Xiaomi Redmi Pad review

10.6" inch LCD with no major flaws, 90Hz refresh rate stands out

The Redmi Pad has an IPS display with a specified 10.61" diagonal (why they didn't round it to 10.6" is anyone's guess). The aspect ratio is 5:3 - a new-found 'standard', it seems, and the resolution is 1200x2000px for a pixel density of 220ppi. Most importantly, the display has a 90Hz maximum refresh rate - a rare and most welcome sight at this price point.

The official specs promise 400nits of brightness, and our measurements confirm that number, almost spot on. With a contrast reading of a little over 1500:1, it's about average for the class, though it's among the better panels in terms of off-axis viewing - we saw no contrast shifts when looking at the screen at an angle.

Design

Color reproduction is decidedly cool in the Saturated (default) and Vivid modes, but the Standard mode reins in the blue shift and is reasonably accurate for sRGB content. You do also get a color temperature wheel to tweak the color reproduction to your liking.

The Refresh rate setting lets you choose between Default and Custom modes, with the Custom option letting you pick 60Hz or 90Hz. Essentially, the 60Hz custom mode will lock things at 60Hz, while both the 90Hz custom and the Default mode will maintain 90Hz for as long as you're touching the tablet or if there's moving content in your browser, for example, and switch to 60Hz for idling or static content. High frame-rate gaming is also possible - we tried Alto's Odyssey, and the screen maintained the 90Hz refresh rate, while the Game Turbo overlay reported anything between 72 and 90fps.

It's worth pointing out that on the Redmi Pad, we could get YouTube to stream in 1440p resolution - all other recent affordable tablets we've seeen are capped at 1080p. The Widevine L1 certification gives you FullHD playback in Netflix, though HDR is out of the question.

Redmi Pad battery life

The Redmi Pad draws power from an 8,000mAh battery, which makes for some pretty high endurance numbers. We clocked 15:46h of web browsing and 13:40h of looping videos. Among recently tested devices in the class, the Realme Pad X is only marginally better, while the Oppo Pad Air and Honor Pad 8 are no match for the Redmi Pad's longevity.

We don't calculate tablet endurance ratings as our formula for phones takes standby battery draw into account. Applying the same formula for tablets with their larger batteries doesn't make sense because their standby power draw is minimal, so we focus on the active screen-on tests instead.

Charging speed

Charging speed is never really great on tablets, with the necessarily sizeable batteries being part of the issue. In this context, the Redmi Pad's results are more or less average. In our testing using the bundled 22.5W adapter, a full charge from flat took 2:21h, and 30 minutes into the process we were looking at a 25% charge.

30min charging test (from 0%)

Higher is better

• Honor Pad 8
  35%
• Apple iPad mini (2021)
  35%
• Realme Pad X
  30%
• Xiaomi Pad 5
  27%
• Xiaomi Redmi Pad
  25%
• Oppo Pad Air
  25%
• Realme Pad
  23%
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE
  18%

Time to full charge (from 0%)

Lower is better

• Honor Pad 8
  1:57h
• Apple iPad mini (2021)
  1:57h
• Realme Pad X
  2:00h
• Xiaomi Pad 5
  2:00h
• Xiaomi Redmi Pad
  2:21h
• Oppo Pad Air
  2:25h
• Realme Pad
  2:55h
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE
  3:05h

Some tablets have support for reverse charging, letting you use them as a powerbank for your other devices when in a pinch. Well, the Redmi Pad doesn't offer that functionality.

Speaker test

The Redmi Pad features a four-speaker sound system with two on each side - naturally, they're symmetrical and produce stereo sound.

Bottom speakers • Top speakers

In our testing, the Redmi Pad earned a 'Very Good' loudness rating, a notch below a couple of 'Excellent' competitors. There's little to complain about when it comes to sound quality - while it can't quite reach the Honor Pad 8's low-end boominess, the Redmi tablet still has a solid low-frequency presence and delivers clear vocals and treble.

Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.