Xiaomi Redmi Pad review

Introduction

Marketed under the Redmi brand, Xiaomi's latest affordable tablet carries a simple name - it's just the Redmi Pad. Focusing on the fundamentals, the slab comes with a nice balance between core components - a high-refresh-rate display, sensible chipset choice, a big battery, and useful cameras.

The 10.61-inch IPS display (mind the 0.01") may not sound like much, but it has a standout feature for the class - a 90Hz refresh rate. The Mediatek Helio G99 chipset is decently powerful and frugal at the same time, and the 8,000mAh battery promises solid longevity. The 8MP resolution on both the front and rear cameras is a notch above the bare minimum (in a good way), and the wider-than-most lens on the selfie cam is most welcome too. The microSD slot, well-specced speaker system, and metal-clad body don't hurt either.

Xiaomi Redmi Pad specs at a glance:

Body: 250.5x158.1x7.1mm, 465g; Glass front, aluminum frame.
Display: 10.61" IPS LCD, 1B colors, 90Hz, 400 nits (typ), 1200x2000px resolution, 15:9 aspect ratio, 220ppi.
Chipset: MediaTek Helio G99 (6nm): Octa-core (2x2.2 GHz Cortex-A76 & 6x2.0 GHz Cortex-A55); Mali-G57 MC2.
Memory: 64GB 3GB RAM, 128GB 4GB RAM, 128GB 6GB RAM; UFS 2.2; microSDXC.
OS/Software: Android 12, MIUI 13.
Rear camera: 8 MP, f/2.0, (wide), AF.
Front camera: 8 MP, f/2.3, 105° (ultrawide).
Video capture: Rear camera: 1080p@30fps; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
Battery: 8000mAh; Fast charging 18W.
Misc: Accelerometer; stereo speakers (4 speakers).

Xiaomi Redmi Pad unboxing

The Redmi Pad ships in the standard white cardboard box you'd get pretty much anything in these days. Inside, in addition to the tablet itself, you'll find a 22.5W charger (though the tablet itself is capped at 18W) and a USB-A-to-C cable.

Design, build quality, handling

With a 10.6-inch display in a 5:3 aspect ratio and corresponding resulting numbers in the dimensions and weight fields, the Redmi Pad defines the term 'average' when it comes to physical properties for a midrange tablet.

That's no bad thing, however - rather, it was Xiaomi deliberately making a tablet for everyone. Hence, the simple, definitive name, too, maybe.

The Redmi Pad features an aluminum unibody, its satin finish warding off fingerprints nicely. The touch of metal, coupled with the flat sides and sharp, well-defined edges, makes for an upmarket look and feel.

The camera bump, oversized for no immediately hardware-necessitated reason, does look nicely proportioned and stylishly to-the-point. A basic Redmi badge at the opposite end is just big enough to serve for brand recognition without being too much in your face, while the regulatory markings all but disappear at this size.

Over on the front, the uniform bezel surrounding the display doesn't ruin the impression of a well-engineered piece of tech and also provides just enough area for holding on to, without looking too chunky.

The physical controls are in the top left corner (when holding the slab in landscape) - the power button is on the left, the volume rocker is up top. That can make it somewhat tricky if you want to capture a screenshot single-handed, but outside of that edge case, their placement should be just fine.

Overall, handling the Redmi Pad is a pleasant experience. Fit and finish are good enough to be worthy of a device twice the price, while size and proportions are just right.

10.6" inch LCD with no major flaws, 90Hz refresh rate stands out

The Redmi Pad has an IPS display with a specified 10.61" diagonal (why they didn't round it to 10.6" is anyone's guess). The aspect ratio is 5:3 - a new-found 'standard', it seems, and the resolution is 1200x2000px for a pixel density of 220ppi. Most importantly, the display has a 90Hz maximum refresh rate - a rare and most welcome sight at this price point.

The official specs promise 400nits of brightness, and our measurements confirm that number, almost spot on. With a contrast reading of a little over 1500:1, it's about average for the class, though it's among the better panels in terms of off-axis viewing - we saw no contrast shifts when looking at the screen at an angle.

Design

Display test	100% brightness
Display test	Black,cd/m²	White,cd/m²	Contrast ratio
Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE (Max Auto)	0.282	522	1851:1
Apple iPad 10.2 (2021)	0.457	513	1123:1
Realme Pad X	0.298	496	1664:1
Xiaomi Pad 5	0.376	478	1271:1
Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE	0.229	432	1886:1
Xiaomi Redmi Pad	0.263	402	1529:1
Honor Pad 8	0.267	392	1468:1
Oppo Pad Air	0.253	352	1391:1

Color reproduction is decidedly cool in the Saturated (default) and Vivid modes, but the Standard mode reins in the blue shift and is reasonably accurate for sRGB content. You do also get a color temperature wheel to tweak the color reproduction to your liking.

