OnePlus Pad Lite Review: A bargain cellular slab

View OnePlus Pad Lite offers here

Introduction

There’s been a big shift in the tablet space in recent years.

Apple’s M-series slabs continue to corner the market in most power-based competitions, while TCL’s NXTPaper devices look to bridge the gap between e-readers like the Amazon Kindle and more flexible devices from Samsung, Huawei, and the rest.

So where does the OnePlus Pad Lite fit into the equation? At around £200, this 11-inch tablet is a tad too large to be a commute-friendly reader and potentially too small to be a real laptop replacement.

Basically, it doesn’t look to do much to differentiate itself during a turning point for tablets everywhere. But looks can be deceiving.

Design

• Cool blue colour
• Sleek machined metal appearance
• Rounded corners help with grip

The OnePlus Pad Lite makes a strong first impression out of the box with its striking design. Available only in a Cool Blue affair, the two-tone approach is only divided by a large, central shooter.

On the front is another camera, similarly positioned on one of the longer edges. Together, the camera strategy is clear; landscape shots and wide video calls are the focus.

At around 530 grams, the metal-cased OnePlus Pad Lite feels premium out of the box, but noticeably hefty, too. That’s enough to suggest the Lite moniker applies more to the price and internals than its razor-thin construction. So while you shouldn’t expect it to be comfortable for long periods in weaker arms, durability isn’t much of a concern.

Rounded corners keep it as comfortable as possible given its weight, and twin speakers on either short side suggest a tablet designed to be a loud, clear, and immersive media device.

Screen

• 1920×1200 16:10 display
• LCD panel
• 90Hz refresh rate

An immediate out-of-the-box concern is the clarity of the LCD screen. At 1920×1200 pixels, this 16:10 display is large, with slim, rounded bezels and a 85.3% screen-to-body ratio. And while its 90Hz refresh isn’t the highest out there, it’s enough to facilitate smooth scrolling and fluid motion in supported games.

Boot it up, though, and keen eyes will note things aren’t all that sharp. Spreading relatively few pixels across an 11-inch landscape means text and icons can appear slightly blurry. It’s not enough to ruin your reading experience, but it’s worth pointing out.

There are sharper displays available in this price bracket if crystal-clear images are a non-negotiable. At 500 nits, you’ll be burning the battery to get decent visibility against bright sunlight, but it’s possible. It isn’t an inky AMOLED, so colour reproduction won’t be anything special, but viewing angles are a particular strong suit, making it suited to video content.

Performance

• MediaTek Helio G100 chipset
• 8GB of memory (LTE model)
• Solid day-to-day performance

The MediaTek Helio G100 SoC is far from the strongest out there. Scoring 717 in the single-core Geekbench 6 CPU test and 1914 in the multi-core stretch means it packs around 25% of the performance of the OnePlus Pad 3, a slab that’s still comfortably priced in the mid-range bracket. Likewise, 3D performance puts it at around half the performance of a tablet twice the price. Which makes sense.

But if it’s all you need, it’s all you need. Video playback is perfect given there’s no need to go above an HD image, and it’s more than capable of playing the types of games played by a casual audience.

Loading websites rarely poses a problem and can be scrolled smoothly thanks to that 90Hz display. The tall (or wide) display makes multitasking compelling, and the chip can keep up with a simple spreadsheet on one side and a document on the other. 8GB of memory on the LTE model tested is perfect, but there’s little reason to think that the 6GB WiFi model might perform notably worse.

There’s hope that it can become an inexpensive accessory for another hobby: say, a viewfinder for photographers or as a streaming slab for gamers on the go. Ruining that potential is its positively ancient WiFi 5 capabilities.

It’s not something we expect the typical target audience to struggle with, but low speeds and high latency are very much in its ballpark, making those aforementioned use-cases difficult to recommend this one for. It’s one of the major bewildering concerns of the PlayStation Portal, and doubly so here for a device meant for more than a single scenario.

