Last year I reviewed the OPPO Pad Air and I loved it and it seems the rest of Australia did too with it selling out. I know, because I tried to buy one, unsuccessfully.
The OPPO Pad Air was an entry-level tablet, but this time OPPO has brought the big guns with the Pad 2. The Pad 2 is OPPO’s new flagship tablet – if there is such a thing – with a design that is similar to the Pad Air and looks a lot like an iPad, in a good way.
At just $699, the OPPO Pad 2 is still not cheap but it is still a lot less than an iPad, the Pixel Tablet or a Samsung tablet of equivalent specs so read on to see how I though it stacks up against these competitors, with it coming in $500 cheaper.
Specs and performance
The OPPO Pad 2 is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 9000 partnered with 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB of storage but let’s face it, tablets are rarely about the specs after a certain point. Who pushes their tablets to that extreme? Does anyone really play high end games on a tablet?
Tablets, for most people, are for emails, social media and media consumption, such as Netflix etc. For this reason, one of the most important specs of a tablet is the display. The Pad 2 features an 11.6-inch display with a refresh rate of 144Hz ensuring buttery smooth playback and transitions. The 7:5 display ratio is different but I like it – sure it’s not the most perfect display for Netflix etc but great for everything else.
For the folks who also want to use their tablets for video chat, the Pad 2 also includes an 8MP selfie camera. The rear camera is 13MP and is good for very little except maybe photographing documents or things required for a work quote etc – not for long term keepsake photos.
The next most important spec in my opinion is the battery life – no point having an amazing display if it cannot play for long periods of time. The OPPO Pad 2 houses a 9510mAh battery that OPPO says supports up to 12.4 hours of video playback. Fear not though if you do run low as the Pad 2 is charged using 67W SUPERVOOC flash charging and can charge your battery to 100% in 81 minutes.
Design
The Pad 2 is thin, with a matte finish and quite frankly looks elegantly stunning. OPPO calls the texture/design of the back of the tablet their “Star Trail” design. OPPO has ALWAYS made amazing looking hardware and although they and I often butted heads over their software in early days, one thing I could agree with them on was that their hardware has always been one of the best designed and best made devices in the Android ecosystem.
The Pad 2 is no different with it being thin and stylish. While we weren’t sent any of the accessories that you can purchase with the Pad 2 – including keyboard folio case and a pen – by itself the tablet is an easy sell.
For my description of the design below assume you are holding the tablet in a landscape orientation.
There are three pogo pins on the bottom edge of the tablet which I assume are for the keyboard folio – if we manage to get our hands on a keyboard we’ll let you know our experience with that too.
The top has what appears to be a magnetic strip for the pen to stick to along with the volume buttons. My only gripe with the design is that the volume buttons are too close to the left edge of the tablet. The other side of that edge/corner is the power button so I often found myself turning the display off while gripping the tablet and trying to adjust the volume.
Of course, the more I used the tablet the less I did this as my muscle memory learned the locations and how to best adjust the volume without turning the display off. The left and right sides of the tablet each house a couple of speakers. Yes, stereo speakers with support for Dolby Atmos.
Now, the stereo speakers are standard tablet speakers. Don’t expect miracles. For video playback the sound was clear, loud and accurate. Like all tablets though, for music listening, you are not going to get audiophile quality music out of it. In a pinch they are good although, as you’d expect, lack a bit of bass.
The stereo sound works though. Watching a movie the sound was fairly enjoyable with the stereo really helping to immerse you in the experience.
The right side of the tablet houses the USB-C charging port – more on that below, but once again, there is a reason why I think OPPO has the best battery and battery charging solution currently on the Australian market.
So what’s lacking? A headphone jack for those still stuck in the 1990s and an SD card for those who need more than 256GB of movies on their tablet. For me, neither of these is required – the only headphones I have with a 3.5mm jack are my high end Focal Bathys and using them for this tablet is overkill – plus they have Bluetooth inbuilt so why wouldn’t I just use them.
The final thing missing is a fingerprint sensor but for me, the OPPO facial recognition is good enough for a tablet. It is not considered secure enough for Google Wallet and other NFC payments but who uses those on a tablet? The facial recognition is faster and more consistent than any other manufacturer and device on the market.
Software Features
The Android tablet ecosystem can only be described as woeful. Not just the availability of the hardware but how many years are we into the Android tablet experiment and yet Android still doesn’t play well with the larger displays.
Although the fault often lies with the app developers – I’m looking directly at you Meta with FB, Insta and now Threads all woefully sub-par on a tablet – Google needs to do more. Lucky Google, and now OPPO with the Pad 2 have implemented split screen. You can split screen any apps that don’t fill the display to fill the display, AND MULTITASK.
This split screen is a time saver and a godsend when it comes to Android tablets. There are still a few display issues with Facebook on the Pad 2 which I suspect is due to the different display ratio to other Android tablets but that’s not a deal breaker because you can flip the tablet to portrait and see more of the app with one app stacked on top of the other. You can see this in the image below how the Facebook app on the right of the display doesn’t show everything for each Marketplace ad. It does on other Android tablets.
