Xiaomi Pad 5 Review: A great iPad alternative
Verdict
The Xiaomi Pad 5 is the latest Android tablet hoping to degrade the iPad Air iv as the Trusted Recommended tablet for nigh people. From a hardware perspective it'south an impressive device, ticking all the right boxes for bones productivity and entertainment utilise. And if you want a tablet for Netflix, web browsing and Game Pass, but don't fancy an iPad, then you'll struggle to do better than the Pad five at the moment. The only real downside is that ongoing optimisation problems around Android on a tablet cease it from fully delivering on its hardware'south promise.
Pros
- Excellent screen that's ideal for Neflix and gaming
- Decent every 24-hour interval performance
- Good build quality
- Powerful speaker setup
Cons
- Software features some bloatware
- Demanding tasks heavily impact bombardment
Availability
- UK RRP: £319
- USA RRP: $329
- Europe RRP: €349
Key Features
- xi-inch, 120Hz, Dolby Vision ready screen The 11-inch screen features a high 120Hz refresh charge per unit and supports the Dolby Vision HDR standard
- Quad speaker with Dolby Atmos support The Pad 5 has 4 speakers around its sides that support Dolby'south virtual surround sound tech
- Android 11 software The tablet runs a customised version of Google's mobile operating system
- 8720 mAh battery Battery life depends heavily on how you lot apply the tablet.
Introduction
The Xiaomi Pad 5 is an Android tablet aimed squarely at the same market place equally the ruling iPad Air 4 and iPad 9, which are Trusted Reviews recommended slates for well-nigh buyers.
Information technology doesn't have the lofty goals of replacing a laptop, instead information technology'south being marketed equally a device for people that want a tablet to sentinel Netflix and manage their twenty-four hours-to-day life on.
This may sound a little irksome and similar to the Galaxy Tab S7 FE and Lenovo Yoga Tab 13 (2021) I tested earlier this year. Just later a fortnight with the tablet I can confirm it is a very competent device and one of the best all round Android tablets to go far this twelvemonth.
Highlights include a super shine, gaming prepare 120Hz screen, powerful operation and long battery life.
The only real downside is that, like every tablet that isn't an iPad, the Xiaomi Pad 5'due south software isn't as optimised every bit I'd like for the device'southward form gene.
Blueprint and screen
- The Xiaomi Mi Pad v features a very iPad-like design
- It supports an optional keyboard cover and stylus add together ons
- The eleven-inch 120Hz screen is keen for movie watching and gaming
The Xiaomi Pad 5 has about as standard a design every bit y'all'll find on a tablet.
It's a rectangular slate with metallic sides and a glass front and back. If you lot asked most people to depict a generic tablet, the end result would await a lot like the Pad 5.
The design is also completely free of design flourishes, with the just noticeable elements being the Xiaomi logo and slightly raised camera housing on the Pad 5's back. The latter houses a single 13MP sensor, which I'd recommend only using if admittedly necessary. Trust me, the camera on your telephone is about certainly going to produce amend results.
This may sound tedious, especially compared to things like the Yoga Pad 13, which has a custom speaker cylinder and rear kickstand, just I'k quite fond of the Pad five's unassuming blueprint.
The tablet doesn't have a formal IP h2o resistance rating, which is rarely standard on tablets, but I've been impressed with its build quality during testing.
The dorsum offers next to no flex when pressed and, though it is prone to picking up fingerprint marks and smudges fairly fast, is suitably scratch resistant to survive being carried in a satchel without a case. I lugged it to and from piece of work with my laptop in the aforementioned bag and didn't accept whatever issues over the by week.
For those that want to add an extra layer of protection, Xiaomi sells an optional keyboard cover. This attaches magnetically to a dock on its bottom long side. Xiaomi didn't provide a encompass with my review sample, but the docking and functionality look very similar to what you'll get on the base iPad 9 or competing Galaxy Tab S7 Plus/Atomic number 26.
There'southward active stylus support, though, like the example, Xiaomi didn't ship ane for testing with the tablet. I'll update this review if I get a risk to examination the peripherals with the Pad 5 at a subsequently engagement.
Outside of this the device ticks all the boxes you lot'd expect. The tablet has a USB-C charge port on its bottom short side, a power fundamental on its top correct side and a volume rocker on its long right hand side. Outside of that iv Dolby Atmos ready speakers line its short sides.
Like many modernistic tablets the Xiaomi Pad doesn't feature a microSD bill of fare input, meaning y'all'll exist stuck with either 128GB or 256GB depending on which model yous opt for.
The screen isn't OLED, but at this price that'due south non surprising, and during testing I was surprised how well it performed.
Even in its out of the box "vivid" setting, which claims to adjust the screen settings depending on what process is running, the screen looks proficient to the naked heart. Colours aren't oversaturated and, despite not being an OLED, blacks wait suitably deep to offering decent dissimilarity while watching movies.
