OnePlus has made a splash in the tablet market by announcing its new Android-powered OnePlus Pad. Available for pre-order starting April 28th directly from OnePlus for $479 (€499 / £449), the Pad comes in green and features a unique 144Hz LCD with a 7:5 aspect ratio, Dolby Vision HDR, and quad speakers with Dolby Atmos audio. The aluminum chassis has a brushed metal finish and the Pad is equipped with a MediaTek Dimensity 9000 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage.
Accessories for the Pad include a magnetic keyboard case for $149, a stylus for $99, and a folio case for $39. Like the popular iPad and Samsung tablets, users can pair the Pad with a trackpad-equipped keyboard case for productivity work or write on the screen with the optional stylus. Interestingly, the Pad can also use a paired OnePlus phone’s data connection without needing a dedicated data plan.
The OnePlus Pad is taking on the giants of the tablet market with hardware features that compete with the much pricier iPad Pro, and pricing that places it in the middle of the pack. While Apple’s entry-level iPads are cheaper, the Pad’s estimated shipping date of May 8th, availability slated for later in May on Amazon, and ability to inject excitement into the Android tablet market make it a worth considering.
Stay tuned for our upcoming review of the OnePlus Pad to see if OnePlus has delivered on its promise to inject some excitement into the Android tablet market.
