Xiaomi Mi Pad Review

Last year Xiaomi announced their first ever tablet, the MiPad to compete with the iPad Mini. The Xiaomi Mi Pad was announced in India along with Redmi 2 and is now available on Flipkart. The tablet comes with impressive specs and features a 7.9 inch QXGA display resolution (2048×1536) with an aspect ratio of 4:3. The tablet is powered by NVIDIA Tegra K1 Cortex-A15 Quad-core 2.2-GHz processor with 2GB RAM.

The tablet also comes with 16GB internal storage which is expandable. On the imaging front, there is 8MP rear camera and 5MP front camera. There is also 6700mAh battery on the tablet and it runs Android 4.4 KitKat with MIUI6 on top of it.

So how does the tablet perform, is it value for money? Lets check this out in the detailed review.

Design and Build:

Design wise, the Xiaomi Mi Pad takes inspiration from Apple’s iPad. But instead of metallic finish found on iPad, the Mi Pad uses plastic materials. Build quality wise, the Mi Pad has lot of similarities with the Redmi Note including the curved rear panel with glossy finish. The front panel has the 3 capacitive touch buttons which are backlit and similar to what is offered on phones. The front camera and the sensors sit on top of the 7.9inch display.

The rear panel is glossy, but it isnt a fingerprint magnet. But it can be slippery at times, we would have ideally liked a matte finish. The 8MP camera sits on the top of the rear panel while stereo speakers with perforated grilles sits at the bottom of the tablet. ‘Mi’ markings and charging ports too are arranged in the same fashion as they are on an iPad. The power and volume keys are on the right side while the microSD card slot is on the right side. The 3.5mm audio jack and microUSB charging slot are at the top and bottom respectively. Overall, the Mi Pad is a well designed tablet and looks great for use.

Display:

The display on Mi Pad is a 7.9 inch IPS LCD panel which has a high 2048×1536 resolution and the result is 324 pixels being packed into each inch. The display is stunning with great colors and excellent sharpness. The photos and videos look great on the display and the brightness levels are adequate for outdoor use.

The viewing angles are also great on the display and it is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3 for scratch resistant display. The touch response is also very good on the tablet. The 7.9inch display is by far the best display that we have seen in a tablet in this price point.

Software and Performance:

The Mi Pad runs on Android 4.4.4 KitKat with the company’s custom MIUI 6 on top of it. Time and again we have mentioned that MIUI 6 is one of the best customizable ROMs on Android. But unlike the phones, the MIUI is customize for larger display and looks pretty good. The UI is similar to what is being offered on phones and does not feature an app drawer and comes with multiple home screens. It has a custom home screen, notification center, settings and more which does not even have any resemblance to stock Android.

But unlike MIUI for phones, the tablet version is a stripped down version with lots of features missing which is kind of optimized for larger screen. The customization app “Themes” is not included and so are the Security app and system tools like compass, recorder and QR scanner. This strips a lot of features from MIUI6 on tablet compared to phones. But nevertheless the UI is smooth and has great performance without any lags.

The notification center of the device is really useful and comes with options to customize the quick toggles. The tablet also comes with support for widgets and Xiaomi’s core apps like music and video along with File manager.

The tablet is powered by 2.2Ghz NVIDIA Tegra K1 Cortex-A15 Quad-core processor coupled with 2GB RAM. On the performance side the Mi Pad is a powerhouse with terrific performance. There was absolutely no lag or issues and the tablet did all the tasks with ease. The gaming experience was also very good since the tablet is 7.9inch and ideal for gaming. With multiple apps and games running in the background, Mi Pad never had any issues. The multi tasking is similar to what is offered on smartphones and switching between apps were fast.

Mi Pad comes with 16GB of internal storage of which about 12.5GB is available for user, but you will not be able to install apps on the SD card which is supported. The device supports expandable storage of up to 128GB.

The tablet also comes with dual rear speakers which has pretty good performance. The disappointing aspect of the tablet is probably the lack of SIM card slot. This means you cannot use the tablet on the move with 3G or 4G. The tablet is well versed in Wi-Fi by supporting dual-band 802.11ac and Wi-Fi direct. There is also Bluetooth 4.0, but there is no in-built GPS receiver or support for near field communications (NFC).

Camera:

While tablets are not ideally suited for photography, we still use cameras on tablets. The Xiaomi Mi Pad comes with a 8MP rear camera and a 5MP front camera for selfies. Similar to the software department, Xiaomi has again done some cost cutting here. The 8MP camera does not have a flash and the interface lacks features like HDR which is found on smartphones. The interface is a lot similar to what is being offered on smartphones. Taking pictures with Mi Pad is not a tough ask as the tablet is pretty compact in dimensions.

The images taken in daylight had pretty good clarity and the colors were really good and very similar to the Redmi 2. There is pretty good amount of detailing available as well. But the major problem is the lack of flash which means you cannot use the camera in low light conditions where the images have lot of noise. While there was no issue with auto focus, it was a bit slower than the phones. The phone can shoot videos in 1080p and the quality is just average. The front camera is just for video calls and not really ideal for selfies. Overall, we would say that Xiaomi could have done better in the camera on this tablet. Here are some of the photos taken with the device.

Battery:

The tablet comes with 6700mAh battery and this is pretty good capacity for a 7.9 inch tablet. Xiaomi claims that the battery on the tablet lasts for 11 hours of video streaming, 17 hours of reading, 86 hours of music playback or 50 days on standby mode.

We tested the battery on variety of conditions and the battery performance with heavy tasks was just average and not really that great. But with average usage, you could get good battery life. The tablet also misses out on battery saving modes which is otherwise found on smartphones.

Verdict:

Should I get this tablet? Well, the tablet does have some great aspects which includes high end hardware at an affordable cost. The display is also excellent for this price point. But having said that MIUI 6 is a stripped down version on this tablet and the camera does not impress. Lack of SIM card and GPS might be deal breaker for many. But having said that, if you are looking for an Android tablet with Wi-Fi, then look no further. This is probably the best Android tablet you can pick for this price point with excellent performance. The tablet is ideal for gaming and media consumption.