The good news is that the NBA app has been fixed it seems and I can finally watch NBA games on an Android tablet – the OPPO Pad 2 included.
Screen mirroring (MultiScreen Connect) is something I tested out on the OPPO Pad Air and I loved it. If you are working on your PC but get some notifications on your tablet only then you can have those notifications show on the PC and respond to them on the PC using their MultiScreen Connect software.
MultiScreen Connect allows you to control your phone from the display of your tablet – as long as your phone is an OPPO smartphone running Android 12 or above. The tablet and phone connect directly to each other and then you can not only see the phone notifications on the tablet but also control the replies etc. You can also open and run apps that way too.
Performance
MediaTek used to get a really bad rap but in 2023 there is really nothing I can fault with the MediaTek chipset in this tablet. Although OPPO is seemingly trying to hide the chipset onboard – it is not mentioned by name in the specs on their website (but is mentioned in the overview – riddle me that one Batman), there is nothing to be ashamed about.
There is a stigma with MediaTek chipsets based on how cheap and nasty they were a long time ago but now they have moved on and seem to be passed that – well, they are in most of the MediaTek chipsets we get here in Australia.
The Mediatek chipset in the OPPO Pad 2 is the Mediatek MT6983 Dimensity 9000 which is no slouch and is manufactured using the 4nm production process. I did not find a single slow down or it missed a beat at any time, whether it be playing games or movies or using apps.
I’m certainly comfortable with the Mediatek chipset in this tablet being easily good enough for anything you would realistically throw at a tablet. Factor in that most people use their tablets for video with a bit of surfing and I’m even more comfortable with that.
Combine the high end Mediatek chipset, and yes it is one of their best chipsets, with the 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage and there is more than enough grunt to get you through your tablet experience without sacrificing battery life.
Battery and charging
The OPPO Pad 2 comes with a massive 9510 mAh battery which is meant to provide you with video playback for “up to 12.4 hours.” In my testing it was very close to that but didn’t quite reach it – I may have had the brightness up higher than they recommend which would account for the lower run time.
The best thing about the OPPO battery, and every other OPPO device on the market, is their charging solution. OPPO has included support for SUPERVOOC 3.0 67W charging – just 10 minutes of this 67W charging will give you 3 hours of use according to OPPO.
This is a stretch and I suspect you need to read the fine print because they say “3 hours of use for work,” not 3 hours of video playback. Not much more will give you that playback though. 67W isn’t as fast as they can do but they save the 80W (and above) for their flagship smartphones.
There isn’t a better charging solution on the Australian market for any smartphone or tablet. But there is a problem here. To get these charging speeds you do need to use a charger from OPPO and if you have never used an OPPO device with charging speeds this high you will not have one of these chargers — and there is not one in the box.
Sure, I get all the saving the planet thing with saving landfill etc by not including chargers for all devices. I agree with that but there is nothing that tells you that there isn’t a charger in the box. OPPO should have it written on the website in big bold letters spelling out that if you do not have a 67W or higher charger you will not get the full charging experience with this device.
Luckily you can buy a spare charger easily enough from the OPPO website and I encourage you to do so if you do not already have an OPPO 67W or higher charger. They are not the first company to sell chargers this way and won’t be the last and although the chargers are relatively affordable it would be nice and prove that this is just not a way to make a few more bucks if they were at cost price — I highly doubt that the 65W charger costs them $50 to make (but I could be wrong).
Final thoughts
OPPO has put their hand up to sell tablets, a segment of the Android market long forgotten and let’s face it, it’s for a reason — Android tablets, as a whole, have not been good. OPPO thinks they can make a difference with the new Pad 2 and I agree.
The OPPO Pad 2 offers a big, beautiful 2K 144Hz display with a different 7:5 display ratio which is actually really comfortable for reading ebooks. The speakers are decent but you’ll need to use Bluetooth headphones if you really want some decent audio (as you do on any tablet on the market).
OPPO has not forgotten about accessories either with a Smart Touchpad, Pencil, and Smart Cover available. Unfortunately, you will need to buy yourself an OPPO SUPERVOOC charger if you do not already have one given that one is not included in the box.
Performance is perfectly fine for a tablet with all media streaming easily and basic games not having an issue at all.
At RRP $699 is is priced well below any of its direct competitors. iPad 10th gen tablets start at $1,249 for the 256GB version and the Samsung Tab S9 at $1,299 making them both a fair whack more than the OPPO Pad 2. As a direct competitor I am comfortable saying that the OPPO Pad 2 is comparable to the Samsung and Apple offerings, but $500 cheaper.
The OPPO Pad 2 (8GB+256GB) is priced at $699. For the accessories, the OPPO Pad 2 Smart Touchpad Keyboard is priced at $159, the OPPO Pencil is priced at $79 and the OPPO Pad 2 Smart Case is priced at $79. The OPPO Pad 2 and supporting accessories are available to purchase from today at OPPO Australia’s online store and if you are interested, I’d recommend getting on them quick before they sell out.
