Redmi Pad Pro 5G review: Pro-grade tablet at an affordable price?
Redmi has made some moves in the tablet segment by introducing two new tablets — Redmi Pad SE 4G and Redmi Pad Pro 5G. The former is aimed at the budget segment and offers some interesting use cases while the latter brings a plethora of features to the masses.
The Redmi Pad Pro 5G carries a price tag of Rs 21,999 for the Wi-Fi only variant with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. The 5G variant with 8GB RAM + 128GB option costs Rs 24,999 while the top-end 8GB + 256GB model costs Rs 26,999. With this, Redmi’s latest tablet is looking to grab all the attention in this price segment. However, does it have what it takes to become the Chosen One? Let’s find out in this review:
Redmi Pad Pro 5G design: sleek and thin
- Dimension: 280.0 x 181.85 x 752 mm
- Weight: 571 grams
- To colour: Mist blue, graphite grey
Redmi plays it aggressive when it comes to the design of the new Redmi Pad Pro 5G. The tablet features an aluminum unibody, which offers a sturdy look and feel. The device is sufficiently thin at 7.52mm and weighs 571 grams, which means you can easily carry it around in your laptop bag without too much hassle.
The sleek design also makes the phone easier to hold, despite the huge screen (which we’ll talk about later). The back panel has a two-tone finish, with a quarter of the surface area being plastic to house the 5G modem and other connectivity options, while the rest is a metal casing. Interestingly, with the Wi-Fi variant, you get a full metal unibody.
The display is flat and has Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection, which gives you the confidence to use it without worrying too much about the display. The company has also bundled a Redmi Smart Pen and a Keyboard for Rs 999 and Rs 3,999 respectively.
Adding these accessories makes it a complete package for the customer. Talking about the keyboard, it doesn’t support POGO connectors. It relies on Bluetooth connectivity, which means you’ll have to charge it via a USB Type-C cable. The same goes for the Redmi Smart Pen, which just makes charging it a bit of a pain. That said, the battery life of both the accessories is good enough to last you a long time.
The company is offering a keyboard and a customized Redmi Smart Pen as accessories with the Redmi Pad Pro 5G.
The keyboard that comes with this tablet is good and offers a decent travel distance and tactile feedback when you type on it. Whether you are taking quick notes or you will enjoy typing on this keyboard without much effort. The only downside is the lack of backlight and trackpad support which could have made it more usable. The connection is seamless and the cover holds the tablet securely.
The Redmi Pen works great in various scenarios. Be it writing or drawing, the Redmi Smart Pen offers good response, thanks to the 4,096 pressure levels. Interestingly, you can also take notes even when the screen is off, which is good. On the downside, the Smart Pen doesn’t attach magnetically to the tablet, but the company has cleverly handled it by providing a hook to hold the Pen with the keyboard attachment.
Redmi Pad Pro 5G display and audio: fair
- Display: 12.1-inch 2.5K LCD display
- Refresh rate: 120Hz screen refresh rate
- Other possibilities: 16:10 aspect ratio, 12-bit display, 1500:1 contrast ratio, HBM brightness 600 nits, Dolby Vision, DC Dimming, Corning Gorilla Glass 3
The Redmi Pad Pro 5G’s display is up to par, despite being an LCD panel. Xiaomi is known for its color grading, which is evident in this tablet as well. The display is huge (I mean, really huge) compared to your usual tablet, making it an ideal choice for streaming movies or TV shows. It also supports Widevine L1, which means you can stream content in HD on Netflix, although there’s no HDR10 support.
I watched ‘Maharaja’ on Netflix and was pleased with the color reproduction, although the screen is a bit reflective, which could be turned off for some. The adaptive refresh rate of 120Hz keeps the whole experience smooth and you won’t notice any lag or anything like that while using the device.
The tablet also comes with four speakers and supports Dolby Atmos. The speaker output is well balanced with the right amount of bass and loudness, making it a good device to watch any content.
Redmi Pad Pro 5G Software: Smooth Experience
- Software: Xiaomi HyperOS
- Version: Android 14
- Promised updates: 2 years OS upgrade + 3 years security updates
This is the first tablet from Redmi to run on HyperOS. While it is not very different from MIUI, it offers better optimizations under the hood. This results in faster switching between tasks and lower latency when compared to the MIUI skin.
