Latest news with #AndroidTablet
Bloomberg
6 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
OnePlus Looks to Undercut Apple and Samsung With New $700 Tablet
OnePlus Systems Inc. introduced a slimmed-down version of its premium Android tablet on Thursday, looking to beat competing devices from Samsung Electronics Co and Apple Inc. with its price and specifications. The tablet, called the OnePlus Pad 3, will be available on July 8 for $700 in the US and $1,000 in Canada. In addition to the thin frame, the company is touting faster performance, an improved display and upgraded multitasking features.
Android Authority
6 hours ago
- Business
- Android Authority
OnePlus wants Samsung's Android tablet crown, and I think the Pad 3 can take it
OnePlus Pad 3 OnePlus set out to create one of the best Android tablets money can buy with the Pad 3, and it checked nearly every box. This third-generation slate charges faster than options from Apple, Google, and Samsung, while sporting a form factor that pulls the strengths from all three. It's more expensive than either of its predecessors yet offers enough of an enticing mix of premium design, incredible performance, and innovative software (Open Canvas is still the best thing) to make this a challenger for the best Android tablet, dollar for dollar. Samsung has been my go-to for Android tablets for several years, and I'm probably not the only one. The tall, thin Galaxy Tabs have been perfect for almost all of my travel needs, from streaming shows to writing on the go, and it hasn't hurt that there's a Samsung option at virtually every price point. As with all things, however, that dominance — relative to Android at least, iPad is still the sales king in the tablet world — has come with a slowdown in innovation. The last few Galaxy Tab S updates have been merely good rather than exceptionally great, opening the door to competition. And, if the rest of the competition is as good as the $699 OnePlus Pad 3, Samsung might have a battle on its hands. After two successful stabs at making a serious tablet push, here's why I think the original flagship killer's third attempt kicks things up a notch and stakes a claim for the mantle of the best Android tablet around, dollar for dollar. There's something… familiar about this design Paul Jones / Android Authority I'm caught between two sayings when I look at the OnePlus Pad 3 — both in the same vein. The first is that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Just one glance at this third-generation tablet is probably enough to tell you which well-regarded, fruit-associated slate it's modeled after. The second saying that comes to mind, though, is that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, and I think that does a better job of positioning the OnePlus Pad 3 than anything else. If you're unsure what I'm referring to, I have two words for you: iPad Air. On pretty much all levels except for software, the OnePlus Pad 3 is a dead ringer for Apple's light, powerful tablet, and I don't think that's an accident. After all, I don't think OnePlus would have shuffled the position and changed the shape of its circular camera bump or moved away from its classic green finishes if it hadn't been using Samsung's main tablet rival for inspiration, as opposed to Samsung itself. It walks like an iPad Air, and it talks like an iPad Air, but it's actually one of the best-looking Android tablets around. And yes, I know that this sounds like me being an iPad fanboy, but hear me out — there isn't another line of tablets that challenges Samsung as effectively as Apple's iconic iPad. Sure, the oddball Pixel Tablet takes care of Google fans and smart home users who want a tablet-hub combo, and the Amazon Fire Tab comes in several sizes and is much cheaper, but for one reason or another, neither makes Samsung sweat. The iPad, however, does. Whenever it gets lighter, thinner, or more powerful, the Galaxy Tab usually does the same, so by copying Apple, OnePlus is just trying to stay ahead of the curve. So far, I'd say that it's working. Everything about the Pad 3 feels just a bit more polished than the previous generation OnePlus Pad 2, thanks in part to its slightly more comfortable Storm Blue-colored aluminum frame. It's thinner than before, sitting at a hair under 6mm thick (almost literally at 5.97mm), but the more important change is that the flattened frame is much more comfortable to hold than the previous rounded one. Besides, I think OnePlus was always going to have to change something about the shape of its tablet once it upgraded the display size, again. This time, it's up to 13.2 inches, an increase of more than an inch and a half from the original OnePlus Pad that only launched in 2023. That makes it one of the bigger Android tablets on the market right now, falling right between the Galaxy Tab S10 Plus and Tab S10 Ultra and matching, well, the iPad Air… of course. And, at that size, it can be tough (or simply uncomfortable) to hold a huge, rounded frame for long stretches, like taking a video during your kid's dance