The immersive image is aided by the tablet'southward Dolby Atmos-certified quad speaker arrangement. Though it isn't quite as loud as the system I tested earlier this year on the Yoga Tab 13, the speakers are a clear step up on cheaper tablets, like the Galaxy Tab S7 Iron, offering suitable power and item to happily rampage movies on. I'm also pleased to report I didn't find any sibilance or distortion even when running the speakers at maximum book.
Max effulgence levels are solid, with the tablet screen remaining legible in everything but directly, very bright sunlight. Viewing angles are wide enough for two people to comfortably watch movies together, though the lack of a stand is a pain in this instance. The 1600 x 2560 resolution ensures content uniformly looks sharp and you'll struggle to spot private pixels using the Pad 5. All in all, this is an excellent display.
Slap-up out my colourimeter, my naked eye impressions rang true. During technical testing I detected a 0.36 nit black level, which is very good for a non OLED screen and just in a higher place the 0.0 perfect black ideal. The 484.9 nit max brightness I recorded is slightly below Xiaomi'south quoted 500 nits, but it still adds up to give the screen a solid 1337:1 dissimilarity ratio.
These figures friction match some of the more expensive tablets I've tested, like the Lenovo Yoga Tab 13 and make the Xiaomi Pad v a peachy selection for anyone who wants a tablet primarily for streaming video.
Colour accuracy is solid. In the tablet's out of the box settings, I detected a 6870k colour temperature, which is suitably close to the 6500k ideal, and ways the colours are only slightly cool. The tablet also has calibration options in its settings which lets you lot tweak the temperature to your liking.
The tablet covered 99.ii% of the sRGB gamut, which is the most commonly used gamut. It covered 82.five% of the Adobe RGB and 93.6% of the DCI P3 gamuts, which are favoured by creatives and cinematographers. Virtually of the tablets I test this price embrace 70% of the artistic gamuts, at best, so these scores are impressive.
Gamers will also be happy that it has a 120Hz max refresh rate. This is a metric that informs how many images per second a screen renders. Until a couple of years ago, when Apple introduced ProMotion to its iPad Pro range, almost tablet screens were locked to run at 60Hz. A higher refresh rate brings a number of benefits including smoother navigation and more responsive gaming. The latter is the result of there existence less of a filibuster betwixt each new frame when running games.
The only downside is that, dissimilar Apple tree Promotion screens, the Xiaomi Pad 5'southward brandish doesn't offer a variable refresh rate. This is a clever bit of tech that lets screens modify their refresh charge per unit depending on what process is running. This lets them ramp up to 120Hz when there'southward a benefit, like gaming, and drop to lower rates when there's non to conserve battery.
Operation
- The tablet is powerful enough for most tasks
- But its software takes some getting used to
The Xiaomi Pad five is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 860 CPU that'southward backed upwards by 6GB RAM.
These specs are pretty bog-standard for a tablet at this toll. The silicon was originally released in 2019. This means it's not the nearly powerful you'll discover on the marketplace, falling behind the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 and Apple's A15 Bionic. As a result, yous shouldn't expect iPad Pro-level performance.
I found the Pad 5 even so offered solid performance with day-to-day apply, even so. The tablet'southward smooth to use, and opens apps with no noticeable delays. Streaming HDR video via Wi-Fi ran smoothly and I never had whatsoever issue playing games on GeForce Now and Xbox Game Laissez passer.
The simply real annoyances I suffered doing basic tasks stemmed from the tablet'southward software. The Pad 5 runs using a heavily customised version of Android 11. For the most part it's dandy, the changes tend to exist minor UX pattern changes and custom app icons.
Just out of the box, like Samsung devices, it tries to push button Xiaomi's services a niggling flake too hard. The initial shortcut to the video app takes you lot to the Xiaomi shop, not the Play Store. The aforementioned is true for files, calendar and pretty much everything else. This is hands fixed, but information technology's an badgerer notwithstanding.
I'grand also still non convinced about Android on tablets in general. The OS and its apps are all optimised for phone-sized devices and its creative offer doesn't come up close to matching what you'll become on iPad Bone, which has cool services similar Affinity Photo and Designer. Hopefully this will exist fixed when Google's tablet focussed Android 12L software gets rolled out to general consumers.
If y'all want to do creative work on the Pad 5 and don't listen the express app offering be warned: I had some bug when I tried to do more hardcore digital creative work on it. Loading Krita and creating a large calibration, multi-layer digital project the device ran, but it did on occasion chug, with there beingness a minor, but frequent delay between me enacting a command and information technology being rendered on screen. At this price that's hardly surprising, however.
