Poco Pad 5G Price In India And Variants
The Poco Pad 5G retails in India for Rs.23,999 for the base variant with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage.
Furthermore, the 8GB+256GB variant of the tablet retails for Rs.25,999. It is available on Flipkart in Pistachio Green and Cobalt Blue.
Poco Pad 5G Box Contents
The Poco Pad 5G packs the following items inside the box:
- Tablet
- USB Cable
- Charger
- Manual
- SIM Ejector
Poco Pad 5G Specs At A Glance
Before we talk in detail about the device, let’s see what the on-paper specs look like:
- Display: 12.1-inch IPS LCD with 120Hz refresh rate
- Chipset: Snapdragon 7s Gen 2
- RAM & ROM: 8GB 128GB, 8GB 256GB
- Software: HyperOS based on Android 14
- Rear camera: 8MP
- Selfie camera: 8MP
- Battery: 10,000mAh
- Weight: 568 grams
- Dimensions: 280 x 181.9 x 7.5 mm
Poco Pad 5G Design And Build
The Poco Pad 5G has an aluminium build with a thin and lightweight design. The tablet has a minimalistic design with two camera rings on the back, similar to the Poco F6. Although there is only one camera present and the secondary ring houses the LED flash.
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I have the Poco Pad 5G in cobalt blue for review. Its colour can easily be blended into your everyday carry items. Furthermore, the rest of the tablet is clean except for the Poco branding at the bottom left corner.
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Due to its large 12.1-inch display, you must hold the tablet with both hands. Despite the massive screen, it is relatively light, measuring 571 grams and being just 7.5mm thick. Poco also sells a Poco Stylush Smart Pen and Poco keyboard that you need to purchase separately although the price of both accessories is currently not announced.
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Regarding ports and placements, the tablet has volume rockers and a SIM tray on the left.
Similarly, the left remains clean, while the top has the speaker grille and the power button. At the bottom, you will be greeted by the USB-C port, 3.5mm headphone jack and two more speaker grilles. It has an IP52 rating for protection against occasional dust and water splashes.
Poco Pad 5G Camera
The Poco Pad 5G features an 8-megapixel primary camera and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera. It also has an LED flash, which can be handy when scanning documents.
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The camera is average and best suited for occasional document scanning. The photos taken don’t have much detail and have washed-out colours.
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The camera has HDR and AI features, but they don’t dramatically change the output. Moreover, you get a dedicated document in original, B&W, and enhanced.
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Similarly, at night, the tablet can take decent photos as long as they are indoors. However, there are some flickering issues in situations with extremely low light.
The front camera, however, has a better output and is usable for video calls. It records video at 1080p at 30FPS. The Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 is a capable chipset, so it should have offered at least 4K video recording.
Poco Pad 5G Battery And Charging
The Poco Pad 5G packs a 10,000mAh battery with 33W fast charging support. Thanks to the large tablet, Poco could fit such a massive battery. However, there are some noticeable battery drain issues even with 5G disabled and no SIM card inside. I could get around 5 to 6 hours on screen on time with video playback on YouTube.
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Using the included 33W charger, the tablet takes approximately 2 hours to fully charge from 0 to 100 per cent. I wish Poco could offer faster 67W charging, but I guess this is the standard charging speed in this price segment as even the flagship Xiaomi Pad 6 is limited to 33W charging.
Poco Pad 5G Display And Audio
The Poco Pad 5G’s main highlight is its huge 12.1-inch 2.5K IPS LCD screen with a 120Hz refresh rate. It has reasonable bezels surrounding the screen. The screen has a 2560 x 1600 pixels resolution and a pixel density of 249 ppi. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3.
The tablet’s peak brightness is 600 nits, which is bright enough to use indoors. However, it is best to avoid using it under harsh sunlight, as you might face some legibility issues.
The massive 12.1-inch display is bigger than other tablets and is perfect for consuming content. During my review of the Poco Pad 5G, I enjoyed watching Season 1 of Batman: The Caped Crusader. Dolby Vision and Widevine L1 certification make it the perfect media consumption machine.