recital. Jokes aside, I like how OnePlus has used the space while expanding its flagship tablet. Yet again, it's added more speakers to the setup, bringing the slate to an even four woofers and four tweeters, creating one loud tablet. I set it up next to the OnePlus Pad 2 and turned both to full volume for a quick playthrough of a few songs from Mt. Joy's record, I Hope We Have Fun, and the Pad 3 was both louder and sharper from start to finish. It's easier to pick out the softer instruments across the additional speakers, and the bass notes have more of a presence. Ryan Haines / Android Authority Those speakers also seem to pair perfectly with the Pad 3's 7:5 aspect ratio, one spot where it finally veers off from Apple's well-trodden path. To me, OnePlus's slightly more rectangular display (at least compared to the iPad's usual 4:3 aspect ratio) makes it a little better for all-around usage, while avoiding the horizontal-only feel of the wider Galaxy Tab flagships. It's perfectly comfortable as a secondary screen for me to refer back to briefing notes, but it is also wide enough that I'm not losing too much of my display to letterboxing while streaming. Unfortunately, with most of my favorite shows done for the season and Chelsea having secured Champions League football for next year, there hasn't been as much to watch, but it's also given me a chance to go back and catch a few movies from the start of 2025. I hopped into Wicked to get a taste of the Pad 3's 68 billion colors (which is what it supports, according to OnePlus), and then immediately had to cleanse myself with a dark, moody rewatch of Nosferatu — mostly to see how the LCD panel would handle the night scenes in Wisburg. OnePlus's 7:5 aspect ratio lands right in the sweet spot between streaming and web browsing. For the most part, it breezed through my home cinema marathon. The bright hues of Shiz University were about all I could ask for, while the stereo speakers were probably loud enough to convince my upstairs neighbor that I was playing the movie on my TV. That might be an exaggeration — I kind of hope they didn't hear showtunes through the floor. Conversely, those night scenes in Nosferatu reminded me why OLED panels are still slightly better. Although the Pad 3 did pretty well with the blacks of Orlok's cape and almost everything else about the movie, they weren't as deep or dark as I've gotten from something like the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra. OnePlus does, however, have the more pixel-dense display of the two, with a smoother 144Hz refresh rate than Samsung's 120Hz. Another display-adjacent advantage of Samsung's flagships over the Pad 3 is their front-facing camera. The 12MP selfie shooter on the Galaxy Tab S10 Plus is a little sharper and offers a slightly wider maximum aperture for better light capture. OnePlus's 8MP, 1/4.0-inch sensor is perfectly fine for a basic Zoom call — and provides the Pad 3's only biometric unlock because there's no fingerprint reader — but it's limited to a meager 1080p video at 30fps compared to Samsung's 4K support at the same frame rate. It at least matches the iPad Air for resolution, but it's still half the Air's 60fps spec. Ryan Haines / Android Authority The last thing I need to mention about OnePlus's revamped tablet is the new slate of accessories. Because the Pad 3 is significantly larger than the Pad 2, your existing folio case and smart keyboard will no longer fit, meaning you'll have to upgrade your entire tablet setup with either the $199 Pad 3 Smart Keyboard, or the $49 Pad 3 Folio Case. This isn't much different than if you'd gone from a base iPad to an iPad Air, but it quickly pushes a $700 tablet closer to $750 or $800. On the bright side, OnePlus decided not to update its optional stylus, the Stylo 2, so you can save that $100 if you already have one. OnePlus knows how to pack in the power Ryan Haines / Android Authority Although the OnePlus Pad 3 looks and feels like an iPad Air from the outside, its internals are Android from top to bottom. By that, it kind of feels like OnePlus took the beating heart of the superb OnePlus 13 and scaled it into a massive 13.2-inch body. The Pad 3 pairs a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage in the base configuration, though a 16GB and 512GB version is available in specific markets. For those keeping track at home, those are the exact RAM and storage options available on the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra, just without quite as steep a pricetag. And, with all of that power in the palms of your hands, you might be wondering just how to position the OnePlus Pad 3 among other premium Android tablets. To me, this feels like a laptop replacement through and through — and not just because the smart keyboard reminds me of my beloved Surface Laptop 3. In all seriousness, it feels like the type of slate that you'd much rather use for gaming, drawing, and creating than simply taking to class or wasting time on YouTube. In an effort not to seem like I'm simply hyping up OnePlus's packed spec