Redmi Pad 2 Review: Xiaomi delivers a nearly perfect budget tablet

The gulf between budget tablets and their mid-segment avatars has always been a significant one. With lower prices inevitably come design and spec compromises, often resulting in a tablet that is, to use a cliche applied to the first iPad, good mainly for content consumption. A budget tablet is generally a relatively passive device, used mainly as a screen that is bigger than a smartphone for viewing content. Xiaomi is looking to change that with the Redmi Pad 2, which starts at a sub-Rs 15,000 price tag but comes not just with solid budget basics, but also a surprisingly strong productive side. Does it succeed?

Redmi Pad 2 Design and appearance: Slim and light, sticking to the Redmi Pad template

The Redmi Pad 2 looks very similar to the Redmi Pad, which is not a bad thing at all when you consider how good that tablet looked (https://techpp.com/2022/10/04/redmi-pad-review/). It sports a similar front, dominated by a slightly larger 11-inch display (the Redmi Pad had a 10.61-inch display) with bezels that are slim by tablet standards, but wide enough to let you hold the tablet without accidentally touching the display. The back is straight with a pill-shaped camera unit (as compared to a rectangular one on the Redmi Pad) in the top left corner, and the sides are straight as well. There are speaker grilles on the top and the base, with a home/display button on top, and a volume rocker on the top of the right side (a little inconvenient to use when holding the tablet in portrait mode), with a SIM/memory card tray slot below it – yes, the tablet now has a cellular version. The base also houses a Type-C port and a 3.5 mm audio jack, something the Redmi Pad lacked.

At 7.36 mm, the Redmi Pad 2 is very slim (the iPad A16 is 7 mm, for comparison), and at around 518 grams for the cellular version (the Wi-Fi version weighs 510 grams), it is not too heavy either. It is pretty solidly built, with the frame and sides being metal, although the cellular variant has a slim carbonate panel strip running along the camera unit on the back to accommodate cellular connectivity. The tablet comes in two color variants, Sky Blue and Dark Grey. Both cut very elegant figures and come with an IP52 rating, allowing them to survive water splashes.

Redmi Pad 2 Hardware and specs: Ticking all them budget boxes…and some productivity ones

The Redmi Pad 2 has a rock-solid spec sheet. The 11-inch display comes with a 2.5k resolution (2560 x 1600px), a refresh rate of 90 Hz, and a brightness of 500 nits, which compares very favorably with the iPad (11th generation) that also has an 11-inch display with 2360 x 1640 resolution, 60 Hz refresh rate, and 500 nits brightness. Making things work on the tablet is the task of a MediaTek G100 Ultra processor, a very able mid-segment performer, which is close to the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1. This is accompanied by three RAM and storage options – 4 GB/ 128 GB, 6 GB/ 128 GB, and 8 GB/ 256 GB. The RAM is LPDDR4X, and the storage is UFS 2.2, which is par for the course at this price point. The same can be said for the 8-megapixel rear camera and the 5-megapixel selfie camera, both of which support FHD video.

There are some very pleasant spec surprises, though. The Redmi Pad 2 gets a cellular edition, supporting 4G connectivity, which is rare in a tablet with these specs at this price. It also brings support for the Redmi Smart Pen stylus launched last year with the Redmi Pad Pro, adding a distinct productivity edge to the tablet. In the sound department, there are quad speakers with support for Dolby Atmos, as well as a 3.5 mm audio jack, which the Redmi Pad had skipped. There is also support for expandable memory up to 2 TB.

On the software front, the tablet runs on Xiaomi’s HyperOS2 on top of Android 15, and comes with a massive 9000 mAh battery (up from 8000 mAh on the Redmi Pad), with support for 18W charging, although the tablet comes with 15W charger in the box. There might be some grumbling about charging speeds and support for 4G rather than 5G, but all said and done, this is a pretty well-specced tablet for the price, with the support for the Redmi Smart Pen being a huge bonus.

Redmi Pad 2 Performance: Redmi Smart Pen adds productivity edge to a steady budget performer

In terms of performance, the Redmi Pad 2 is a solid budget performer. The display is easily the best we have seen in the sub-Rs 20,000 segment, with a much higher resolution than the one on the OnePlus Pad Go. The auto-brightness feature dimmed it rather aggressively at times, but turning it off ensured we got a decent viewing experience most of the time. The quad speakers deliver very good sound, and the presence of the 3.5 mm audio jack meant we could use our wired earbuds too. While the MediaTek G100 Ultra is not exactly a gaming chip, it handles casual games very smoothly and can even let you play taxing titles like PUBG and Call of Duty, albeit at lower graphics settings. Multitasking also worked reasonably well, letting us switch between different apps, although we would not recommend keeping games running in the background. The Redmi Pad 2 handled our regular tasks such as browsing the Web, social media scrolling, and emails and messages, without any problems.

