OnePlus’ Pad 2 has a sharp display with a price tag that stings

As an entertainment device, the new OnePlus Pad 2 shines. The display is dazzling, its speakers, top-notch. In fact, the Android tablet is even more powerful than its predecessor for watching movies, listening to music, and playing games — so much so that, during the time I spent testing the tablet, I had no desire to stream shows or listen to music on my 2022 iPad Air. 

Unfortunately, though, that isn’t the whole story. The Pad 2 is also being sold as a productivity device — and for that, as I’ll explain, I found it lackluster. Add to that the fact that, while the original OnePlus Pad (which, unfortunately, will be discontinued once the existing stock is sold out) provided an impressive value for its price, OnePlus has increased the cost of its new midrange tablet by $70 to $549.99, making it harder to compete with similar Android tablets. 

A flagship screen at a midrange price

But it has to be admitted that other similarly priced tablets can’t compete with the specs of the OnePlus Pad 2’s screen, either. Like its predecessor, the Pad 2 offers a higher 144Hz variable refresh rate than even Apple and Samsung’s pricier premium tablets, which allows for buttery smooth scrolling and easy navigation. The 3K LCD screen still supports Dolby Vision but can now hit a peak brightness of 900 nits with a sharper 3000 x 2120 resolution. The impressively bright and crisp display makes movies come alive, with good contrast levels for an LCD. Colors are also rich and vibrant — so long as you stay indoors. 

With the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile processor, double the storage, and more RAM (256GB SSD / 12GB RAM), apps (including games) load at lightning speed and run smoothly. The improved performance also doesn’t come at the expense of battery life, which lasts as long as its predecessor’s. 

At 12.1 inches, the Pad 2’s screen sits somewhere between the latest 11-inch and 13-inch tablets from Apple, Samsung, and Google, and it also feels spacious and comfortable for content consumption, thanks to its 7:5 aspect ratio. In contrast, Samsung and Google’s tablets feature a 16:10 ratio, which can make reading or watching videos in landscape mode feel cramped.

Yet while the screen is spacious, at around 1.29 pounds (584 grams), the tablet’s weight makes it hard to read or watch movies comfortably for long periods of time. Combined with its size, the Pad 2 gets tiring to hold — I enjoy watching movies or reading while lying down, so this became a problem. I had to use the case to prop the tablet up. 

Still, if you can overlook that, you get a tablet that provides a great movie-watching experience that’s made even better with its terrific speakers. Curiously, OnePlus has dropped support for Dolby Atmos, but its six speakers still deliver a loud and full sound with OnePlus’s version of spatial audio, Holo Audio. It automatically switches audio channels depending on whether it’s in landscape or portrait mode, which allows you to enjoy an immersive stereo sound hard to find in a tablet at this price. It’s a shame there’s no 3.5mm headphone jack, but then again, most tablets these days seem to only work with wireless headphones.

Still not a serious productivity device

As an Android tablet for entertainment, the OnePlus 2 is exceptional — but for everything else, it’s just okay. For example, one of the ways OnePad tries to pitch the Pad 2 as a productivity-focused tablet is by improving the tablet’s multitasking capabilities with the Open Canvas feature. First debuted in the OnePlus Open, the setting now lets you run three apps split-screen and customize their layout — you can then save the trio as a group for quick access, which makes multitasking easier than before. However, Apple and Samsung’s tablets offer more useful multitasking and windowing options. 

In addition, because OnePlus’ OxygenOS 14.1 software is built on top of Android 14, the feature is limited by the fact that a lot of Android apps aren’t optimized for a tablet’s larger display. Slack, for instance, looks stretched out and lacks multiple-column views, which leaves a lot of empty space. Sharing the screen with two other apps using the Open Canvas feature made the app smaller and even more challenging to navigate, so I just stopped using it altogether.

That isn’t to say you can’t get any work done. The tablet works just fine for light productivity work. Google and Microsoft Office apps work well, and the recording app even lets you mark specific points. I like that OnePlus’ Notes app offers built-in notebooks with three different templates: one with bullets, a second with lines, and another with a grid. Note-taking e-readers like Kobo’s Elipsa 2E offer more options, but that’s still a nice touch for students or people like me who also use their tablets for journaling.

OnePlus also promises to introduce a lot of new AI-powered features that are similar to the productivity-focused ones Google released earlier this year. AI Recording Summary will summarize key points in long documents, while AI Speak will read text aloud, and AI Writer will help you write up content using text or image prompts. Maybe these features will help make the tablet better — but they sure aren’t here yet, and what is currently available won’t cut it if you want to get some real work done.

Aside from its software, OnePlus’ accessories also hold it back from being a serious productivity device. Along with the $39.99 OnePlus Folio Case 2, the company also sells the $149.99 OnePlus Smart Keyboard and the $99.99 OnePlus Stylo 2. I was able to test the last two. 

OnePlus’ detachable keyboard is okay, but it doesn’t live up to the standards needed for real productivity. I had no problem using it for browsing the web or shooting short emails. It’s small even for my tiny fingers, but it’s still comfortable to type on. The trackpad is spacious and easy to navigate, too, with helpful features like multi-finger gesture support. It clicks loudly, though, which made me feel uncomfortable in quieter public settings.

My biggest complaint, though, is that the keyboard just isn’t sturdy enough. The keyboard magnetically attaches to the Pad via three pogo pins and charges through the tablet relatively quickly. It bends to give a tilt ranging from 110 to 165 degrees, providing for a decent number of viewing angles. Unfortunately, the keyboard popped off the pins a few times, once while resting on my lap and another time while on my desk. Thankfully, you don’t have to attach the keyboard to your tablet to use it because it supports Bluetooth, but that does hold it back from being a decent laptop replacement.

The stylus might be OnePlus’ saving grace, though. Like the OnePlus Smart Keyboard, the new Stylo 2 quickly charges when magnetically attached to the Pad. It writes smoothly with no perceptive lag and offers increased pressure sensitivity levels, from 4,096 to 16,000. The new leather-like material offers better grip and is comfortable to hold, while OnePlus has also added a new linear motor that makes the tip vibrate to simulate writing with pen and paper. I definitely didn’t feel like I was writing on paper, but it did replicate the experience slightly better than my USB-C Apple Pencil.

Very good, but overpriced 

Overall, the OnePlus Pad 2 capitalizes upon its strengths and continues to offer flagship specs, with an impressive screen that comparable tablets can’t match. It’s still not great for serious productivity or creation work, but it can handle light productivity chores and is a terrific midrange Android tablet for watching movies and consuming other types of entertainment. If you own a OnePlus phone, it’s even more tempting, with additional pluses such as hotspot sharing.

However, compared with similar Android tablets, its $549.99 price tag is just too high. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S9 FE Plus, which costs $50 more than the Pad 2, includes a stylus, waterproofing, cellular connectivity as an option, and a better software policy; Samsung says the Tab S9 FE Plus will receive four years of Android upgrades, as opposed to OnePlus’ promise of three, and five — not four —  years of security updates. Even Google’s decent Pixel Tablet, which doesn’t offer as many bells and whistles, will save you about $150 over the new Pad 2.

In other words, OnePlus these days actually now faces real competition. While the great screen and performance may be tempting, in my opinion, it’s not enough to justify the $70 price hike.

Photography by Sheena Vasani / The Verge