportunity to put to the test, because just like the OnePlus Nord 4, the OnePlus Pad 2 is absolutely excellent in basically all respects, and is also surprisingly affordable.

If we start with the exterior, it is at first glance a really sleek piece of technology to look at. They have invested in a unibody construction made entirely of metal, which of course contributes to the fact that it feels robust and that it fits very well in the hands. The thickness of 6.49 millimetres is just right in my opinion, of course there are thinner and even lighter variants, but for me it feels better that it is a little heavier than the other way around, as at 584 grams, it is neither the heaviest nor the lightest on the market.

It comes with a large and vibrant LCD screen of 12.1 inches, which is slightly larger than its predecessor of 11.6 inches. The resolution is 3000 x 2120 with a maximum brightness of up to 900 nits and a refresh rate of 144Hz. So, it's an absolutely brilliant screen with sharp fine colours, excellent contrast and a deep and fine black that works perfectly well even in direct sunlight even though I rarely use it outdoors.

In terms of processor, it runs the powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and 12GB RAM and 256GB storage has been included. It runs really well and it works just fine to play more intensive games such as Call of Duty Mobile. Just like in the case of OnePlus Nord 4, Genshin Impact has also been tested here with good results, and so has EA FC Mobile and PUBG Mobile, all of which run without encountering any problems or any lag. Nor does it get excessively hot at any time even though I forced it to work pretty hard, in fact often it doesn't even get hot at all.

I have also tested some video editing and simple music production via Bandlab and it also works perfectly well, however, there is some latency when running, for example, MIDI devices or connecting electric guitars. I am not entirely sure that it is the tablet's fault as I have had that problem with Bandlab elsewhere as well, I think Android really need an alternative that is equivalent to Garageband.

The OnePlus Pad 2 is also equipped with a large battery of 9,150 mAh and that is of course no disadvantage. It promises a standby time of 43 days, 12.5 hours of watching YouTube, or as much as six hours of playing the titles that require a little more power. Whether the standby time is correct has not been confirmed at the time of writing because I have not had the opportunity to just leave the device on its own for so long, but of course I have watched lots of YouTube, Netflix and played a lot. In fact, the OnePlus Pad 2 was something of a lifesaver for myself as I had six hours to kill at one of the smaller terminals at Charles Du Gaulle airport in France where there was not much more than a Duty Free, a Starbucks, and a small shop with snacks and other small things to purchase. Here, I spent over four hours watching Netflix and then another two hours on the flight home without the battery never even going below 50 percent.

OnePlus has also added some nice features, not least that it is possible to share the screen and run three apps simultaneously alongside each other. For example, it makes writing articles and other things very easy when I don't have to keep switching between different apps in the same way. To split the screen, it's as easy as just taking two fingers and swiping from top to bottom. There has also been some investment in AI, which can be used to remove distracting objects in images, which works really well most of the time. The best feature with AI, however, in my opinion, is Recording Summary, which means that you can, for example, record if you are sitting in a meeting and then you just let the AI do its magic and soon after you have the entire recording in text format. It misses a word here and there but overall I am very pleased with how well this works, it is something that will save me a lot of time in the future in a number of different situations.

There are some negatives too and the biggest problems I have are mainly with Android. I like OnePlus' own Oxygen OS but unfortunately, as with many other versions of Android, it comes with some pre-installed junk apps that probably few of us want. It's no more difficult than just uninstalling them but it's still a little thorn in my side to have to do it. It should be possible to opt out already the first time you start up the tablet or mobile. Another thing that I consider to be a minus is that there is no possibility to put a SIM card in the tablet, as it only runs Wi-Fi. However, OnePlus has solved the whole thing quite smartly, even if it assumes that you also have a OnePlus phone of some kind to use and share your mobile network automatically. It works very smoothly, but it is still a bit of a minus as it does not work with any other phones than OnePlus.

On the whole, I am still incredibly impressed by how well the OnePlus Pad 2 performs on all points tested and I would like to stick my neck out and say that right now you do not get a better tablet for the price this costs (£450) than this one. Together with the new Stylo 2 stylus pen and the new wireless keyboard, it can handle most things you could ask of it and it also does it with ease.