Xiaomi Pad 5 Review: The Android Tablet Experience Done Right

On. Xiaomis, recently launched Pad 5 tablet is out to change this.. It packs in a high refresh rate, display and a powerful processor and has software that has been optimised to run on tablets.. Can it be something more than just a media player Lets find out in this video review.? The Xiaomi Pad 5 is available in two variants. Theres, the base variant with 128GB of storage, thats priced at Rs. 26999 in India and the second one, with 256GB of storage, which is priced at Rs. 28999.. Both come with 6GB of RAM and theres no option for cellular connectivity.. The Xiaomi Pad 5 has a very premium. Looking design.. The screen on the front is made of Gorilla Glass 3. While the back is made from polycarbonate., The display did not attract fingerprints easily, but the smooth matte rear panel was a smudge magnet and was quite hard to keep clean.. You could buy Xiaomis cover or keyboard case for some protection against dust and grime. Held horizontally. The tablet has two speakers: each on the left and right sides: a magnetic connector for the Smart Pen on the top and three contact pins for the keyboard accessory at the bottom.. The only component that doesnt sit flush with the rest of the tablet is the single camera at the back, but it doesnt protrude too much. At 511 grams. I did find this tablet a bit heavy and its definitely not meant for one handed use.

. Attaching the keyboard accessory adds quite a bit of weight and makes the whole package nearly as heavy as an ultra thin laptop. So I preferred to remove it while playing games.. The Xiaomi Pad 5 has a 10.95 inch WQHD 1600 x 2560 pixel LCD display that produces natural colours. Its bright enough to tackle direct sunlight and is quite sharp. With a pixel density of 275 PPI., The display is Dolby Vision, certified and while Netflix and Amazon Prime Video did allow streaming of Dolby Vision, content and everything worked. As expected, the display had trouble when it came to showcasing good details in the darker areas. In some TV shows., The tablet also offers a maximum 120Hz refresh rate, which was useful when playing games.. While this seems fine for a mid range tablet, I did notice some ghosting when scrolling through text, be it in an app or when browsing through web pages. Audio was also quite good and sounded immersive when playing games and watching movies.. The Xiaomi Pad 5 runs MIUI for Pad, which is a customised version of MIUI 13.0.5 based on Android 11.. While the iconography and UI elements look similar to what Xiaomi typically offers on its mobile devices, the brand seems to have cut down on preinstalled first party apps.. There are tablet friendly customisations, all over the user interface. The home screen has a macOS inspired dock and menu bar which stays open at the bottom.. It can be used to pin, frequently used apps and also shows you, the apps that are currently open.

. You can access it with a swipe up gesture on either side of the horizontal bar at the bottom of the screen, when using an app. Apps can also be opened in floating windows., Not all apps work in this mode – and this strangely also includes some native Xiaomi Apps such as Calendar., Regardless the floating windows feature works very well for supported apps.. You simply need to long press on an app icon and a pop up menu will show a floating windows. Button. Tapping on that opens the supported app in a vertical window, similar to how it would appear on a smartphone.. You can also resize a window by dragging the dots in the bottom corners.. If an app has been built to adapt to a tablet like layout, you will see it change as the window stretches.. While I could only open two apps in floating windows at a time, it all works really well, when you want to do some serious office work. As expected, some apps, such as Instagram, only opened in fullscreen mode, while Google Discover appeared as it does on a smartphone, But with a lot of empty space on either side of the feed. Googles new Material, You widgets looked great and worked as expected, but the UI lacks some features, such as the ability to match the colour of the wallpaper, because the Pad 5 doesnt run Android 12.. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 860 SoC ensured smooth performance and the 120Hz display made everything appear fluid.

. While I was able to run three open apps at a time with the floating windows feature recently used. Apps that should have been able to maintain their state in the background, did restart when pulled up. Gaming performance was quite good.. Asphalt, 9 Legends looked brilliant and felt almost console like with detailed textures.. It ran well with the 60fps mode. Enabled. Call of Duty Mobile was smooth at the highest settings that it allowed on the tablet, which were Very High, graphics, quality and Max frame rate with all effects turned on.. The tablet barely got warm even when gaming at these settings., The Xiaomi Pad Keyboard Case, which has yet to be launched in India, has magnets hidden inside its leather, like plastic, exterior to hold the tablet firmly in place when attached. The keys are smaller than usual, but Have good travel for a soft tablet keyboard and the typing experience is quite comfortable.. There are keyboard shortcuts as well and Xiaomi, has included a customisable multi tasking key, which can be used in combination with character keys to launch both native and third party. Apps. Xiaomi also sent me the Smart Pen to try out. Priced at Rs. 5999, this accessory snaps on to the top of the tablet and can be recharged using induction.. The Smart Pen worked as expected. Theres. Very little input lag and scribbling with it felt quite natural.. The Xiaomi Pad 5 has a 13 megapixel rear camera and an 8 megapixel front camera, which is also used to unlock the device.

Photo. Quality was decent at best, but still a lot better than what I expected from a tablet.. Video quality was average.. The 8720mAh battery lasted for a day and a half when performing my work duties with the display set to sleep after five minutes, which meant that it was almost continuously on during that time. With casual use, which mainly included playing games and watching videos. The tablet easily ran for over two days on a single charge.. These results were quite good more so because I had the displays refresh rate set to 120Hz. In our HD video loop test. The tablet lasted 15 hours, 59 minutes, which is impressive. Charging the massive battery using the included 22.5W charger took 1 hour 57 minutes, which is good, given that most tablets usually take a lot. Longer. Xiaomi has done a really good job when it comes to software, optimisation and overall performance, which is rare for tablets in this segment.. Its 120Hz refresh rate display is the cherry on top of the cake and its accessories make it a good machine for work as well.. There are a few things missing, such as a 3.5mm headphone jack and cellular connectivity, but I would not consider these to be deal breakers at this price, even after using the tablet for several weeks. Factor in that attractive: Rs., 26999 starting price and theres. No other tablet. In this segment that comes close in terms of value., So thats it for our review of the Xiaomi Pad 5.

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