Realme Pad Review: Delivers what it promises

• Realme’s first tablet is the ‘Realme Pad’ and it’s a budget Android tablet.
• It comes with a large 10.4-inch display, speakers with Dolby Atmos, and more.
• Here’s our detailed review of the Realme Pad.

Realme Pad is the company’s first tablet, and it’s a simple budget Android tablet that aims to offer an all-rounded experience. The Realme Pad starts at ₹13,999 for the Wi-Fi only model and ₹15,999 for the LTE model. It’s one of the very few options in the Android tablet market for consumers and it’s one that definitely is value for money.

Other than the fact it is Realme’s first tablet, there isn’t anything outstanding about the tablet. It’s got the usual Android tablet bearings for its prices like a large display, good speakers, big battery and decent cameras. But that doesn’t make the Realme Pad boring or one to pass over. We tell you why in our detailed review.

Design and display

We talked much about the Realme Pad’s design in our first impressions of the tablet. The design is subtle with the gold adding a bit of premium feel to it. The flat edges also remind us of the iPad Pro but that’s something passable. Overall it’s light and slim and feels good on the hands but a case will give a better grip on the tablet.

The Realme Pad has a 10.4-inch WUXGA+ display with thick bezels on all sides. The display is bright with good contrast. The brightness is also quite adequate for outdoors so you won’t find yourself squinting to see what’s on the screen. The touch response is also good but the screen is a fingerprint magnet which does get quite annoying after a certain point in time.

The Realme Pad runs realme UI for Pad based on Android 11. This is actually near-stock Android which is great because you don’t get any bloatware and you’re instead treated to a clean UI. You still have the suite of Google apps pre-installed and plastered on the home screen which you can customise according to your preference. But there are some limitations though that might disappoint some people. These include no customisation options for the theme, colours, and app icon size.

Performance

Gaming on a tablet by nature doesn’t feel great but for those interested, we did try out a few games on the Realme Pad. We played Genshin Impact which has beautiful graphics. You can play the game but with the graphics in the lowest settings. We also tried some light games like Among Us which ran smoothly without any lags or stutters.

The Realme Pad has a 7,100mAh battery which during our usage lasted for around a day on a full charge. This mostly consists of watching a lot of videos, playing games and using social media apps. It also comes with an 18W charger but the tablet takes almost three hours to fully charge. The tablet’s standby time is also pretty great as you can go days without charging it and still find some battery left on it.

Audio

The speakers on the Realme Pad are quite the star and adding to that is Dolby Atmos. That’s why this tablet is an entertainment treat with a large bright screen, long battery life and great speakers. It also has Widevine L1 support so you can watch Netflix in HD. The app is however not optimised for tablets so the user experience isn’t great. While this doesn’t affect your watching experience it is annoying to see that the app doesn’t make use of the entire screen.

Cameras

The Realme Pad has 8-megapixel rear and front cameras. The selfie camera is placed on the side so you’ll have to hold the tablet horizontally to use it. The camera app on the Realme Pad is very simple with nothing much to play around with. But it does have an expert mode that lets you adjust some settings like the ISO. The 8-megapixel camera takes some average looking shots but don’t expect exceptional results from the camera.

The selfie camera was surprisingly good though, especially for its wide-angle view. The selfie shots won’t come out great but the wide-angle photos do appear decent enough. And it’s quite useful for video calls which can be helpful for both students and working professionals, and maybe that’s why the company has used a decent sensor. The Realme Pad also has face unlock which works even when the tablet is in portrait mode given the camera placement.

Verdict

The Realme Pad is a no-frills Android tablet that delivers on what it promises. It has decent all-round performance and gets its basics right when it comes to the battery life, display and user experience. If you’re looking for a budget Android tablet to get your regular work done or just need a bigger device for your binge-watching needs, then the Realme Pad can definitely be considered.

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