sheet without backing it up, I decided to run the Pad 3 through our phone-centric slate of benchmarks — or at least the basics. I set up the usual CPU and GPU-heavy suspects (Geekbench 6, PCMark Work 3.0, and 3DMark's Wild Life stress test), and put the Pad 3 up against both Samsung's Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra and the Galaxy S25 Ultra, as well as the OnePlus 13 — you know, just to see how a flagship tablet keeps pace with a flagship phone. As it turns out, the paces were pretty close. I mean, the overclocked Galaxy S25 Ultra put up the best numbers across the board — not a huge surprise — but the Pad 3 kept almost perfect sync with its smartphone counterpart, and easily overcame the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra's Dimensity 9300 Plus chipset in the single and multi-core phases of the Geekbench 6 run. Samsung's slate jumped a little further ahead in the more comprehensive PCMark Work 3.0 test, though I'm not sure that the delta in performance is worth the extra $500. Ryan Haines / Android Authority On the graphics side, the Pad 3's Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset shows more of its strength. It doesn't start quite as high as either the OnePlus 13 or the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but it maintains its top-end performance a bit better throughout 20 runs, finishing at somewhere around 80% of its original efficiency. More impressive is that it hardly budges after the 11th loop, hanging onto consistent scores while both Samsung products bounce up and down to finish the test. So, if you're looking to mix mobile gaming and/or retro emulation into your everyday tablet usage, it certainly looks like the Pad 3 can back you up. Moving beyond the raw numbers, I simply love how the Pad 3 feels in everyday life. I've given it a little bit more responsibility than I gave the Galaxy Tab S10 FE — the last tablet I reviewed — tasking the Pad 3 with a bit more intensive research into where I'm staying for the Erie Marathon in a few months, how I'm getting there, and which race shoes I need to be narrowing my decision down to. It handled all of the above with ease, and Open Canvas remains the best possible way to multitask on a tablet. I'll talk more about the software wrinkles in a second, but it's tough to beat extra windows that you can swipe in and out as if you were solving a Rubik's Cube. The OnePlus Pad 3 feels fast and smooth in everyday life, and its battery just runs and runs. The OnePlus Pad 3 is perhaps a little bigger than I might like for games that count on on-screen controls like a joystick or virtual buttons, but it works perfectly for puzzle titles like Railbound, and the 13.2-inch display might be slightly cheating when it comes to hidden-object adventures. At the very worst, I could probably attach my smart keyboard to the pogo pins and use classic WASD controls with the touchpad if I really wanted to get into a gaming session. But, whether I'm gaming, researching, or mindlessly scrolling, the OnePlus Pad 3's battery has been a tank. OnePlus claims that its 12,140mAh cell supports up to 70 days of standby time before needing a charger, and so far, I think I'm inclined to believe it. I, of course, have been using my OnePlus Pad 3 far too actively during my week with it to gauge the standby time, but I can't say I've noticed much passive drain at all. If I put it down overnight, I'll come back to maybe a percentage or two missing, which is nothing to complain about. Ryan Haines / Android Authority I've also only charged the Pad 3 once in my time with it, which is up there with the reliability I've come to expect from things like my Garmin running watch. However, unlike my trusty GPS wearable, the Pad 3 charges at a spicy 80W with the included SuperVOOC block. And, if you've ever had to sit and fully charge an iPad or a Galaxy Tab, you know the difference that 27W vs 45W vs 80W charging can make. I'm used to sitting by an outlet — or rather, leaving my tablet at an outlet — for two to two-and-a-half hours at a time before it's ready to go, which makes the OnePlus Pad 3's 90-minute charge time feel like an absolute sprint, especially given the huge battery capacity. Giving OxygenOS room to breathe Ryan Haines / Android Authority One of the harder things for most Android tablets to do, though, is scale their software experience effectively. For whatever reason, scaling tall, thin apps onto wider displays hasn't worked out exceptionally well. It's almost like most developers approach their tablets like massive phones rather than like laptops or like the secondary displays they are. Not OnePlus. It's had a pretty good feel for how Oxygen OS should fit and function since the first Pad, and it's only gotten better since then. And yes, that means it's time to talk about Open Canvas and a few other software wrinkles in more detail. But first, the just-okay news. OnePlus's latest tablet ships with Android 15 right out of the box, which is great. However, it will only get three years of Android updates and six years