(Credit: Eric Zeman)
BARCELONA—In addition to its concept phone, OnePlus showed off its OnePlus Pad tablet at Mobile World Congress. It's a bold move for the company, which until now has kept its focus on Android phones and wireless earbuds. We were able to spend some time with the tablet at the show and have some first impressions.
What's most interesting about the OnePlus Pad is its shape: It uses a unique 7:5 aspect ratio for the screen, which OnePlus claims offers increased real estate compared with 3:2 screens. The display measures 11.61 inches and has 2,800 by 2,000 brightly lit pixels. The 500-nit screen looked dazzling in person in the darkened event space. I like the 144Hz refresh rate, which makes for ultra-smooth scrolling. And the glass has a nice quality to it—it has a 2.5D curve, which means it bends along the edges where it joins the aluminum chassis.
The overall size of the tablet is nice. It's only 0.26 inches thick and weighs 19.47 ounces, or about 1.22 pounds, which is on par with competing 11-inch tablets. The metal framing is top-notch—I particularly like the radial pattern in the metal that spreads from the camera module. I also like the central positioning of the rear camera. Most tablet stuff the camera module in the upper corner, so the placement here makes more sense from a user perspective as it allows you to more easily center shots.
OnePlus also places the buttons and controls in spots that make sense, making them accessible and usable. Pogo pins are on the bottom for connecting to accessories.
Based on Android, the OxygenOS user interface is solid. It looks a lot like the OnePlus UI for phones and works really well. OnePlus calls out a lot of the continuity-like features that allow you to do things like answer calls and messages on the tablet rather than onyour OnePlus phone. People who go all-in with the OnePlus ecosystem will like these tools.
A MediaTek Dimensity 9000 system-on-a-chip powers the tablet and is matched to 12GB of RAM. We don't have final figures on storage yet, but expect the options to be generous. The battery is massive at 9,510mAh. The tablet supports OnePlus' proprietary 67W SuperVooc charging, which means it will recharge in a hurry. We couldn't really put these specs to the test in the few moments we spent with the tablet, but they add to its appeal.
OnePlus showed all of the pre-production tablets paired with folio keyboard accessories and stylus pens. The keyboard case is very nice; the sizing is about the same as the Apple Magic Keyboard for the 11-inch iPad Pro. I like the trackpad feel and the keyboard action.
The OnePlus Pad is set for launch later this year. Pricing hasn't yet been announced, but the company says US and Canadian buyers can expect to see it around April. We'll be sure to put one through our full testing regimen as soon as we can.
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