OnePlus Pad review

Design and accessories

The OnePlus Pad has an attractive design with remarkable thickness and build quality.

The front of the device is lined edge to edge with glass with a very slight curve around the edges. A uniform bezel goes around the screen, measuring just under a centimeter. It's understandable to want a smaller bezel but on a tablet, you need some place to park your thumb while holding the device and that's why you need a sizable bezel.

The corners curve aggressively on all four sides, both on the tablet itself and on the display. This can result in some content at the very apex being truncated unintentionally.

The left side of the device has the power button along with ports for two of the four loudspeakers. On the right, you find the remaining two speakers as well as the USB port. The bottom houses three contact plates for the magnetic keyboard accessory.

The top of the tablet has been flattened to hold the optional stylus while charging. A pill-shaped pattern on the right shows where the stylus charges through inductively. On the left are the volume buttons and the microphone. The 8MP front camera is also placed on the bezel below this edge.

The back of the OnePlus Pad features a spun finish emanating out of the large camera lens. All around the back edge is an unbroken line for radio antennas inside the device as the back cover otherwise has a seamless unibody design. The line is at times noticeable and other times hidden depending upon how light hits it.

What is impossible to miss are all the smudges on the back. The metal back is particularly susceptible to this disfigurement and the fine ridges make it harder to clean off than if it had been a smooth, even surface.

This is a shame as the design is otherwise quite fetching. We are especially impressed with how thin it is, which means even with a keyboard case on, the whole assembly remains quite slim. As for the color options, you can have any color you want as long as it's green.

While the thin body and manageable weight do make using the tablet easy work, the physical buttons on the device could have been made easier to use. They are a bit too small for a device this large and can be difficult to use. They are also awkwardly located and never feel convenient no matter how you hold the tablet.

The OnePlus Pad is a very well-built device. Despite the thickness (or lack thereof), the device feels extremely sturdy and dense in hand. There is no certified ingress protection against dust and water but that isn't uncommon for a tablet.

This is a good time to talk about the accessories, which as mentioned before have to be purchased separately. First is the OnePlus Magnetic Keyboard, a pricey contraption that includes a folio case, a keyboard, and a trackpad in one. It attaches magnetically to the tablet and uses the pogo pins to transfer data.

The outside of the folio has a soft leather-like texture that provides a good amount of grip when transporting. The inside of the folio that touches the metal back of the tablet is felt-lined, which should help wipe some of the smudges from the back.

The keyboard has a typical chiclet-style design with reasonably-sized keys for the alphabet and the numbers. The number row also contains shortcuts for commonly used functions accessed by pressing the Fn key. The keyboard will take some getting used to but I found I was able to type quickly after a few hours. The keys also have good tactile feedback and are pleasant to type on.

Below the keyboard is the trackpad. It is hinged centrally and can be pressed across the entire surface. It also supports multi-touch gestures.

The Magnetic Keyboard is a decent accessory but has a few issues. First, the angle at which the OnePlus Pad is mounted is very steep, causing the tablet to sit at a very upright, near-vertical angle when the integrated kickstand angle is used. This was likely done to balance the tablet on a lap without falling over but the downside is that you are always looking at the screen at an awkward angle.

The second issue is that the keyboard is not backlit. This makes the keyboard very difficult to use in the dark, especially when it's new and you haven't quite memorized the layout.

The third issue is that the trackpad is too short for such a tall display. The width is sufficient to drag the pointer across the width of the display but the short height means you can only drag the pointer about 4/5th the height of the screen before you run out of trackpad space. This just means you will be lifting your finger often to cover the span of the display.

The trackpad issue isn't particularly bothersome but we would have liked to see backlighting or more adjustability for the tablet angle at the price this accessory sells for.

The other accessory we received was the OnePlus Stylo. This is a wireless stylus that connects over Bluetooth and charges by magnetically attaching to the top of the tablet. It has a smooth, mostly uniform surface with a flat edge that attaches to the tablet. It's reasonably well-weighted and has a good balance from tip to end.

The stylus works quite well and everything from pairing to charging worked seamlessly. When it came to actual usage it also seemed to work well for drawing in our limited artistic experience. It has a 4096-level pressure-sensitive tip that can draw thicker lines when you press it down harder and you can also angle it to draw broader strokes. The OS will also highlight options if you just hover over the screen. The palm rejection works well and you can have your entire hand on the screen while drawing without it getting picked up.

OnePlus claims 2ms latency but it seemed to be a bit more than that at times. This may be due to the display limiting most drawing apps to 60Hz but more on that later.

Overall, the OnePlus Stylo is a good tool if you are feeling serious about using an Android tablet for drawing.