realme Pad Review - Beautiful and solid first try
realme recently launched several TechLife products in the Philippines including its first tablet, the realme Pad.
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| The realme Pad |
In case you missed it, realme Pad is made of a premium metal body paired with a 10.4-inch LCD with WUXGA+ 2000 x 1200 screen. On Friday, October 22, realme revealed that they have sold 400 units in just six minutes as soon as the tablet went on sale in the Philippines.
Moreover, the realme Pad is packed with Dolby Atmos quad speakers, a 7,100mAh Mega battery with USB-C 18W fast charging, an 8MP main camera, and an 8MP 105-degree ultra-wide selfie camera. It runs on Android 11 with realme UI for Pad.
realme will be restocking the Pad soon but before that, here's our full review to help you decide if you should get one.
Multimedia Experience
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| Bright display |
As mentioned the realme Pad sports a 10.4-inch LCD with WUXGA+ 2000 x 1200 resolution at 224 ppi. It can get bright enough which is needed when using it outdoors.
Bright display!
It has good color accuracy and contrast with nice viewing angles. We were able to binge-watch some of the current series we love and the experience was pleasantly enjoyable, thanks to the big screen.
It doesn't have a fingerprint scanner but it does have the basic security, face unlock, and smart lock which we'll be discussing later on in this review.
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| Powerful quad speakers! |
The Dolby Atmos quad speakers are placed by twos on the top and bottom of the Pad. It is best enjoyed on levels 13-15. The volume levels 1-9 seem very quiet in our experience while levels 10-12 are best at night.
Powerful quad speakers!
Dolby Atmos modes on realme Pad
1. Dynamic - optimize sound automatically based on what you're listening to.
2. Movie - real 3D surround sound and clearer voices.
3. Music - fuller and more balanced sound.
There is an option to turn on and off these modes.
Overall, the Dolby Atmos quad speakers are powerful enough which makes it great for someone like me who consumes a lot of content. It provided us a good listening experience which makes it one of the highlights of the realme Pad.
In terms of video calls, we were able to hear our callers clearly, whether through loudspeakers or earphones. The 3.5mm headphone jack slot is strategically placed which is very much useful for those who want a more personal and private listening experience.
Using wireless earphones is reliable as well and retains the good sound quality, too.
Camera
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| 8MP rear camera |
The realme Pad has a single 8MP camera placed on the upper leftmost of the tablet. It has no LED flash accompanying it.
Its camera modes include video, photo, and expert. The latter allows controls of ISO (100-12800), Shutter Speed (1/1000s to 5s), White Balance (auto, incandescent, fluorescent, warm fluorescent, daylight, cloudy, twilight, and shade), Focus, and EV (+-3). Expert mode is also available in the stock camera app's 1x, 2x, and 5x zoom.
Rear Camera Samples
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| Daylight |
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| Indoor |
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| Indoor 2 |
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| Almost low light |
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| Low light |
As seen in the sample photos, the realme Pad's lone rear camera is able to take a nice image under a daylight setting. It also produced decent photos indoors with enough artificial light.
Superb for a tablet!
In low light, the realme Pad's struggle is evident. The photo is satisfactory, but we wish we can see how it improves only if it has an LED flash to help it. This is one improvement realme can put on its 2nd gen Pad.
Overall, the realme Pad's 8MP main camera can take nice photos but is not great.
The selfie camera, on the other hand, is an 8MP front camera featuring a 105-degree ultra-wide-angle which feels like a fisheye lens.
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| Selfie camera placed in a landscape orientation |
It is placed on the center top in landscape orientation which is useful for video calls.
Selfie Camera Samples
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| Daylight selfie |
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| Indoor selfie |
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| Indoor selfie 2 |
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| Almost low light selfie |
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Low light selfie with screen flash In daylight, the photos are great with nice colors although with decent sharpness. The indoor selfies are nice as well although we can notice the struggle of the realme Pad when it comes to taking selfies in low light settings. Some may not like the idea of a default ultra-wide selfie camera, but we think the logic behind this is that it will be mainly used for Zoom calls, hence the landscape position and the 105-degree 8MP lens. For videos, it can record up to 1080p videos at 30fps for both selfie and rear cameras. |
Performance
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| realme Pad AnTuTu benchmark |
The realme Pad is a budget tablet, but it is not lacking in terms of performance. It is packed with the MediaTek Helio G80 with a clock speed of up to 2.0GHz. Meanwhile, the Mali-G52 GPU clocked at 950MHz takes care of gaming tasks.
It is available in 3GB/32GB, 4GB/64GB, and 6GB/128GB variants. For this review, we are using the 3GB/32GB version.
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| Geekbench and 3D benchmarks |
In the AnTuTu benchmark, the realme Pad score was 169,922. As for the Geekbench, it resulted in 334 single-core and 1,301 multi-core scores. Meanwhile, it generated an overall score of 691 with 4.10fps in the 3D benchmark.
Decently snappy performance!
