Despite foldable phones becoming popular, people still want a tablet for a larger screen, which helps with multitasking. The iPad remains miles ahead because of software support. What about someone who only uses Android? Samsung has several good offerings, like Galaxy Tab S9 FE. But OnePlus is not far behind. The company’s latest — OnePlus Pad 3 — is a solid option with very few drawbacks.

For daily use, the tablet holds up so well. At 5.97mm, it’s thinner than the previous generation and the build quality is premium with its frosted aluminum back.

The bezels on the tablet is perfect, giving you enough space to hold it with both hands. With a big battery, the weight of the tablet has gone up a bit — from 590g to 675g. But it is not a problem because the weight is well distributed.

Multiple apps can be handled at the same time without the machine slowing down

OnePlus has not made compromises with its LCD display. At 13.2 inches, it is bigger than what we had on the previous generation. OLED always looks better but the LCD display OnePlus is offering is impressive. It has Dolby Vision with HDR10+ and 12-bit colour rendering, which makes watching videos great. The colours look lovely and the whole display pops; it gives you the vibe of a higher-end display than it actually is.

Since the display is larger than last year, it makes you feel more immersed in videos. Further, you will be watching content at 144Hz. Going around the UI feels smooth, and I feel that the 144Hz gives you the impression that this is an expensive display.

The interesting part about the display is the 7:5 aspect ratio, which makes it well-suited for reading. In case you like to read comic books, it will come in handy. The resolution has also gone up this year but the brightness level could have been higher.

The NFC chip built into the palm rest of the keyboard enables easy file transfers between your phone and tablet

The peak brightness is only 900 nits, so if you were to take this outside to the park or work on it under bright sunlight, it would just about feel right; yes, it could have been brighter. But when you are indoors, there is no issue. The touch response on the display is satisfactory; it helps while gaming.

Excellent performance

There are two variants — 12GB (LPDDR5X) /256GB and 16GB (LPDDR5T)/512GB. LPDDRX versus LPDDR5T? Slightly faster RAM speed.

The sound you get from this is top of the line. There are eight speakers — four woofers and four tweeters. When you pair them together, it brings out a sound that competes with flagship products. There’s plenty of bass and it doesn’t sound tinny.

Combine a good display with a respectable sound setup, it becomes a promising device for games. You can play most games at full graphics and that’s because this is running Snapdragon 8 Elite. Almost anything you throw at the Pad 3, it will handle with ease.

OnePlus also introduced a larger Smart Keyboard Cover to match its latest tablet

Most games run at their highest graphics setting, and it can also do the same for games like Fortnite. OnePlus says that the CPU performance here is quicker. There is also a vapour chamber inside and even after an hour of gaming, the machine runs two to three degrees cooler than its closest competitor. Essentially, you can throw some high-graphic games at this and it’s going to run cooler for longer.

The battery is also respectable. It’s now 12,140 mAh and it can handle six to seven hours of AAA title gameplay and up to 17 hours of long video playback. After a couple of weeks of using this for gaming and watching long videos, I have had no problems with the battery. Even if you want to juice up, you can charge it pretty quickly because it supports 80 watt charging.

Software experience and AI

Multitasking on the OnePlus tablet is very good. I use Canva online all the time, besides two or three other video and audio apps simultaneously. I can use three apps side by side. If you’re constantly switching between same two apps, you’ll even see a pop-up at the top of the screen that will suggest a split-screen view. Open Canvas is a good OnePlus offering to keep different applications working at the same time.

You still get an app dock that can be accessed from anywhere. If you own any OnePlus phone, there will be some ecosystem features available. Pair your phone with the NFC section of the keyboard. For example, it helps to take calls on the tablet.

Another helpful feature — O+ Connect software. It lets you connect your Apple ecosystem with the OnePlus ecosystem. Download O+ Connect on the Mac and then connect the OnePlus Pad and Mac.

There are a bunch of AI features, like AI summary, AI writing tools, AI detail boost and so on.

Combine multitasking with the Pad 3 keyboard (needs to be purchased separately) and you’ve got yourself a bit of a productivity machine. The keys have enough travel distance, so it feels really nice to type on but there is one small issue — the trackpad is a bit sensitive; I couldn’t find the setting to tweak the element.

The back cover comes with a kickstand; there’s an infinite amount of angles you can use this with, which helps while watching films… it hits every angle that you might need.

One good thing about the keyboard is that the back cover with the kickstand can be kept away from the keyboard, giving it a wireless capability.

There is an AI button to bring up the Gemini functionality… it’s on similar lines to the Copilot key on Windows laptops. Another accessory that can be used with the tablet is a stylus.

Make the call

The only way to unlock it is through face unlock, which, when it works, is great. There’s no fingerprint reader to unlock the machine… it can be irritating in low-light situations.

The rear camera has been moved, so it’s in a much nicer place now, and I think looks much better than the rounder ones on the Pad 2 but sadly the 13MP camera itself is just about good enough for scanning documents. I suppose tablet cameras in general are never very good; I do wish that changes in the future. On the front is an 8MP camera, and it’s good enough for video calls.

The keyboard and the back cover can be detached

There is also Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, but there is no 5G variant of the tablet. OnePlus should have at least given an eSIM variant. Another issue: There’s no expandable storage. The tablet has as competition Galaxy Tab S9 FE and that gives you the option to add a micro SD.

If you can overlook the couple of quibbles, this might be the best premium mid-range tablet that you can buy at the moment, and OnePlus will give you three years of Android updates and six years of security updates. You can’t go wrong with OnePlus Pad 3, which has extra value for OnePlus phone users.

At a glance

Device: OnePlus Pad 3

Price: India pricing is yet to be announced

High notes

Excellent performance

Great audio setup

The keyboard (needs to be purchased separately) is comfortable to type on

Good level of multitasking is allowed with Open Canvas

It easily works for more than a day

Longer software support

Muffled notes

No micro SD slot

Lacks a fingerprint scanner