of security patches. I'm perfectly fine with that security commitment — it's almost up to Samsung's level — but I have to say that I'm let down by only offering Android version upgrades through version 18. This is an expensive tablet, and it deserves better support. Now, back to the good news. I'd like to see a few more Android updates hit the Pad 3, but the overall software experience is so, so good. From the minute you set up the OnePlus Pad 3, it feels like the developers went in with a fully formed idea of what they wanted Oxygen OS to feel like on the big screen. It's a pretty faithful secondary screen, supporting clever tricks like a File Dock, which allows you to drop a file along the right edge of your tablet in the Smart Sidebar and quickly retrieve it on another OnePlus device. Similarly, it'll sync any photos and videos you capture on your phone to your tablet the next time both devices are active and near each other. That said, my hands-down favorite piece of Oxygen OS 15 Tablet Edition is still Open Canvas. I've been using it almost daily — at least while using the Pad 3 every day — and it's still miles ahead of most other multitasking solutions. Yes, you can only split two apps across the main display at a time, but you can comfortably hide others along the edges of the Pad 3's display, allowing you to quickly swipe back and forth when you need to dedicate the full 13.2-inch panel to whatever you're doing. OnePlus has also expanded the number of apps that support Open Canvas, but without a dedicated list, I'm still doing a bit of trial and error to figure out what works. OnePlus has also expanded O-Plus Connect to work with the Pad 3, and it can connect to both Mac and Windows devices. If there's one thing I don't love about O-Plus Connect, it's the fact that you have to install it via an APK file, which makes the whole experience feel less than official, but the setup process itself is pretty quick and painless. And, if you thought we would get through this review without at least a passing mention of AI, think again. It's 2025, this is a flagship tablet, of course there's at least a little bit of AI at play. Thankfully, most of it is pretty simple and straightforward — there's a dedicated button on the Smart Keyboard to launch Gemini, and the Pad 3 supports Circle to Search — but there's a little bit of OnePlus cleverness at play, too. More specifically, the Pad 3 supports the same AI Toolkit the company showed off when it announced its Android 15 refresh. That means it packs AI Speak, which reads articles aloud, AI Summary, which, well, summarizes those articles, and AI Writer, which is a OnePlus-flavored version of Apple's Writing Tools or Google's Help Me Write. The only trick to the toolkit is that you'll have to turn on Screen Recognition first, which allows the Pad 3 to watch what's on your display and recommend tools or suggest when you might need to split screen for more effective multitasking. If you don't allow Screen Recognition, you'll be limited to Gemini and Circle to Search for your AI experience, which is perfectly fine for most people. OnePlus Pad 3 review verdict: Premium but pricey Ryan Haines / Android Authority If OnePlus set out with the specific goal of stealing Samsung's flagship tablet crown, then the Pad 3 is nothing less than mission accomplished. From top to bottom, it might be the most consistent, well-rounded Android tablet I've ever used, settling in a middle ground of not too streaming-specific like the Galaxy Tab, not so smart home-centric like the Pixel Tablet, and with more raw power across performance, battery, and charging metrics than any Android tablet to date. We can sit here and debate whether or not imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but whatever you want to call the OnePlus Pad 3, it just works. The flattened side rails make it a little easier to wrangle the massive footprint, and the switch from a green finish to a blue one makes the tablet look much more mature, if a little less fun. Besides, with eight stereo speakers and a vibrant display like this, I don't think you'll spend much time looking at the color options anyway. OnePlus came for the king, and it did not miss. OnePlus's flagship killer roots are on full display inside the Pad 3, too, with its ample RAM and storage backing up the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset across everything I've asked. Mix in a long-lasting battery with some of the fastest tablet charging you'll ever use, and it's tough to find an obvious weak spot on OnePlus's third-generation slate. Would I have preferred an OLED panel to an LCD? Sure, I think most people would. Would I also like a fingerprint reader tucked into the power button? Yes, of course, this feels like the strangest omission from the whole setup. However, OnePlus's face unlock is quick and pretty reliable in my experience (my colleague Paul who also tested it had less luck, check out his video review to hear his take), so it was easy enough for me to live without the extra biometrics. Unfortunately, all good