OnePlus Pad 2 review: What did we like about it?
The first thing I want to talk about here is the performance. This is the first tablet to use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset – the same SoC found in the OnePlus 12, Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, Honor Magic 6 Pro and Sony Xperia 1 VI – and it delivers phenomenal performance.
In my tests, the Pad 2 swept aside the competition and even outpaced the more expensive Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 by 14% in the Geekbench 5 multi-core benchmark tests.
Things continue to look good in the GFXBench tests, with the Pad 2 storming ahead of its predecessor in both the on-screen and off-screen benchmarks. The iPad and the Galaxy Tab S9 are stronger options for higher frame rates but the Pad 2 is decent for its price. I had Asphalt Legends Unite running smoothly enough – it wasn’t pushing past 60fps but nor was it jumping and laggy.
I’m not surprised to see the battery life falling behind the competition – not only does the OnePlus Pad 2 have a larger 12.1in display, it also has the highest resolution of the selection here. With those caveats in mind, this result of 12hrs 19mins is solid, even if the stamina dip over the previous model is disappointing. It’s still ahead of the iPad (2022) and the Galaxy Tab S9, at least.
Charging paints a better picture, with the 67W capacity filling the massive battery in less than an hour and a half in my testing.
I’ll have more to say about the display in the improvements section below but broadly speaking, it’s reasonably good. The 3K resolution makes everything look nice and sharp, the 144Hz refresh rate is buttery smooth and brightness is solid, hitting 496cd/m2 in manual mode and an impressive 690cd/m2 on adaptive brightness with a torch shining on the light sensor.
The large, sharp display pairs well with the default Vivid colour profile to make streaming content look vibrant and dynamic. OnePlus claims that the six speakers produce spatial audio and while I’d refute that, they do manage a decent sense of space with the stereo separation and the volume gets nice and high, as well. I watched a few episodes of House of the Dragon on the Pad 2 and everything from screeching dragons to deceitful whispers sounded crisp and impactful.
When you aren’t watching dragons fighting, the OnePlus Pad 2 makes for a decent laptop replacement. There are two optional accessories that complete the transformation: the OnePlus Smart Keyboard Case is £149, while the new Stylo 2 pencil will set you back £99 – making the whole package cost £747. That’s a hefty sum but less than you’d pay for the iPad (2022) with all the trimmings (over £800 by my count).
Both accessories are worth the price of admission; the keyboard’s trackpad is more than twice the size of its predecessor and also adds a row of quick-function buttons like brightness, volume and media controls above the number keys. The Stylo 2, meanwhile, is lightweight and comfortable to hold, produces subtle vibration feedback when you write, and offers over 16,000 levels of pressure, making sketching with it particularly fun.
OnePlus’ Open Canvas is a natural fit here, holding two apps side-by-side in split-screen with the option to add a third just peeking into either the top or the bottom of the display, ready to be switched to with a simple tap. The setup works fluidly for productivity, holding open Google Docs and the OnePlus Pad 2 spec sheet, for instance, with the Expert Reviews Slack channel on standby if needed.
