Redmi Pad 2 review: Reliable budget Android tablet

Last week, Xiaomi's latest budget Android tablet, Redmi Pad 2, hit stores in India.

It comes in two variants—Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi + 4G cellular—with prices starting at Rs 13,999. I have been using it for a week, and here are my thoughts.

Design, build quality and display

Redmi Pad 2 comes with a visually pleasing, minimalistic design. On the back, it has a dual-tone colourway with a matte finish.

The rear panel is made of smooth aluminium material. It has a smooth texture but offers a good grip for the fingers to hold on to the device. Also, it weighs just over 500 grams and measures 7.36 mm in thickness, making it very easy to carry around.

It has a vertically aligned, beautifully crafted, capsule-shaped camera module with an LED flash. Our review unit is graphite grey, which looks lovely in the sunlight.

The company also offers the device in sky blue, which is said to be even better looking than the grey model.

Interestingly, Xiaomi has incorporated the 3.5mm audio jack in the Redmi Pad 2, which was sorely missed in the first iteration.

Though it has no side-mounted fingerprint sensor as such, the face unlock feature is good enough to open the device. But, in darkness, a pattern match or passcode can be used to unlock the device.

It also features a microSD card slot, an optional variant with a SIM slot (4G), a Type-C USB 2.0 port, Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity.

Compared to the predecessor, the Redmi Pad 2 has a slightly bigger display. It features an 11-inch 2.5K (2560×1600p) IPS LCD panel and supports 90Hz refresh rate and offers up to a peak brightness of 600 nits.

It has a pixel density of 274 ppi (pixels per inch), more dense than the Pro model of the Redmi Pad (1st Gen).

It's great for consuming multimedia content on OTT apps indoors and even outdoors under a shade.

It is also a better alternative for phones to do online shopping, as the big display allows users to view all the finer details of bank offers and terms & conditions before making an informed decision to buy a product.

At night, users can turn on Reading mode to control the emission of the blue light that can harm eyesight over time. It also comes with TÜV Rheinland certification, which means the device is flicker-free and circadian-friendly, which promises less damage to the eye during extended use.

Also, it supports wet touch, which ensures the display takes touch inputs even with sweaty and wet fingers.

Though the device is well built, I still recommend prospective Redmi Pad 2 buyers get a good cover case. The display needs protection, as it may crack even when it falls from a small height. The company offers an official cover case for Rs 1,299.

It is lightweight, sturdy and protects the screen not just from scratches but also from accidental falls. Also, it has a built-in stand for hands-free viewing and supports a smart wake and sleep feature. Once you put the flap on the screen, it automatically goes into sleep mode and saves battery life. If you open it, the display on the Redmi Pad 2 lights up and can be unlocked without having to physically press the wake button at the top.

Also, it should be noted that the front camera is placed horizontally in landscape orientation. It comes in handy while attending virtual meetings. You can just open the built-in stand in the cover case and place it on any table to have a hands-free meeting and attentively listen.

Performance

It comes with a 6 nm class MediaTek Helio G100-Ultra chipset, which can clock a max CPU speed of 2.2 GHz. It is also backed by Mali-G57 MC2 GPU, and 4GB/6GB/8GB RAM, 128GB/256GB storage (expandable up to 2TB).

The device is more than capable of handling multiple apps running in the background. Also, it supports several popular gaming titles, including battle royale genre ones as well.

But the big display panel is best for playing board games and consuming multimedia content.

Besides entertainment consumption, the Redmi Pad 2 is a great medium for online studies, which requires people to spend long hours on the device's screen.

With a full charge, it can deliver more than 18 hours of video playback. It houses a massive 9,000 mAh battery and supports 18W charging speed. It takes more than two hours to fully charge from zero to 100 per cent mark.

It runs Android 15-based HyperOS 2 and supports the Google Gemini AI app, and also the Circle to Search feature.

It is fully optimised to deliver a better user experience on Xiaomi handsets and smart wearables. If you get a call on the Redmi or Xiaomi phone, the user can answer the call from the tablet itself with the 'call sync' feature. It is the same with messages as well.

The device is guaranteed to get five years of Android OS updates for up to 2030 and security software support against any emerging cyber threats up to 2032.

The device also supports the Redmi Smart Pen, which has to be purchased separately for Rs 3,999.

It is a great tool to take notes on the Redmi Pad 2. It has low latency and offers a natural writing experience on the smart display.

It also features an 8 MP (f/2.0, 1.12 μm pixel size) primary camera with an LED flash on the back and a 5 MP (f/2.2) front camera. Both cameras can record HD (720p) and full HD (1080p) at 30 fps (frames per second).

The front camera is good for video calling and attending virtual office meetings. Even the primary camera on the back is decent. Users can capture good photos of documents to convert them to PDFs using productivity apps available on the Google Play Store.

Final thoughts

It has good upgrades over the predecessor and manages to deliver on good viewing experience and long battery life.

Also, with the addition of 3.5mm, users can use good wired headphones to enjoy multimedia content better than on a pair of wireless earbuds.

And, with the Redmi Smart Pen stylus, users can work on digital art or play with editing tools to turn mundane photos into fun and engaging content to share with their loved ones on social media apps.

Redmi Pad 2 is jam-packed with the right features to make it a great companion for multimedia consumption during a long journey.

The Redmi Pad 2 (Wi-Fi only) comes in 4GB RAM + 128GB configurations for Rs 13,999. The Pad 2 model (Wi-Fi + 4G cellular) variant is available in two options—6GB RAM + 128GB storage and 8GB RAM + 256GB storage—for Rs 15,999 and Rs 17,999, respectively.

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