things come at a cost, and for the OnePlus Pad 3, that cost is literal. In just three years, OnePlus's only tablet option has climbed from a launch price of $459 to $699, reserving it for a different tier of Android fans. That means if you jumped on the OnePlus Pad train right at the start and are now ready to upgrade because your previous tablet has run out of software updates (yes, already), you'd better be prepared to pay one and a half times what you originally spent. Unless you're going to ditch your laptop for good, I'm not sure that will be in the cards for many OnePlus fans. And, if you're not already at least partially ingrained in the OnePlus ecosystem, that asking price of $699 could climb quite a bit higher. You'd have to budget for a OnePlus phone to nab a few of the more specific cross-device features, and you're already going to have to pick up a few new accessories. Even if you have a trusty pair of wireless earbuds, the new smart keyboard or folio cover will add to your cost, and the Stylo 2 is pretty much a must-have when exploring a screen this big, making a $700 tablet feel more like $800 or $900 by the time all is said and done. If you buy it before July 7, 2025 you can pick from two of three accessories (Smart Keyboard, Stylo 2, and Folio Case) as a freebie, but after that, you'll be talking a decent chunk of change to get the most out of the Pad 3 as a productivity beast. So, if that climbing price tag has you reconsidering how badly you want a OnePlus Pad 3, what can you do? Well, the first option is to stick with an ecosystem you're already comfortable with. If you have a Samsung Galaxy phone, you'll probably be more at home with a Galaxy Tab S10 FE ($499.99 at Amazon) or a Galaxy Tab S10 Plus ($999.99 at Samsung), both of which offer a pretty similar experience just with different levels of polish. In my review, I called the Galaxy Tab S10 FE all the tablet that Android fans need, and I stand by it. It's more affordable than the Pad 3, yet it offers a comparable LCD panel with a slightly lower refresh rate. Samsung's battery life is also excellent, though its Exynos 1580 chipset isn't quite as powerful. The Galaxy Tab S10 Plus, on the other hand, leaps above the Pad 3 in terms of price, but adds a second rear camera to the mix, comes with an S Pen in the box, and will get several more Android updates before it reaches the end of its life. It's slightly smaller than OnePlus's latest tablet, and the 16:10 aspect ratio will take some getting used to if you're coming from an iPad or another relatively square pick, but you'll quickly find that you lose almost no screen real estate to letterboxing when streaming. Plus, Samsung still has the largest stable of tablet-friendly AI features, and has the unique DeX mode for anyone who wants to scale up their tablet with a monitor and accessories. Outside of Samsung but sticking with Android, you could save a couple of bucks and pick up Google's Pixel Tablet ($499 at Amazon), which is like a detachable Nest Hub. It brings the clean, smooth experience of Pixel UI to a big screen, and the fact that you can charge it by simply sitting it on a dock and leaving for the day feels like Google chasing the smart home of the future. You'll once again get plenty of updates to look forward to, and I thoroughly appreciate that the Pixel Tablet is designed to make life around the house easier rather than chasing the functionality of a laptop. If you can fit the OnePlus Pad 3 into your budget, you can't really go wrong. Lenovo has a few good options, too, in both the Yoga Tab Plus ($699.99 at Amazon) and the Legion Tab Gen 3 ($549.99 at Lenovo). The former is your AI-enriched, everyday option, which offers a stylus and keyboard that feel a lot like the OnePlus Pad 3's accessories. It's big, loud, and powerful, but it's also slightly more expensive than the Pad 3 and probably offers the best cross-platform functionality if you already have a Motorola phone in your pocket. The Legion Tab Gen 3, on the other hand, is a gaming tablet that drops the price point just a bit. It combines last year's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset with Legion ColdFront cooling and a 165Hz refresh rate to throw you into the action and keep you there until the 6,550mAh battery runs out. And then, there's the venerable iPad — practically the OnePlus Pad 3's evil twin, still set on world dominance. More specifically, I'm talking about the iPad Air ($529 at Amazon). I mean, the two tablets look the same, they feel the same, they both come with 13-inch displays, and they both start at roughly the same price, depending on whether you pick the 11-inch or 13-inch iPad Air. If you already have an iPhone, it only makes sense to stick with the iPad for its long-term updates, seamless notification sharing, convenient software features like FaceTime and iMessage, and, let's admit it, Apple's superior app ecosystem for tablet power users. The iPad Air is also at a high enough level within Apple's hierarchy that it'll benefit from the larger Apple Intelligence rollout in a