The screen offers saturated and punchy colours, as there are three different colour profiles. The default Vibrant has a warm colour tone, so I switched to the Saturated one, which looks more pleasing to the eye. You also get an Adaptive colour option to adjust the colour depending on the ambient light, similar to True Tone on Apple devices.
For audio, you get quad speakers on both sides of the tablet, which are loud enough to fill an entire room. There is Dolby Atmos and Hi-Res Audio support apart from a 3.5mm headphone jack, which is a pleasant surprise given how thin the tablet is. Sadly, there is no fingerprint sensor for security, so you must rely on a PIN or face unlock.
Given the tablet has a SIM card slot, you get 5G connectivity to browse the internet. There is also a dedicated calling app on the Poco Pad 5G, and you can take advantage of the two microphones to make and receive calls.
Poco Pad 5G Performance
The Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chipset powers the Poco Pad 5G, paired with 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of UFS 2.2 storage. Furthermore, you get up to 8GB of virtual RAM support. It also has a microSD card slot for expansion. This 4nm chipset is the same on the Poco X6 and the Realme 13 Pro Plus.
It is a decent mid-range chipset that can easily handle all day-to-day tasks. Whether opening or closing apps, everything feels fast and snappy. Although I would prefer UFS 3.1 instead of UFS 2.2, there isn’t much to complain about, given the budget price.
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There are no lags or stutters even with multiple apps open in the background, although when playing videos on YouTube at 4K at 60 FPS, the tablet does drop some frames, resulting in a choppy playback. This is a bit disappointing, given that my two-year-old Xiaomi Pad 5 does not have such issues.
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Moving onto intensive tasks like gaming, you can play BGMI at Smooth and Extreme (60 FPS) and CODM at High and Max (60 FPS). Sadly, there is no 90 FPS support, but the tablet does not lag or get warm while gaming.
Regarding benchmarks, the Poco Pad 5G has a Geekbench score of 1031 in single-core and 2943 in the multi-core test. Furthermore, the tablet has a stability score of 99.6 per cent in the 3D Mark Wild Life Extreme Stress Test and throttles to 95 per cent of its peak performance. In AnTuTu V10, you get a score of 487817 and a score of 47150 in the AnTuTu storage test. Overall, the Poco Pad 5G is a decent performer when it comes to day-to-day tasks.
Poco Pad 5G Software And UI
The Poco Pad 5G runs on HyperOS, which is based on Android 14. The number of updates the tablet will receive is unclear, but you can expect at least one software update.
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HyperOS for tablets feels refined and smooth, with plenty of features. A dedicated three-dot button in the top corner enables better multi-tasking capabilities. You can put the app in split screen mode with a floating window or a full screen.
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Other HyperOS features include Conference Tools, Parallel Windows, Video Toolbox, and lock screen customization. System apps also use less storage space and have smoother animations. In addition, Reading Mode 3.0 makes the display ideal for reading comics and ebooks with a paper-like finish. You also get a constant floating dock at the bottom that you can use to switch between apps.
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Thankfully, unlike budget Poco phones, there are no bloatware or annoying ads. The software experience is clean, which is surprisingly welcome. Poco should also consider offering a clean software experience on its phones.
The Poco Pad 5G is the perfect budget tablet for those who want a massive multimedia experience without spending much money. It has a large 12.1-inch display with 120Hz refresh rate and Dolby Vision support, a Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 chipset, an excellent aluminium body and a large 10,000mAh battery.
However, you will need to deal with the occasional frame drops, average cameras and battery-draining issues. Although these are minor cons, they can be fixed via a software update.
Other options that you can consider in this price range include the Xiaomi Redmi Pad 5G, which has similar specifications; the Realme Pad 2, which has a smaller display; and the Xiaomi Pad 6, which has better specifications overall, although it lacks 4G/5G connectivity.
