Honor Pad 8 review

MagicUI has some nice multi-window chops on top of Android 12

The Honor Pad 8 runs Android 12 out of the box and has full support for Google apps (that last one is worth mentioning in light of related company Huawei's lack of Google Mobile Services compatibility).

On top of the OS, there's an in-house layer of Magic UI (v6.1 in this case) and that's where a lot of cool stuff is.

We're talking mostly about the multi-window functionality, last seen on the Huawei Mate Xs 2. You can launch apps into a split-screen view via a side menu, accessible by swiping from the right edge of the display. Tapping an app from here spawns a floating window of it, and you can now have two such windows open at the same time, with every subsequently launched one minimizing one of the earlier ones to a separate icon on the side, which in turn opens a separate task switcher.

 

To initiate the split-screen view, you have to long-press the app icon from the side dock, and then drag it on top of another app, which is already open. You can add any app you choose to this Multi-Window menu, and most seem to work and scale pretty effortlessly. You can also have an app pair remain bundled together as one entry in the recent apps view, so you can easily close both of them or return to that particular side-by-side workflow.

Multi-window

Other than that, it's the familiar look and feel of Magic UI/EMUI. One of the other neat proprietary features is the 'large folder', all the more useful here than on the smartphones from the two brands - a large folder occupies as much space as four regular icons and holds up to 12 apps, which are immediately available. You don't need to expand the folder to launch an app.

Homescreen • Large folder • Settings

Performance and benchmarks

The Honor Pad 8 is powered by the Snapdragon 680, a midrange Qualcomm chip made on a 6nm process. It has no 5G capability, but the tablet doesn't support cellular connectivity. The 4+4 CPU features Kryo branded Cortex-A73 and A53 variations clocked at up to 2.4GHz and 1.9GHz, respectively.

The non-expandable storage is 128GB, while RAM is either 4GB or 6GB (our review unit having the latter).

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Huawei MatePad 11 (2021)
  3282
• Xiaomi Pad 5
  2583
• Realme Pad X
  2026
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G
  1904
• Xiaomi Redmi Pad
  1852
• Oppo Pad Air
  1661
• Honor Pad 8
  1545

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Huawei MatePad 11 (2021)
  920
• Xiaomi Pad 5
  743
• Realme Pad X
  691
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G
  615
• Xiaomi Redmi Pad
  554
• Oppo Pad Air
  384
• Honor Pad 8
  376

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

• Huawei MatePad 11 (2021)
  639631
• Xiaomi Pad 5
  555079
• Realme Pad X
  395824
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G
  355430
• Xiaomi Redmi Pad
  319077
• Honor Pad 8
  279242
• Oppo Pad Air
  249172

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Huawei MatePad 11 (2021)
  20
• Xiaomi Pad 5
  16
• Realme Pad X
  12
• Xiaomi Redmi Pad
  8.3
• Oppo Pad Air
  4.9
• Honor Pad 8
  4.8

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Huawei MatePad 11 (2021)
  21
• Xiaomi Pad 5
  19
• Realme Pad X
  8.2
• Xiaomi Redmi Pad
  5.5
• Honor Pad 8
  3.2
• Oppo Pad Air
  3.2

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Huawei MatePad 11 (2021)
  44
• Xiaomi Pad 5
  35
• Realme Pad X
  31
• Xiaomi Redmi Pad
  22
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G
  16
• Honor Pad 8
  13
• Oppo Pad Air
  13

GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Huawei MatePad 11 (2021)
  86
• Xiaomi Pad 5
  43
• Realme Pad X
  34
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G
  31
• Xiaomi Redmi Pad
  25
• Honor Pad 8
  15
• Oppo Pad Air
  15

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Huawei MatePad 11 (2021)
  3797
• Xiaomi Pad 5
  3396
• Xiaomi Redmi Pad
  1242
• Realme Pad X
  1217
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE 5G
  1092
• Honor Pad 8
  450
• Oppo Pad Air
  450

The benchmark performance of the Snapdragon 680 isn't spectacular, and more powerful competitors do exist - the SD695-powered Realme Pad X and Redmi Pad (Mediatek G99), for example. That said, in general use such as web browsing, social media, and YouTube streaming, the tablet felt just fine.