way that the base iPad ($321 at Amazon) won't just yet. Of course, if you're taking this as a sign to dive headfirst into Apple's ecosystem, just remember that accessories like the Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil will balloon your overall cost up to or above the $1,000 mark. As an Android fan first and foremost, if it were me, I'd just grab the OnePlus Pad 3 and call it a day — if you can fit it into your budget, you can't really go wrong. OnePlus Pad 3 MSRP: $699.99 Flagship-killing tablet. The OnePlus Pad 3 is a true step into the flagship tablet race, pairing Qualcomm's best chipset with an upgraded design and some of our favorite tablet software features in the business. See price at AmazonSee price at OnePlus Positives Vibrant 165Hz display Vibrant 165Hz display Premium, versatile design Premium, versatile design Phenomenal battery life Phenomenal battery life Blisteringly fast charging Blisteringly fast charging Elite performance Elite performance Punchy speakers Cons Rising price tag Rising price tag Limited Android version updates Limited Android version updates Basic front camera Basic front camera No fingerprint biometrics
Android Authority
6 hours ago
- Business
- Android Authority
OnePlus takes on Samsung with the OnePlus Pad 3 and its exciting pre-order offers
Ryan Haines / Android Authority TL;DR OnePlus has launched the OnePlus Pad 3 in the US. The flagship Android tablet features a large 13.2-inch LCD display with up to a 144Hz refresh rate. It's powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC, has 16GB RAM and 512GB storage, and runs Oxygen OS based on Android 15. Customers can pre-order it in the US for $700 and choose two out of three gifts: a keyboard, a folio case, or a stylus. Android tablets aren't as plentiful as they used to be when the category had just launched. Still, OEMs like Samsung continue releasing a variety of Android tablets every year, spread across the budget, mid-range, and flagship segments. Competing against the Galaxy Tab S series is pretty challenging, especially in the larger screen sizes. Still, OnePlus is now setting itself up to take the challenge with the new OnePlus Pad 3. Paul Jones / Android Authority One of the most noticeable highlights of the OnePlus Pad 3 is its massive 144Hz 13.2-inch LCD with a resolution of 3,392 x 2,400 pixels. In high brightness mode, the display can get as bright as 900 nits, though the typical brightness is 600 nits. To accommodate the massive display, the tablet also has a proportionately large body and weighs 675g. The display also supports the OnePlus Stylo 2. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC powers the OnePlus Pad 3, placing this tablet firmly in flagship territory. There are some regional variations for storage and RAM, though: The US gets only one option of 12GB of slightly slower LPDDR5X (4,266MHz, still plenty fast) RAM and 256GB UFS 4.0 storage, whereas India and Europe get this as well as another option of 16GB of faster LPDDRT (4,800MHz) coupled with 512GB storage. Ryan Haines / Android Authority Powering the big display and flagship processor is a 12,140mAh battery, with support for 80W fast charging. Tablets usually skip wireless charging, which remains the case here. For connectivity, there's support for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, but sadly, no cellular option. The USB-C port present on the tablet is a USB 3.2 Gen 1 port. The OnePlus Pad 3 has four woofers, four tweeters, and two microphones. It also has a 13MP rear camera and an 8MP front camera. However, as there is no fingerprint scanner on board, you'll have to rely on face unlock for biometrics. Further, the OnePlus Pad 3 runs Oxygen OS 15 based on Android 15, and will receive three Android OS updates in its lifetime. It will also receive six years of security updates, an increase of two years from the OnePlus Pad 2. You can learn more about our experience with the tablet in our OnePlus Pad 3 review. OnePlus Pad 3 pricing and availability Paul Jones / Android Authority The OnePlus Pad 3 is available in the US in a single Storm Blue color for $699.99, with pre-orders starting today up until July 7, 2025. Customers who pre-order the tablet from can choose two free gifts from the following options: OnePlus Pad 3 Smart Keyboard, worth $199.99 OnePlus Pad 3 Folio Case, worth $49.99 OnePlus Stylo 2, worth $99.99 Customers can also receive a $100 trade-in bonus, and students can save an extra 10% for a limited time. Open sales begin from July 8, 2025. OnePlus Pad 3 OnePlus Pad 3 MSRP: $699.99 Flagship-killing tablet. The OnePlus Pad 3 is a true step into the flagship tablet race, pairing Qualcomm's best chipset with an upgraded design and some of our favorite tablet software features in the business. See price at Amazon See price at OnePlus Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at Email our staff at news@ . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
Phone Arena
6 hours ago
- Business
- Phone Arena
OnePlus Pad 3 review: strong iPad Pro competiton at a great price!