Software

• OxygenOS 15.01
• No bloatware
• 3 years of upgrades

Another standout feature of the OnePlus Pad Lite is the original cornerstone of the brand; bloat-free usability. Sporting OxygenOS 15, a spin of Android 15, this bargain tablet sheds the weight that other slabs depend on to hit a price that makes it a compelling impulse purchase, gift, or dare we say, disposable device.

That’s right: there’s no bloatware to speak of. No pre-installed games ready to spam ads, no social media apps to hijack your productivity, and very few utilities you’ll struggle to explain to a less tech-savvy relative who’s likely to call you up the second they tap any app icon that isn’t Wordscapes.

What that means is smooth sailing for almost anyone. So long as there’s some predisposed familiarity with the Android operating system, getting on with the OnePlus Pad Lite is a breeze. In fact, there’s little more to say on the matter. The Android experience has what you need.

If this tablet is for someone who knows what they need, won’t need anything else, or knows how to get what’s missing, it’s a great choice. But if the idea of a pre-installed “starter pack” sounds like a good idea for the end user, you’ll have to do that yourself.

For experienced users, the standout benefit of OxygenOS is the baked-in productivity features.

The O+ Connect offering makes it easy to transfer files to my iPad, MacBook, and Windows PC, for example. It’s that sort of platform parity that can make this affordable option really worth considering for a multi-device workflow.

The ability to have floating, resizable app windows on top of two already in split view makes multi-app productivity (or casual, efficient multitasking) just as easy and snappy as the best iPad around.

Cameras

• 5MP front camera
• 5MP rear camera
• 30fps video

One noteworthy area of the OnePlus Pad Lite is its aversion to sporting AI markers on its cameras, a common trait of budget slabs looking to pad their worth.

Whether you’re using the front camera for a video call or the back shooter to record, you’re looking at a 5MP lens either way. Video is capped at just 30fps, which is likely a simple limitation of the chipset.

With specs like that, the OnePlus Pad Lite’s photography chops are virtually nonexistent, with shots lacking texture and colour. It’s hardly out of the blue with a slab in this price range.

Tablets aren’t designed with photo albums in mind. They’re best suited for snapping paperwork like contracts and receipts, which this is fine for. Just maybe don’t take this out for bird watching. Close-up shots don’t fare too badly, but any wide views will lack warmth.

The upside is clever positioning. With the cameras in the middle of the long side of the tablet, it remains easy to hold without clouding the shot with your digits. It also means you’ll get a wide landscape-style view in a video call instead of being limited to the typical TikTok vertical slice you get with phones.

Battery

• Large 9340mAh battery
• 33W SuperVOOC charging support
• Good standby time

The slim body houses a fairly large 9340mAh battery. Putting its modest internals under an average everyday load, a single charge can go far. Our typical hour-long Netflix test used just 6%, while grinding away in a simple 3D multiplayer title like Runescape Old School sapped a similar amount in half the time.

Crank it up to more involved 3D action games and you’ll likely see a higher drain rate and, in today’s top-end titles, considerable performance hits. Casual gameplay and esports titles on your lunch break won’t risk ruining your day with a waning charge, however.

The OnePlus Pad Lite doesn’t come with a charger in the box. That’s nothing unusual these days, but what is strange is a deal that gets you a free 80W plug when purchased from OnePlus, despite the tablet supporting just 33W charging.

Hooked up our own GaN charger, the AccuBattery app suggests it only draws around half of that maximum charge rate – likely due to our third-party plug not supporting the SuperVooc standard. 30 minutes of charging netted 29% from an empty battery, with a full charge taking just shy of two hours. 

Simply put, your charging mileage may vary, but juicing it up during breakfast should give you enough juice for a short flight. Five days after a full charge and being left on its lonesome, we came back to a OnePlus Pad Lite sat at 78% charge, so standby time is particularly strong.

View OnePlus Pad Lite offers here

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