The Refresh rate setting lets you choose between Default and Custom modes, with the Custom option letting you pick 60Hz or 90Hz. Essentially, the 60Hz custom mode will lock things at 60Hz, while both the 90Hz custom and the Default mode will maintain 90Hz for as long as you're touching the tablet or if there's moving content in your browser, for example, and switch to 60Hz for idling or static content. High frame-rate gaming is also possible - we tried Alto's Odyssey, and the screen maintained the 90Hz refresh rate, while the Game Turbo overlay reported anything between 72 and 90fps.

It's worth pointing out that on the Redmi Pad, we could get YouTube to stream in 1440p resolution - all other recent affordable tablets we've seeen are capped at 1080p. The Widevine L1 certification gives you FullHD playback in Netflix, though HDR is out of the question.

Redmi Pad battery life

The Redmi Pad draws power from a 8,000mAh battery, which makes for some pretty high endurance numbers. We clocked 15:46h of web browsing and 13:40h of looping videos. Among recently tested devices in the class, the Realme Pad X is only marginally better, while the Oppo Pad Air and Honor Pad 8 are no match for the Redmi Pad's longevity.

Charging speed

Charging speed is never really great on tablets, with the necessarily sizeable batteries being part of the issue. In this context, the Redmi Pad's results are more or less average. In our testing using the bundled 22.5W adapter, a full charge from flat took 2:21h, and 30 minutes into the process we were looking at 25% charge.

30min charging test (from 0%)

Higher is better

Honor Pad 8
35%
Apple iPad mini (2021)
35%
Realme Pad X
30%
Xiaomi Pad 5
27%
Xiaomi Redmi Pad
25%
Oppo Pad Air
25%
Realme Pad
23%
Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE
18%

Time to full charge (from 0%)

Lower is better

Honor Pad 8
1:57h
Apple iPad mini (2021)
1:57h
Realme Pad X
2:00h
Xiaomi Pad 5
2:00h
Xiaomi Redmi Pad
2:21h
Oppo Pad Air
2:25h
Realme Pad
2:55h
Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE
3:05h

Speaker test

The Redmi Pad features a four-speaker sound system with two on each side - naturally, they're symmetrical and produce stereo sound.

Bottom speakers • Top speakers

In our testing, the Redmi Pad earned a 'Very Good' loudness rating, a notch below a couple of 'Excellent' competitors. There's little to complain about when it comes to sound quality - while it can't quite reach the Honor Pad 8's low-end boominess, the Redmi tablet still has a solid low-frequency presence and delivers clear vocals and treble.

Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.

MIUI could use some more tablet optimization

The Redmi Pad runs MIUI 13 on top of Android 12, a familiar combo we've seen on recent Xiaomi phones and the tablet-like Mix Fold 2. Xiaomi has promised 2 OS updates for the Redmi Pad, so it should get MIUI 15 in 2024, presumably alongside Android 14, and there will be three years of security patches.

The tablet-specific bits include a split-screen UI in apps like Settings, Notes, and File Manager.

Settings • Notes • File Manager

The multi-window functionality, however, isn't much different than what you can have on a Xiaomi smartphone, and it's not the best. You do get split-screen multi-window, but you're limited to just 50/50 or 33/67 ratios - you can't do custom splits.

There is also a floating window feature, but you only get one - other makers' implementations allow for multiple ones and with a separate task switcher, too, while here, the floating windows go into the main task switcher.

Multi tasking

Indeed, MIUI 13 on the Redmi Pad looks and feels like it does on smartphones, a lot more than other tablet-tailored software builds. That may or may be a problem - after all, if you just need a big-screen device for YouTube binging (the Redmi Pad comes with 2 months of free YouTube Premium), then perhaps extra features aren't all that vital. But maybe they could have come up with a side-by-side view of the control center and notifications, at least.

Homescreen • App drawer (optional) • Control center • Notifications

Performance and benchmarks

The Redmi Pad runs on the Helio G99 platform. It's a 6nm chip from Mediatek with a 2+6 core CPU configuration (2x2.2GHz Cortex-A76 and 2x2.0GHz Cortex-A55) and a Mali-G57 MC2 GPU. The base memory version has 3GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, and while storage is expandable via microSD, 3 gigs of RAM sounds limiting these days. The 4GB/128GB and 6GB/128GB versions are the better choices (the reviewed device was the 4GB/128GB spec).