OnePlus has returned to the premium Android tablet scene with the new OnePlus Pad 3 – its most powerful and feature-packed slate yet. Building on its predecessor, the Pad 2, this third-generation device pushes the envelope with an even larger, 13.2" display, cutting-edge Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, new software features, and reworked accessories. However, are all the changes OnePlus has made for the better? The star of the show is the 13.2' LCD display – OnePlus's largest and sharpest yet. I know what you're thinking: LCD, seriously? I wouldn't be concerned about that, however, as the LCD displays OnePlus employs for the Pad line are pretty great. With a 7:5 aspect ratio and a spectacular 3.4K resolution, this screen is amazing for for multitasking, media consumption, and productivity. But what's equally impressive is the humongous battery packed into the thin chassis. Despite measuring under 6mm in thickness, the OnePlus Pad 3 houses top-tier internals, including an enormous 12,140mAh battery, which OnePlus argues is strong enough to start a car! The OnePlus Pad 3 is priced competitively considering its powerful hardware, capable software features, and the available accessories. The price starts at just $699 – much lower than Samsung and Apple's $1000+ premium tablet offerings. And, the great news is, you can also score some lovely deals (like a free Smart Keyboard case) if you pre-order early. Let's take a closer look at what makes this Android tablet a true heavyweight contender in 2025. Design Display Camera Performance Software Battery Audio Summary At just 5.97mm thick, the OnePlus Pad 3 is the thinnest tablet OnePlus has ever made – and among the slimmest on the market. However, it's definitely not the lightest one with its 675g. I used the OnePlus Pad 2 for a quite a while, and one of the few things I didn't enjoy about it was the considerable weight of about 580g. While I hoped OnePlus will make the Pad 3 lighter, it's sadly gone in the opposite direction, adding another inch to the screen and another 90 grams or so to the weight. Aside from that, the design is modern, sleek and minimalist, and this year it comes in two colors: Storm Blue and Frosted Silver (the latter being India-exclusive). The Storm Blue color is rather original and good-looking. The bezels are sufficiently slim, and the rear camera has been moved to the corner, giving it a more conventional and modern look. This is a change I definitely welcome, because the center-positioned rear camera of the OnePlus Pad 2 made it difficult to write on with the stylus, due to all the unpleasant wobbling. This problem is now reduced to a minimum, thanks to the rear camera's new position in the corner. As expected from a premium tablet, there's a hardware keyboard accessory available (costs $200). It's very similar to last year's model, where there's a magnetic back cover that doubles as a kick-stand, and an attachable keyboard part. While the Pad 2's keyboard accessory attached seamlessly and without any interference with the magnetic back cover, this is not the case with the new accessory for the Pad 3 – where attaching the keyboard is a bit more fiddly. It's the same thing that Huawei did with its keyboard for the MatePad Pro 13.2, where you need to slightly open the kickstand, in order to slide in the magnetic attachment of the keyboard. I'm not sure what necessitated this downgrade, but it's there. The hardware Smart Keyboard also has a large trackpad, which has great response and fluid tracking. Its pointer acceleration (to the extent there's acceleration at all) feels a bit weird, but it's not too bad and not hard to get used to. I think it's best for tablet manufacturers to tune these trackpads in a way that would make pointer behavior similar to what users experience on Windows and Mac – this will make switching between the tablet and a PC feel way more natural. Unfortunately, there is no support for two-finger tap to call up the context menu (i.e. a right mouse click). If the hardware keyboard case is overkill for you, there's a simpler cover case of the origami type ($50) – you can manipulate it in various ways to achieve different viewing angles. The OnePlus Stylo 2 stylus returns this year, which isn't the best news, because the writing experience with the Stylo 2 on the Pad 2 wasn't up to the best standards in terms of response and accuracy. Having tested the Stylo 2 with the OnePlus Pad 3 now, I feel like accuracy has been improved a little, but writing with it just isn't as responsive as it should be, especially on such a high-performance, 144Hz display. Apple's Pencil, Samsung's S-Pen and Huawei's M-Pencil all feel more responsive compared to the OnePlus Stylo 2. At $100, the Stylo 2 isn't a bad option – it'll definitely get the job done, but it'll take some getting used to, which isn't ideal. The OnePlus Pad 3 features a truly massive 13.2' LCD display with a 3392 x 2400 resolution and a balanced 7:5 aspect ratio, which makes it neither too wide, nor too squarish – great for a variety of scenarios like multitasking, working with documents and watching movies. With 12-bit color, vibrant color gamut and a 144Hz adaptive refresh rate, this screen is both beautiful and easy on the eyes. While it's not OLED, the display looks excellent, and the high brightness of up to 900 nits in high brightness mode makes it very usable in bright environments. Cameras aren't the main focus here, but is there even such a thing nowadays as a device without at least 2 or 3 cameras on board? With the OnePlus Pad 3, you get a 13MP rear camera with support for 4K video recording at 30fps, and an 8MP front camera for selfies and meetings. The selfies camera maxes out at 1080p / 30fps for video. While not groundbreaking, the camera setup is perfectly functional for the tablet's use cases. Both the rear camera and the selfie one perform very