Running the device through Trusted Labs' standard suite of synthetic benchmarks, my real earth findings rang truthful. Synthetic benchmarks are tests that aim to approximate a device'south operation in specific areas. The Geekbench test gauges a device'southward CPU operation, while 3DMark checks how good information technology is for gaming. Y'all can come across how the Xiaomi Pad five performed in the table below.
| Geekbench single-core | 753 |
| Geekbench multi-core | 2808 |
| 3DMark Wild Life | 3410 |
Battery Life
- Battery life varies heavily depending on what you're doing
- But almost users should get a week's use out of information technology
Bombardment life is one of the most of import areas a tablet actually needs to evangelize on. As a rule, I'd wait any tablet this size to survive a long haul flying to the The states (from London), off a unmarried charge. This means it should more often than not be able to run for at least ten hours.
The Xiaomi Pad five tin can attain this milestone, but how long it lasts will be heavily informed by what settings you have active and how you use it.
Testing the tablet with its 120Hz screen mode and car brightness settings active, the tablet generally made it past 10 hours with lightweight use, simply wasn't quite as capable of running enervating tasks. Streaming 1080p video on Wi-Fi with these settings agile, the 8720 mAh battery shed an boilerplate of 9-11% of its charge per hour, which is slightly lower than what I'd await from an eleven-inch tablet.
Gaming puts an fifty-fifty bigger drain on the battery. Streaming games over GeForce Now the tablet discharged an average of 22-25% of its bombardment. Taking things offline and playing games from the Play Shop the tablet performed slightly better shedding an boilerplate of xviii-20% per 60 minutes. This means you're non going to desire to rely on it as a mobile games station when travelling long distances.
These figures radically improve if you driblet the screen refresh rate to 60Hz. Here video playback went down to vii-9% per hour and gaming to effectually 18%. The only problem is, once you've experienced 120Hz, dropping to 60Hz feels similar a big downgrade for everything other than video playback.
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Should you lot buy information technology?
You should buy the Xiaomi Pad 5 if y'all want a reliable all-round tablet: The Mi Pad five doesn't excel in i expanse, or have whatsoever fancy gimmicks to become excited most, but it gets all the basics correct, offering reliable performance, solid screen quality and robust build quality.
You shouldn't buy the Xiaomi Pad 5 if you desire a tablet for artistic work: Though information technology has a corking screen, the Xiaomi Pad 5's performance isn't quite fast plenty for large calibration digital painting, or pattern work.
Concluding Thoughts
The Xiaomi Pad 5 is one of the best all-circular Android tablets on the market and a skilful choice for near buyers who actively don't want an iPad. Costing roughly every bit much every bit the iPad 9, the device offers users an splendid screen, reliable performance for coincidental use and solid build quality. The only downsides are that its Android-based software still doesn't feel as refined as Apple'due south iPad Os and that its battery life could be slightly longer when running sure tasks.
How we test
Nosotros test every tablet we review thoroughly. Nosotros use industry standard tests to compare features properly and we use the phone as our main device over the review catamenia. We'll e'er tell you what we find and we never, ever, accept money to review a production.
Screen tested with coloromiter
Battery tested with real world use and constructed benchmarks
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FAQs
Does the Xiaomi Pad 5 have a variable refresh rate?
The Xiaomi Pad 5 does not have a variable refresh rate. It can be locked to run at either 60Hz or 120Hz.
Does the Xiaomi Pad v come with a keyboard comprehend?
The Xiaomi Pad 5 does not come bundled with a keyboard encompass. You lot can buy one as an add together-on at the Xiaomi Store.
Does the Xiaomi Pad 5 accept 5G?
The Xiaomi Pad 5 doesn't characteristic 5G or LTE connectivity.
Trusted Reviews test data
‹
Geekbench 5 single core
Geekbench v multi cadre
sRGB
Adobe RGB
DCI-P3
Max brightness
1 hr video playback (Netflix, HDR)
30 infinitesimal gaming (intensive)
30 infinitesimal gaming (light)
i 60 minutes music straming (online)
1 60 minutes music streaming (offline)
Time from 0-100% charge
Time from 0-l% accuse
3D Marker – Wild Life
›
Full specs
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Ports
RAM
Colours
Chipset
Refresh Rate
HDR
Release Engagement
Model Number
Resolution
Weight
Front Camera
Video Recording
Fast Charging
Bombardment
Rear Camera
Size (Dimensions)
Screen Size
Manufacturer
Storage Capacity
AUD RRP
CA RRP
USA RRP
Britain RRP
European union RRP
›
Jargon buster
HDR
HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and refers to contrast (or difference) between the brightest and darkest parts of an image. HDR content preserves details in the darkest and brightest areas of a picture show, details that are often lost in former imaging standards. HDR10 is mandated to be included on all HDR TVs. It's also supported by 4K projectors.
mAh
An abbreviation for milliampere-hr and a way to express the capacity of batteries, especially smaller ones in phones. In most cases the higher the mAh, the longer the battery volition terminal merely this isn't always the case.
Refresh Rate
The number of times the screen refreshes itself per 2d.
Source: https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/xiaomi-pad-5-2
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