Redmi Pad Pro 5G Review: A Solid Performer But Does It Deserve Your Attention?
Redmi has made a significant push into the tablet market with the introduction of two new models: the Redmi Pad SE 4G and the Redmi Pad Pro 5G. While the former targets the budget-conscious segment, the latter boasts a compelling set of features aimed at capturing a wider audience. Priced at Rs 21,999 for the Wi-Fi variant with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage, the Redmi Pad Pro 5G aims to dominate the mid-range tablet market. But does it have what it takes to be the top choice? Let’s delve into this comprehensive review and find out.
Redmi Pad Pro 5G Design: Sleek and Thin
Redmi has clearly put effort into the design of the Redmi Pad Pro 5G. Sporting an aluminium unibody, it exudes a premium look and feel. With a thin profile of 7.52mm and a weight of 571 grams, it’s easily portable and comfortable to hold despite its large display.
The rear panel features a dual-tone finish with a quarter of the area dedicated to plastic housing the 5G modem and connectivity components, while the rest is made of metal. Notably, the Wi-Fi variant boasts a full metal unibody. The display is flat and protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3, offering reassurance against scratches and everyday wear and tear.
Redmi has thoughtfully bundled the Redmi Smart Pen and Keyboard, priced at Rs 999 and Rs 3,999 respectively. This adds to the premium appeal and offers convenience to consumers. However, the keyboard relies on a Bluetooth connection rather than POGO connectors, meaning that users need to charge it via USB Type-C, a minor inconvenience.
The same applies to the Redmi Smart Pen, which also requires charging via USB Type-C, although the battery life of both accessories is sufficiently long.
The keyboard provides a comfortable typing experience with decent travel distance and tactile feedback. While the lack of backlighting and trackpad support might be a drawback for some, the pairing process is seamless and the case securely holds the tablet.
The Redmi Pen delivers a responsive experience for writing and drawing, thanks to 4,096 pressure levels. It also allows for note-taking with the screen off, a convenient feature. However, the pen lacks magnetic attachment to the tablet, but Redmi has cleverly addressed this by providing a hook to hold the pen within the keyboard accessory.
Redmi Pad Pro 5G Display and Audio: Decent Performance
The Redmi Pad Pro 5G sports a 12.1-inch 2.5K LCD display with a 120Hz screen refresh rate and Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. While it’s an LCD panel, Xiaomi’s renowned color tuning ensures a vibrant and visually pleasing display.
The large display size makes it ideal for enjoying movies and shows, especially with support for Widevine L1. This enables users to stream content in HD on platforms like Netflix, although HDR10 support is missing.
During our testing, we found the color reproduction to be satisfactory, though the screen can be a bit reflective, which can be mitigated by disabling it in the settings. The 120Hz adaptive refresh rate contributes to a smooth and responsive user experience, making scrolling and multi-tasking feel effortless.
The tablet features four speakers and supports Dolby Atmos, delivering a well-balanced audio experience with adequate bass and volume. This makes it a perfect device for immersing yourself in movies and music.
Redmi Pad Pro 5G Software: A Smooth and Feature-Rich Experience
The Redmi Pad Pro 5G is the first tablet from Redmi to run on HyperOS, a customized version of Android 14, offering optimized performance compared to MIUI. This leads to faster task switching and reduced latency, making for a smoother and more efficient user experience.
The tablet boasts several unique connectivity features, including smartphone link, allowing seamless data transfer between the tablet and a compatible Xiaomi device. Users can easily open the smartphone screen on the tablet and drag and drop files.
The shared clipboard feature facilitates copying text and images from the smartphone and pasting them onto the tablet, while network sync allows for a single-click connection to the phone’s hotspot. Currently, these features are limited to Xiaomi 14 and Xiaomi 14 Civi models.
The usual split-screen and floating windows support ensures smooth multi-tasking, adding to the tablet’s productivity capabilities. Redmi has also promised two years of Android OS upgrades and three years of security updates, ensuring a long-term software experience.
Redmi Pad Pro 5G Performance: Adequately Powerful
The Redmi Pad Pro 5G is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 processor, offering a performance boost compared to the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 while not reaching the power of the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 or Snapdragon 7 Gen 1.
Despite this, the tablet handles most tasks with ease. Switching between multiple applications while streaming music was generally smooth, although we did notice some occasional lags when running multiple apps in the background. Additionally, users can add a 5G SIM to any slot.
The tablet performs well in benchmarks, as shown in the following table:
| Benchmark | Redmi Pad Pro 5G |
|---|---|
| Geekbench 6 Single Core | 1034 |
| Geekbench 6 Multi Core | 2994 |
| AnTuTu v10 | 602,839 |
| PCMark Work 3.0 | 12,518 |
| 3DM Slingshot Extreme OpenGL | 5177 |
| 3DM Slingshot | 6690 |
| 3DM Wild Life | 2970 |
| 3DM Wild Life Unlimited | 3072 |
| GFXBench T-Rex | 81 |
| GFXBench Manhattan 3.1 | 30 |
| GFXBench Car Chase | 15 |
In terms of gaming, the Redmi Pad Pro 5G holds its own, successfully handling most games with commendable performance. Call of Duty Mobile ran smoothly with the default settings (High graphics quality and Very High frame rate), although occasional lags appeared with Max frame rates. Thermal performance was decent throughout gaming sessions, and the tablet didn’t get excessively hot.
Redmi Pad Pro 5G Cameras: Usable for Basic Needs
The Redmi Pad Pro 5G comes equipped with 8-megapixel rear and front cameras with f/2.0 and f/2.28 apertures respectively, adequate for video calls but not much else.
The rear camera captures decent photos in daylight conditions, but its low-light performance is average. The front camera handles video calls well and can occasionally be used for selfies, but dedicated smartphones are still recommended for capturing quality pictures.
Redmi Pad Pro 5G Battery: An Impressive Performer
The Redmi Pad Pro 5G packs a massive 10,000mAh battery in its sleek form factor, resulting in exceptional battery life. Our battery loop test resulted in a runtime of 28 hours and 30 minutes.
The tablet supports 33W fast charging, though it takes a considerable amount of time to fully charge. Testing revealed that the tablet charges 26 percent in 15 minutes, 30 percent in 30 minutes, and 59 percent in 60 minutes. It took 2 hours and 10 minutes to reach full charge.
However, in real-world usage, the Redmi Pad Pro 5G delivers impressive battery life. Users can easily get two to three days of battery life with moderate usage.
Redmi Pad Pro 5G Verdict: A Solid Choice with Room for Improvement
To summarize, the Redmi Pad Pro 5G offers an excellent value-for-money proposition. Its sleek design makes it comfortable for travel, and the display quality is commendable for this price range. Performance is decent, while battery life is impressive. However, the relatively slow charging speeds could be improved.
In terms of competition, the Redmi Pad Pro 5G faces stiff competition from the Lenovo Tab P12 and Xiaomi Pad 6. Nevertheless, if you’re seeking an entertainment powerhouse that performs well in other aspects as well, the Redmi Pad Pro 5G is definitely worth considering.