well, especially in good lighting conditions. The video footage from the selfie camera is workable, but I expected a bit more out of it. Powering the OnePlus Pad 3 is the Snapdragon 8 Elite – Qualcomm's most powerful chip to date. And it screams! It easily surpasses Samsung's chipset of choice for the Tab S10 Ultra, the Dimensity 9300+. Only Apple's hyper-powerful M4 chipset pulls ahead of the 8 with either 12GB or 16GB of fast LPDDR5T RAM (depending on whether you get the 256 or 512 storage options), I didn't notice any serious performance issues. OnePlus has also worked on improving the tablet's cooling, reporting lower temperatures while gaming. Higher performance and lower temperatures, that's what I call a win-win! The Pad 3 runs OxygenOS 15 (Tablet Edition), which brings several tablet-optimized features like the fan-favorite Open Canvas for multitasking, and smart split-screen suggestions. The latter feature subtly suggests that you might want to use split-screen mode, in case you happen to be frequently shifting between two different apps. OnePlus' Android platform is sleek, swift, and satisfyingly customizable – definitely one of the more polished Android tablet experiences. AI features also take the spotlight this year, but you knew that already. There's an AI Toolbox that helps with writing, translating, and summarizing documents. You can also 'Circle to Search' on any screen and quickly launch Google Gemini via holding the power key or the dedicated AI key on the keyboard the functionality we first saw on the Oppo Find N5, OnePlus has also added file-sharing and remote control features for better integration with Mac computers. OnePlus Pad 3 Battery The OnePlus Pad 3 features a massive 12,140mAh battery – the largest ever in a OnePlus device. It supports 80W SUPERVOOC charging, going from 0 to 100% in just over 90 minutes, which is faster than the competition – only the Huawei MatePad Pro 13.2 comes close in this aspect. The PhoneArena Battery Test reveals a rather respectable showing on the OnePlus Pad 3's part. The tablet's results in video and gaming battery life are absolutely competitive against the top-tier iPad Pro or Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra. Where it really shines is the general use / browsing test, where it smokes the competition with a result of 15 hours. OnePlus Pad 3 Audio quality Audio is another area where OnePlus has stepped things up. With a total of eight speakers – four woofers and four tweeters – the Pad 3 delivers truly impressive stereo sound! The OnePlus Pad 3 speakers manage to output incredibly deep tones, with a nice, heavy, deep bass. They are also quite powerful, so you can definitely have fun listening to music on these. They are even probably a bit too bass-heavy when on max volume, which is great, because it means that at moderate volumes, the sound will feel just right, and most of the time you won't be listening at max volume. The speakers could benefit from a tiny bit of clarity, but this can easily be achieved with some very light EQ. I'm nitpicking, of course, the audio performance is very convincing right out of the box. This is also great from gaming perspective, as even if you aren't using earbuds, the experience will still be very satisfying and immersive with these speakers. The OnePlus Pad 3 is absolutely one of the best and most polished premium Android tablets around. From its sharp, massive display and powerful performance to the useful accessories and welcome AI features, it covers all the bases for both play and productivity. There are still some minor quirks, such as the imposing weight and the Stylo 2 pen, which is in need of a revamp, but the value proposition is definitely strong here, especially at the price of $699. If you want a big-screen Android tablet with flagship power and smart extras, the OnePlus Pad 3 belongs at the top of your list.
Phone Arena
2 days ago
- Business
- Phone Arena
Affordable Galaxy Tab A9+ is getting scooped up left and right after a 27% discount on Amazon
The Galaxy Tab S10+ may be a hot option for users looking to upgrade at its current price on Amazon, but it's still far from budget-friendly. So, if you're looking for a cheap yet capable Android slate, we suggest you check out the Galaxy Tab A9+. Right now, this budget fella is selling at a sweet 27% discount on Amazon, letting you get one with 64GB of storage for just south of $160. This way, you'll score sweet savings of $60 and rock a tablet that offers a lot of value for its wallet-friendly price tag. $60 off (27%) The Galaxy Tab A9+ with 64GB of storage is now 27% off on Amazon, bringing it to just under $160. With a Snapdragon 695, 8GB of RAM, and a sharp 11-inch display, this budget-friendly slate delivers serious value. Save while the offer lasts! Buy at Amazon Of course, being on the affordable side, it can't compare with the best tablets out there, but its Snapdragon 695 chipset combined with 8GB of RAM delivers reliable performance for day-to-day stuff like browsing the web, watching videos, and light multitasking. And if you think 64GB of storage won't be enough to house all of your cat photos, you can expand it via a microSD card. Its biggest strength, though, is its gorgeous 11-inch LCD screen, with a crisp 1920 x 1200 resolution and a 16:10 aspect ratio, which delivers amazing visuals without stretching your budget. The quad stereo speakers, enhanced with Dolby Atmos, provide immersive sound, making movies and shows even more enjoyable. Plus, with a smooth 90Hz refresh rate, everything feels fast and responsive, especially for a slate that can be yours for just under $160. It's worth noting that Amazon's promo has been available for a while, which means it may expire soon. Given that the Galaxy Tab A9+ offers reliable performance and a pleasant viewing experience on the cheap, we encourage you to act fast and save with this deal now while it lasts!