Xiaomi’s HyperOS 2 does come with some bloatware (which can be uninstalled), but is very tablet-friendly, with support for features like split screen and floating windows, which work very well on the Redmi Pad 2. And if you have a Xiaomi phone, you can cut/copy and paste content from it to the tablet and vice versa, and also take calls and receive notifications, provided both devices are signed into the same Xiaomi account and are on the same Wi-Fi network. The tablet also comes with a number of AI tools out of the box and while we are not too sure how well they would work on the base 4 GB/ 128 GB model (AI does tend to gobble a lot of RAM), they worked very smoothly on our 8 GB/ 256 GB variant. Conversations and queries with Gemini and even some image generation worked without a hitch, and so did Circle to Search.

The support for Redmi Smart Pen takes the Redmi Pad 2 out of the regular budget tablet zone, as it adds a productivity touch to the tablet. It has to be purchased separately, and while one has to be careful while carrying it (there is no way of attaching it to the tablet), we would recommend investing in one as it brings the Redmi Pad 2 closer to its mid-segment counterparts. HyperOS’ handwriting recognition is very good, and you can also sketch and scribble to your heart’s content on the display, which responds very well to the stylus. And well, even Circle to Search is a whole lot easier with a stylus. The support for 4G networks is another huge bonus.

While you can always connect the tablet to your phone’s hotspot or a cafe’s Wi-Fi, the presence of a cellular option in the tablet makes the tablet pretty much a standalone device in its own right. You can make phone calls from it as well, although we would recommend using TWS for this purpose. Xiaomi’s cover doubles up as a stand and can let one type away on the tablet more easily, or use it when paired with a Bluetooth keyboard for those notebook-like feels (Xiaomi has no keyboard cover for the tablet yet).

Redmi Pad 2 Battery and charging time: Super battery life, but sluggish charger in the box

The Redmi Pad 2 comes with a very impressive battery life. The tablet has a massive 9000 mAh battery, which regularly serves up 15-17 hours of normal usage (watching an episode of our favorite series, lots of browsing, and always on social media) and could even get close to 18-20 hours if used carefully, which is actually well above what you would get from most tablets at this price and more than even the iPad (11th generation). There is a catch, however – charging the tablet takes a lot of time. The Redmi Pad 2 comes with support for 18W charging but has only a 15W charger in the box. The 15W charger takes three to three and a half hours to charge the tablet fully, but we did not see a big change even when we used a 33W charger. We got accustomed to charging the tablet for about an hour every day, which added about 35-40 percent charge to the tablet.

Redmi Pad 2 Pricing: Not too many bucks for a lot of features

The Redmi Pad 2 is available in Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi and cellular variants at these prices:

Wi-Fi

4 GB/ 128 GB: Rs 13,999

Wi-Fi + Cellular

6 GB/ 128 GB: Rs 15,999
8 GB/ 256 GB: Rs 17,999

In addition to this, the Redmi Smart Pen stylus is available at Rs 3,999. At its current price, the Redmi Pad 2 faces very little competition. Its closest competitor is perhaps the Lenovo Tab Plus, which comes with an 11.5-inch display with a kickstand, and a Helio G99 processor, and starts at Rs 18,999 for an 8 GB/ 128 GB variant. Another option is the OnePlus Pad Go, which has an 11.35-inch display and is powered by the Snapdragon 695 chip and starts at Rs 16,999 for an 8 GB/ 128 GB variant. However, neither of these tablets has support for styluses. In fact, if one can stretch one’s budget, the biggest headache for the Redmi Pad 2 could be its own Pro sibling released last year, the Redmi Pad Pro, which is not available at Rs 19,999 and comes with a larger 12.1-inch display, a Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 processor, and with support for the Redmi Smart Pen as well as special keyboard cover.

Redmi Pad 2 Review Verdict: No-brainer for a budget tab with productivity brains

Its pricing and feature set make the Redmi Pad 2 the perfect first tab for most users on a tight budget. The only real corner that it cuts is in terms of charging speed and RAM in the base model (we are not too sure how well AI will work with 4GB RAM). Some might frown at the bloatware on the device, but these are very minor quibbles in comparison to what it delivers – a very good display, super battery life, and multimedia that is excellent for its price point.

The fact that you can get the Redmi Pad 2 with cellular support with a Redmi Smart Pen for under Rs 20,000 makes this easily the best option for those who want a budget tablet with some productivity features without breaking the bank. It would be super nice if Xiaomi also released a smart keyboard cover for it, although most Bluetooth and wired keyboards will work with it just fine. At the time of writing, Xiaomi had a special bundle offer that offered the Redmi Pad 2 (6 GB/ 128 GB, Wi-Fi+Cellular) with a Redmi Smart Pen and cover for Rs 20,299. Frankly, we think that is easily the best tablet package that not too much money can buy.

Buy Redmi Pad 2

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