The Redmi Pad Pro 5G is Redmi’s first tablet to run on HyperOS.
The tablet also comes with some interesting connectivity features. The smartphone link functions allow you to seamlessly transfer data between your Xiaomi device and tablet. You can simply open the smartphone screen on the tablet and drag and drop files seamlessly.
In addition, the shared clipboard allows you to copy text and images from your smartphone and paste them to your tablet. The Network Sync feature is also there, and it basically connects to the phone’s hotspot with one click. However, these features are currently limited to Xiaomi 14 and Xiaomi 14 Civi.
In addition, you get the usual Split-screen and floating windows support, which makes multitasking easy. The brand has also confirmed that it will provide this tablet with two years of Android OS upgrades and three years of security updates.
Redmi Pad Pro 5G performance: Does what it’s supposed to do
- Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 2
- Memory: Up to 8GB (LPDDR4X)
- Storage: 256 GB (UFS 2.2)
The Redmi Pad Pro 5G is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 processor. The chipset is slightly faster than the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1, but not as powerful as the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 or the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1.
That said, the tablet can handle most tasks you throw at it with ease. Switching between apps while playing tracks on YT Music in the background was smooth enough. That said, I did notice slight slowdowns when multiple apps were running in the background. Interestingly, you can also add your 5G SIM anywhere.
The tablet also scores decent scores in benchmarks. You can see all the scores in the table below:
| Yardstick | Redmi Pad Pro 5G |
|---|---|
| Geekbench 6 single core | 1034 |
| Geekbench 6 Multi-Core | 2994 |
| AnTuTu v10 | 602,839 |
| PCMark Work 3.0 | 12,518 |
| 3DM Slingshot Extreme OpenGL** | 5177 |
| 3DM Catapult | 6690 |
| 3DM Wild Animals | 2970 |
| 3DM Wild Life Unlimited | 3072 |
| GFXBench T-Rex | 81 |
| GFXBench Manhattan 3.1 | 30 |
| GFXBench Car Chase | 15 |
As for gaming, the tablet handled most games just fine. The Call of Duty Mobile ran smoothly on the default settings of High graphics quality and Very high frame rate. However, I did notice some occasional slowdowns at maximum frame rates. Thermal performance was decent enough and the tablet didn’t get alarmingly hot during gaming sessions.
Redmi Pad Pro 5G Cameras: Usable
- Rear end: 8 megapixel with f/2.0 aperture
- Front side: 8-megapixel sensor with f/2.28 aperture
The cameras on the Redmi Pad Pro 5G are serviceable for video calling, but that’s about it. The rear camera does take some decent photos in daylight, but its low-light performance is average. The front-facing camera, again, does a decent job of video calling and the occasional selfie (but that’s what smartphones are for).
Redmi Pad Pro 5G battery: huge backup
- Battery capacity: 10,000 mAh
- Wired charging: 33W
- Charger: 33W (included)
The Redmi Pad Pro 5G brings a massive 10,000mAh battery to the table in a sleek form factor. The tablet lasted for 28 hours and 30 minutes in our battery life test.
The Redmi Pad Pro 5G features a massive 10,000mAh battery with support for 33W fast charging.
The tablet comes with 33W fast charging support, which takes time to fully charge the device. During the test, we found that the tablet charges 26 percent in 15 minutes, 30 percent in 30 minutes and 59 percent in 60 minutes. The tablet took 2 hours and 10 minutes to fully charge. In a real-life scenario, the tablet delivers good battery life. With moderate usage, you can easily get two to three days of battery life.
Redmi Pad Pro 5G Verdict
In conclusion, the Redmi Pad Pro 5G offers excellent value for money. The sleek design makes it comfortable enough for on the go. The display looks good for this price segment and the performance is decent, if not great. Battery life is impressive, although fast charging support could have been better.
The Redmi Pad Pro 5G is available for a starting price of Rs 24,999.
In terms of competition, you have the Redmi Pad Pro 5G, the Lenovo Tab P12 and Xiaomi Pad 6 (Review), which give the tablet some stiff competition. That said, if you’re looking for an entertainment powerhouse that also delivers well in other areas, this is a tablet you may want to consider.