In real-life usage, the realme Pad's performance was decently snappy. App opening and closing is was fast mostly without lags. The multitasking performance is acceptable too despite the limited 3GB RAM. Most tablets in the sub-PHP 13K range only has 3GB RAM.
For gaming, we were able to download the Call of Duty Mobile and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. Below are the default graphics that we got upon download and the first time trying to play on the Pad.
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| Call of Duty Mobile on realme Pad |
As mentioned earlier, the realme Pad has face unlock and smart lock features. The face unlock is very responsive similar to how it's a breeze to set it up.
realme Pad Smart Lock types:
1. On-body detection - keep your device unlocked while it's on you. After you unlock your device, it stays unlocked while it's in motion (e.g.: while you're walking). The device will stay unlocked for up to 4 hours or until you put it down.
2. Trusted places - add the location where the device should be unlocked. After you unlock your device, it stays unlocked as long as you're at or close to a trusted place (e.g.: home). The device will stay unlocked for up to 4 hours or until you leave one of your trusted places. For accuracy, this feature uses the user's precise location.
3. Trusted devices - add a device to keep the Pad unlocked when it's nearby. After you unlock your device, it stays unlocked when it's connected to a trusted device (e.g.: smartwatch or car system). The device will stay unlocked for up to 4 hours or until it disconnects from the trusted devices.
The Smart Lock feature may come in handy for those who tend to forget to lock their device.
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| realme Pad Smart Lock feature |
In terms of connectivity, the realme Pad has WiFi 802.11 ac, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, GLONASS, and 4G LTE. The WiFi connection is very reliable in our experience as well as the Bluetooth 5.0. Meanwhile, using a postpaid SIM card, we were able to test its 4G LTE capacity which is stable as well.
Of course, we can't forget about the Pad's 7,100mAh battery capacity. On paper, realme says it can last up to 65 days standby, 7 hours of Zoom, 15 hours reading, 12 hours of YouTube, and 21 hours of WhatsApp.
We tried to test its battery life using the PCMark app but we weren't able to get a result because the benchmark keeps on canceling the test for some reason.
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| realme Pad battery settings |
In real-life usage, we were able to enjoy a full day of moderate usage including video calls, streaming movies, and web surfing. Though it has an in-box 18W charger, realme Pad missed the super fast-charging feature.
Missed opportunity: Super fast-charging feature
Using the in-box 18W charger along with the USB-A to USB-C cable, it took us over 2 hours and 30 minutes from flat to full. This can be painful for impatient and on-the-go users.
The Pad also supports reverse charge using OTG cable. We're not able to test this though.
Reverse charge via OTG is present
Moving on to its software, realme Pad runs with realme UI for Pad skin based on Android 11 OS.
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| realme UI for Pad based on Android 11 |
Out of the box, it was late when we realized that it is running on Android 11 since it feels old. No complaints though, since the realme UI for Pad is a clean stock Android experience. It comes with 31 pre-installed apps, all of which are Google apps.
It has a system-wide dark mode as well as an assistive ball that acts as the home button which comes in handy whenever we were watching in full-screen mode.
Pros - Premium build, good display, good performance, big battery with reverse charging, powerful Dolby Atmos quad speakers, clean software
Cons - No super fast-charging feature, no LED flash for the rear camera
realme Pad Specs
Display: 10.4-inch LCD screen w/ WUXGA+ 2000 x 1200 resolution at 224 ppi
CPU: 2.0GHz 12nm MediaTek Helio G80 octa-core processor
GPU: Mali-G52 2EEMC2 (950MHz)
RAM: 3GB/4GB/6GB
ROM: 32GB/64GB128GB eMMC 5.1 via microSD card slot up to 1TB
Back Camera: 8MP
Selfie Camera: 8MP 105-degree ultra-wide
Battery: 7,100mAh w/ 18W fast charging
OS: Android 11 w/ realme UI for Pad
Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz/5GHz), 4G LTE (optional), Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, GLONASS, SIM
Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic
Others: Hi-Res Audio, Adaptive Surround Sound, Smart PA, 4x speakers, 2x microphones, USB-C, Colors: Real Grey, Real Gold
Dimensions: 246.1 x 155.9 x 6.9 mm
Weight: 440 g
Price: PHP 10,990 (3GB/32GB), PHP 14,990 (4GB/64GB), PHP 16,990 (6GB/128GB)
Verdict
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| The realme Pad is a beautiful and solid first try |
The realme Pad is a beautiful and solid first try from the fast-rising Chinese smart device maker. This is to blame why it got sold out in just six minutes during its launch night.
Thanks to its premium build, good display, powerful Dolby Atmos quad speakers, MediaTek Helio G80 processor, clean software, reverse charging feature, and big battery life, we can easily recommend this to anyone looking for a budget tablet for online classes, work Zoom meetings among others.
The realme Pad is positioned as a budget tablet but we would like to commend realme for not skimping for their first attempt.
It's not perfect, there is room for improvement but the realme Pad makes a great start. As the saying goes, "firsts are best because they are beginnings."
Build/Design - 4.75
Multimedia Experience - 4.5
Cameras - 4
Performance - 4.25
Average - 4.38/5
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