Last year, OnePlus introduced its first tablet. The OnePlus Pad delivered one of the best mid-range Android tablets at its sub-$500 price point, and was a tablet focused on content creation, with provision for a full keyboard and stylus.
The OnePlus Pad Go is not the follow-up to the OnePlus Pad. Instead, the sister tablet is more focused on media consumption. I’ve spent a few weeks with OnePlus’ second tablet to find out how OnePlus has approached this different flavor of Tablet Computing.
Watching Your Tablet
The screen is the key to the tablet experience. The 11.3 size feels a bit of a no man’s land. It’s not quite small enough to be small, but neither is it too big to be a big tablet. If you’re trying to get a lot of people around a screen for a shared experience, you will struggle with the Pad Go,
While it is an LCD screen, as opposed to the OLED screens you are starting to see in higher-specced tablets from the competition, the traditional weakness of an LCD—the blacks aren’t truly deep black—the OnePlus Pad Go offers a deep black with a good spread of colors. However, it’s a shade duller than the more expensiveOnePlus Pad. It’s a good LCD for watching videos indoors. Outdoors, the colors can wash out in strong sunshine, which is something to note if you want to get out of the house with this tablet.
OnePlus has continued to use a four-speaker system for this tablet. One at each corner means you should always have at least two uncovered speakers providing sound. A good amount of bass is produced, but the definition gets muddy when you go to the top end. At this price point, that’s within expectations. Thankfully, the speaker’s left/right balance will follow the screen’s orientation; the two speakers on your left will always have the left channel, and similarly on the right.
There’s no headphone jack, and given the latency issues Bluetooth headphones can have, this is a disappointment, although it has taken the lead from the OnePlus Pad, which is also missing the 3.5mm output.
Battery Life And Charging
On top of the screen and the speakers, you have the 8,000 mAh battery. That’s down on the 9510 mAh found in the OnePlus Pad, and the wired charging rate has dropped from 67W to 33W. This is probably the biggest compromise between the two tablets in terms of getting cheaper pricing on the Pad Go. It still feels more than enough for media consumption, with 12 hours of video streaming easily reached on a 2/3rds brightness setting.
33W is still a fast-charge standard, with 5 percent to 35 percent capacity taking around thirty minutes; a full empty to full is around 90 minutes. That might feel shorter than a phone, but the battery capacity is almost twice the size.
Tablets And Android
One of the limiting factors of any Android tablet is Android. While Google has improved support for large-screened devices such as tablets, Android still struggles to feel completely natural in the tablet format.
OnePlus has added several features to increase the usefulness of the OS in tablet form. You can run two apps side by side, either in a split-screen view or with one app in a floating window above a fullscreen app, switching focus between them with a touch. When third-party apps are coded correctly, they can spot this behaviour and act accordingly, but that’s not universal.
Some apps still cause problems–in my case, MLB’s Android app refuses to run in landscape mode for its information screens (thankfully, the broadcasts play back correctly). I’ like to see Android handle these apps more efficiently across the OS, but other manufacturers have solved this problem (for example, a setting to force apps like this to run in landscape but with black bars at the side), and I’d like to see OnePlus find a way to address this
One more issue for the Pad Go is the length of software support. OnePlus is offering just two years of support, and because the device launched with 2022’s Android 13, it is only guaranteed to pick up updates to the current Android 14 and Android 15. Given OnePlus’ smartphone support goes out to five years on the OnePlus 12, this shorter window is disappointing.
What’s Missing?
Another of the disappointing notes about the OnePlus Pad Go is its accessory support.
A folio case that wraps around the tablet and offers an origami-like stand to watch media on the screen is offered, but there is no support for the peripherals released with the OnePlus Pad. The latter tablet has a magnetic Qwerty keyboard folio case and the OnePlus Stylo. These help unlock he creative powers of the OnePlus Pad. Without any support for these, the OnePlus Pad Go feels more like a machine for consuming rather than creating.
The OnePlus Pad Go has an advantage over the first OnePlus Pad; it has a cellular radio and supports both a physical SIM card to allow for connectivity on the go. It makes sense to offer connectivity for those who travel. Yet, I find it amusing that the professionally focused tablet has a keyboard but limited connectivity, while the leisure-focused tablet has limited connectivity and no keyboard.
Final Thoughts
The OnePlus Go knows what it wants to be and does it well. Consuming media needs a large clear screen, clear and loud audio, and solid battery life. The lack of a built-in stand makes the purchase of OnePlus’ Folio case feel like a necessary addition to aid long sessions, although the low weight means it can be easily propped up or held in the hand as required.
Disclaimer: OnePlus provided a OnePlus Pad Go for review purposes.
