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Xiaomi Pad 7 is the latest mid-range tablet with Android available in the market and tries its best to make the platform tick.
The new Pad 7 tablet gets a premium feature that costs you over a lakh.
The Android tablet market is no longer a pushover even though Google does its best to make Android less friendly on the form factor. Brands like Xiaomi have put serious efforts to change that trend and the Xiaomi Pad series is a clear indication of its motives.
The Pad 7 model launched in the market recently looks to bring some ultra-premium features to the mid-range bracket, and then you have also got some nifty OS customisations to make Android conducive for tablets. Does the Xiaomi Pad 7 manage to get the right blend of hardware and software to make it a definite daily muncher, we try to find out.
The Display
Xiaomi has opted for a 11.2-inch LCD panel for the screen on the Pad 7 which would understandably have you puzzled but the actual experience gives you a clearer picture of its quality because you get it with 144Hz refresh rate which makes the performance smooth.
The size of the bezels on the edge were slimmer than what you expect from tablets in this range. The screen resolution gives you crisp and punchy colours and even for readability you will find it more than sufficient. Even for watching videos and movies you will find the 11.2 display proving a capable entertainer. You also have the nano texture display variant which promises a better viewing experience but we weren’t able to try it out.
The Looks
The Pad 7 weighs around 500 grams which isn’t very heavy but adding the Focus Keyboard makes the tablet rather bulky.
The design language is similar to the Pad 6 with a square-ish camera module at the back and the clean lines with metal finishing gives it that premium touch.
You get the power button and volume rocker close to each other, and the quad speakers on both sides with the Dolby branding. There isn’t anything out of the ordinary about the design of Pad 7 but we’re fine with that.
Does The Job
Xiaomi has powered the tablet with the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 chipset with up to 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. Using this hardware will allow the brand to increase the OS cycle for the device and even the performance levels are evident when you put it through the benchmark tests and the actual daily usage.
The tablet can easily handle your regular tasks, some casual games and even let you use it as a work device for a brief time. Can it replace your laptop over a longer period? That is still a stretch for Android in this form factor but Xiaomi is definitely heading in the right direction.
The Pad 7 gets Android 15-based HyperOS 2.0 version out of the box which is really good to see from the brand and you will get 2 years of OS upgrades. We still prefer to see Xiaomi fulfilling its promise rather than talk about it, because the earlier promises didn’t work out. The software has some nifty features for a tablet and we liked how they perform when put through the paces.
The brand is also integrating other products to form an ecosystem which lets you access a Xiaomi phone on the big screen which mirrors the Phone Link support or anything that OnePlus offers across its products. Xiaomi even allows you to use the tablet as an external display for your laptop which can help people.
Lasts Long
The Pad 7 packs a 8,850mAh battery which is enough to let you coast through a couple of days without needing to connect the tablet to a charger.
The battery can easily let you use a tablet for over a day on heavy usage and it goes even higher if the level is moderate which includes watching movies, browsing the web and more. The battery supports 45W charging speed which is useful and gets you up and running in under 2 hours.
Now, let’s talk about the accessories that can be paired with the Xiaomi Pad 7 by paying extra. The Focus Keyboard has a nice tactile feel with the good travel offered by the keys but the track pad is slightly underwhelming and we would have liked it a bit bigger.
The Focus Pen is quite good for its task and making scribbles with the stylus on the Pad 7 lets you take notes, or even draw. The only drawback with the keyboard is that you lose the portability factor of a tablet with the Pad 7 and easily see another 500 grams added to the heft.
Xiaomi Pad 7 has a crisp display, reliable performance and long battery life. The design is functional and looks premium and should be good to handle the daily rigours for a few years. The Pad 7 does miss out on 4G/5G support but even without it, this is a reliable portable device worth the price.
- Location :
Delhi, India, India
