OnePlus Pad 3 hands-on review

OnePlus seems to have raided the dictionary for words like "thin," "strong," and "captivating" when describing the Pad 3's design, and honestly, they're not far off. This is their thinnest tablet body ever, clocking in at less than six millimetres. That's thinner than my last slice of weekend pizza! But don't let that waif-like profile fool you; this slate is built to be super strong. They've used some fancy new aluminium – the kind not usually seen in tablets – for its all-metal unibody, which keeps the weight down without turning it into a bendy nightmare. It’s available in two rather fetching colours: Storm Blue and Frosted Silver (though the latter is an India exclusive, lucky us!). Oh, and they've given the camera a little redesign in the corner too. 

Now, let's talk about that screen. We're looking at a 13.2-inch LCD beauty with a 3.4K resolution. It keeps that rather useful 7:5 aspect ratio, which is brilliant for getting more of your documents on screen without endless scrolling, and it makes movies look pretty spiffy too. Add in 12-bit colour and a pixel density of 315 PPI, and you've got a display that's as sharp as a tack and as colourful as a carnival. It keeps up with my iPad Air M2 just fine while watching the Oppenheimer bomb sequence on Netflix. Both tablets at max brightness deliver the same level of colour fidelity, however, the iPad has better local dimming. The OnePlus Pad 3 punches brightness all over the screen and washes the colour and blacks a bit at full brightness. This was something we noticed in the OnePlus 13s as well. Most of it is down to display tuning, which OnePlus needs to get right.

ALSO READ: Apple iPad Air 13in (M2) review

The screen is paired with eight speakers. That's four woofers and four tweeters, all strategically placed to give you an immersive audio experience that adapts to however you're holding the tablet. In practice, the tablet has impressive throw and detail. However, compared to the Apple iPad Air M2, it lacks a bit of body and tonality. The Apple sounds meatier compared to the OnePlus Pad 3. That’s not to say the Pad 3 sounds bad. It sounds good. One of the best sounding tablets OnePlus has ever made, in my opinion, but there’s always room for improvement. Prepare your ears to have a party.

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Underneath that sleek exterior, the OnePlus Pad 3 is packing some serious heat – or rather, serious power, kept seriously cool. At its heart is the brand-spanking-new Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, and OnePlus is claiming the Pad 3 is the first tablet to feature this octa-core monster. The result? Really powerful performance on the go for multitasking and gaming, all while sipping less power. 

It’s not just about the main brain, though. You can spec this beast with either 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, or go absolutely bonkers with a massive 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. That 16GB RAM will be particularly useful while editing heavier photo files on Photoshop and Lightroom.

ALSO READ: Xiaomi Pad 7 review

Now, for the battery. Brace yourselves. It's a frankly ludicrous 12,140mAh. That’s not a typo. It's big enough to, as OnePlus humorously puts it, "start a car" (please don't try that). I have not charged the tablet for 3 days and I have watched YouTube, played Grid Legends and even sneaked in a few rounds of TFT (Team Fight Tactics) while working, and it’s still not down to 50% yet! Standby? A casual 70 days. They even reckon if you fully charge it and switch it off, it'll still turn on more than two years later. Why you'd deprive yourself of using it for two years is beyond me, but the capability is there! And when it finally does run out of puff, the 80W SUPERVOOC charging will get you from 1-100% in just 92 minutes, with a ten-minute burst giving you a handy 18%.

Keeping all this power from turning into a lap-scorcher is a nifty cooling system using vapour chambers made of a graphene composite material. OnePlus says that in lab tests, this kept the Pad 3 a full three degrees cooler than a competitor after an hour of intense gaming.  Cool beans. We will test this in our full review soon, so check back.

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AI is the name of the game these days, and OnePlus isn't shying away. The Pad 3 incorporates all the AI features recently introduced, including the AI Toolbox for writing, translating, and summarising documents, plus a host of photo customisation tools. They’ve even added new tablet-specific tools, like automatically presenting a sidebar with AI tools when you open a document.  And for all you quick searchers, you can Circle to Search on any screen, and there’s even a dedicated AI key on the keyboard to summon Google Gemini. Handy!

It plays nicely with the latest OnePlus phones for quick sharing and screen mirroring, as you'd expect. But, in a rather interesting move, they've also introduced new apps and functionality to help you get the most from your Apple devices, including remote controlling your Mac and easy drag-and-drop file sharing. Cross-platform harmony? We love to see it.

The keyboard accessory has received an upgrade, now sporting larger, spaced-out keycaps for a better typing experience. However, it's rather flimsy and feels like a retrofitted solution to keyboard and kickstand solution. The idea is, the kickstand is attached magnetically to the tablet and can be angled between 110 and 165 degrees. And if you want to attach a keyboard, there are pogo pins at the back that connect to the keyboard, and a hole in the kickstand lets you lock the keyboard in place when shut. It’s a very rickety solution, and OnePlus says they did this because some people don’t want the keyboard while just browsing and watching videos. I get the point there. I did enjoy using the kickstand in bed to watch videos and play TFT before sleeping, and only attached the keyboard when I was on a desk for work. However, attaching and detaching the keyboard could’ve been made easier.

That said, the keyboard is packed with useful command keys and that new dedicated AI button. Then there's the OnePlus Stylo 2. We didn’t get this for review, but the spec sheet says the pen can sense a mind-boggling 16,000 different levels of pressure and has a comfy leather-like texture.

On to my favourite OnePlus feature, the Open Canvas! It gets an upgrade and allows multiple programs to be open at once, with an improved system-level drag-and-drop system that's smoother thanks to that beefy chipset.

There's no denying this slate has a lot going for it. The design is properly premium – thin, light, yet feels sturdy enough to survive the daily hustle. That big 13.2-inch screen is a looker for sure, especially with its 3.4K resolution. Performance? With the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip and the option for a whopping 16GB of RAM, this thing is shaping up to be a multitasking and gaming beast. And that battery! Seriously, 12,140mAh is no joke; I’ve been trying to drain it for three days with a mix of YouTube, gaming, and work, and it’s still not hit 50%.

It’s powerful, has a marathon-worthy battery, and boasts a lovely large display, even if it needs a tweak in the tuning department. The core experience is shaping up to be excellent, but some of the accessories and finer details, like the audio and keyboard design, leave a little room for improvement when compared to the very best.

Is the third time the charm? It’s looking very promising. We’ll need to put it through its full paces to see if it truly unseats the tablet titans, but OnePlus has definitely brought a serious contender to the table. Check back for our full review soon!