The Redmi Pad is no chart-topper in benchmarks, but it's no slouch either. Sure, the proper Xiaomi Pad 5 (SD860) is in an entirely different league, and the Realme Pad X (SD695) also wins across the board, if not by quite as much. But then the Redmi Pad is a notable step up from the SD680 crowd - the likes of the Oppo Pad Air or the Honor Pad 8.

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

Huawei MatePad 11 (2021)
3282
Xiaomi Pad 5
2583
Realme Pad X
2026
Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G
1904
Xiaomi Redmi Pad
1852
Oppo Pad Air
1661
Honor Pad 8
1545

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

Huawei MatePad 11 (2021)
920
Xiaomi Pad 5
743
Realme Pad X
691
Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G
615
Xiaomi Redmi Pad
554
Oppo Pad Air
384
Honor Pad 8
376

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

Huawei MatePad 11 (2021)
639631
Xiaomi Pad 5
555079
Realme Pad X
395824
Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G
355430
Xiaomi Redmi Pad
319077
Honor Pad 8
279242
Oppo Pad Air
249172

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

Huawei MatePad 11 (2021)
20
Xiaomi Pad 5
16
Realme Pad X
12
Xiaomi Redmi Pad
8.3
Oppo Pad Air
4.9
Honor Pad 8
4.8

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

Huawei MatePad 11 (2021)
21
Xiaomi Pad 5
19
Realme Pad X
8.2
Xiaomi Redmi Pad
5.5
Honor Pad 8
3.2
Oppo Pad Air
3.2

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

Huawei MatePad 11 (2021)
44
Xiaomi Pad 5
35
Realme Pad X
31
Xiaomi Redmi Pad
22
Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G
16
Honor Pad 8
13
Oppo Pad Air
13

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

Huawei MatePad 11 (2021)
86
Xiaomi Pad 5
43
Realme Pad X
34
Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G
31
Xiaomi Redmi Pad
25
Honor Pad 8
15
Oppo Pad Air
15

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

Huawei MatePad 11 (2021)
3797
Xiaomi Pad 5
3396
Xiaomi Redmi Pad
1242
Realme Pad X
1217
Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G
1092
Honor Pad 8
450
Oppo Pad Air
450

Two 8MP cameras

The Redmi Pad has a couple of 8MP cameras, one on the back and another on the display side. The rear one uses the GalaxyCore GC08A3 sensor (1/4" optical format, 1.12µm pixels) paired with a 26mm-equivalent lens with an f/2.0 aperture and AF.

The front camera employs the SK Hynix Hi-846 sensor (same size - 8MP, 1/4", 1.12µm) behind an unusually wide lens - Xiaomi specs say it has a 105-degree field of view which translates to around 17mm equivalent, though some hardware apps report 100 degrees and 18mm. In any case, it's wider than the bulk of selfie cams, on phones or tablets alike.

Both cameras support 1080p video recording at 30fps; there's no video stabilization on either one.

The camera app bears the standard MIUI marks, only adapted to the large screen. The shutter release button is always within easy reach of your right thumb, whether in portrait or landscape orientation, and modes are easily switched with side swipes in the viewfinder.

Photos out of the rear camera are very good for the class. We're getting sharp images with about as much detail as you can expect from an 8MP shot. Contrast is good, dynamic range is decent, and the color rendition is likeable, too.

Rear camera samples

Video quality is decent when viewed from afar thanks to the pleasing colors, high contrast and decent dynamic range. Close examination reveals that pixel-level detail isn't great, however.

[embedded content]

The ultrawide selfies are admittedly a nice touch, though sharpness isn't great at arm's length distances.

That ultrawide camera should supposedly have extra functionality in video calls over Messenger or Whatsapp called FocusFrame. It's supposed to recognize faces in the frame and keep the view centered on them by cropping. We dug up the toggle in settings and tried it in Facebook Messenger, but it didn't really work at the time of reviewing. Some sources claim it's coming later via a software update.

Selfie samples: Photo • Video framegrab

Verdict

Save for a somewhat limited multi-window implementation in software (and let's face it, not everyone even cares about multi-window), we can hardly think of any glaring issue with the Redmi Pad. Well, the rather low-spec 64GB/3GB version is to be avoided (this one doesn't support multi-window at all, mind you), but other than that, we see no reason not to recommend the higher tiers (128GB/4GB or 128GB/6GB).

It's got one of the best displays you can get for the money - it's as bright as the rest of them at this price point but has no pesky contrast shifts, and it's 90Hz amongst 60Hz competitors. Battery life is towards the top of the class, and the speakers are very good too. On the outside, the metal unibody lends it an air of premiumness. Overall, the Redmi Pad is one of the nicest all-around packages if you're looking for a midrange tablet.