Oppo Pad Air review

ColorOS 12 for Pad on top of Android 12

The tablet runs on Oppo's latest ColorOS 12 for Pad, which is based on Android 12. It's indistinguishable from the smartphone version of the software, and it's also nearly identical to Realme's Realme UI 3.0, which we saw on the Realme Pad X.

Overall appearance and aesthetics are pretty close to stock Android, but colors, iconography and some small UI elements are easily distinguishable. The notification shade and the recent apps menu are business as usual.

Perhaps one of the centerpiece features of the software is the multi-tasking capabilities. The so-called Flexible Window feature is present on Realme's smartphones, but it works better on a bigger screen. There's a customizable sidebar, which you can pull out and tap on an app that supports Flexible Window. The app will then run in a small, interactable window, which can be minimized in the same sidebar tray. There's also a quick shortcut to Flexible Window in the recent apps menu.

Multi-tasking features

However, we found that you can run only one app in a window and another one that's full-screen. Opening a second app, say a file explorer and Chrome, would minimize the previously opened app. A bit limiting for a multitasking feature. Then again, you can run two instances of the same app simultaneously, which is quite convenient in some scenarios. You can keep two Chrome instances open simultaneously, for example.

There's also the Multi-Screen connect, which has been a thing on Honor and Huawei devices for quite some time now. It allows you to seamlessly share files with your phone and even share screens. Think of it as an extra small monitor for extra screen real estate as you work. Interestingly enough, while Realme's Multi-Screen Collaboration is limited to just a few Realme models at the moment, Oppo's Multi-Screen Connect should, in theory, work with every phone running ColorOS 12.1 and above.

Home screen, recent apps, app drawer, noptification shade

A well-known feature but worthy of a mention is the Reading Mode. The standard LCD panel could be tiring to your eyes if you have an e-book or long documents to read. That's why Reading Mode adjusts the display's color tone and contrast to mimic reading paper. There are two modes - Eye Comfort Mode that adjusts color temperature while the Dark Mode is more suitable for really dark environments.

General settings and customization options

Other notable options include customizations of icons, accent color and quick toggle shapes, as well as notification handling. An experimental feature under the Realme Lab tab allows you to stream audio simultaneously through two pairs of headphones - one wired and one via Bluetooth.

Performance and benchmarks

The Snapdragon 680 chipset powering up the Oppo Pad Air provides just enough performance for rather trouble-less and decently fast operations. However, there are more powerful alternatives on the market. The lack of 4K video recording shouldn't be an issue for a tablet in this class, though.

The chip is based on TSMC's 6nm manufacturing process and consists of 4x2.4 GHz Kryo 265 Gold & 4x1.9 GHz Kryo 265 Silver CPU cores. The GPU is Adreno 610.

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

As you can see, the Oppo Pad Air falls short of the competition in terms of raw horsepower, even though the Snapdragon 680 is capable enough to provide a rather smooth day-to-day experience. Still, we would have wished for a bit more powerful SoC, like the Snapdragon 695 powering up the Realme Pad X, for example.