Honor Pad 9 Review: A Great Affordable Slate

Honor’s cut up from ex-parent firm Huawei has reinvigorated the corporate in Europe, notably benefitting its smartphones and tablets. 

Having the ability to entry all Google apps and providers is taken into account essential for Android gadgets within the West – their omission on many Huawei merchandise is the principle motive we are able to’t suggest them. 

In the meantime, Honor has been excellent at making pill {hardware} for some time now, and that’s no totally different on the Pad 9, its inexpensive 2024 slate to rival the iPad and different Android choices. 

On paper, it gives an array of premium options for an impressively low sub-£300 value. That largely interprets to good real-world utilization, although a few key shortcomings additionally come to the fore. 

Design & Construct

• Premium aluminium and glass design 
• No IP score 
• No fingerprint sensor 

The Honor Pad 9 may be priced like a price range pill, but it surely appears and appears like a flagship. We’ve seen this mix of aluminium and glass numerous instances earlier than, although it’s nonetheless spectacular on such an inexpensive system.  

The ‘House Grey’ mannequin I examined has a matte coating on the again, serving to to restrict the build-up of fingerprint smudges and different seen grime. It may be extra of a problem with the ‘Cyan Lake’ model, which appears like a shiny turquoise.  

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Nevertheless, I’d suggest getting a case or cowl both method. The system nonetheless feels a bit slippery in my palms, and I’m usually frightened about it sliding off the desk. 

The distinctive round rear digital camera module (making it look just like the OnePlus Pad) helps a bit, given it stands out rather a lot from the again of the system. Although that is pointless – rear cameras aren’t that essential on a pill, and the Pad 9 isn’t that skinny (6.96mm) anyway. 

At 555g, it’s heavier than each the Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ and 2022 iPad (10.9-inch), even when each of these have smaller screens. Don’t fear, it’s nonetheless very comfy to carry for lengthy intervals of time. 

Whereas the Pad 9 feels very effectively made, there’s no official IP score for mud or waterproofing. It ought to nonetheless be positive if briefly caught within the rain, however I wouldn’t suggest something extra excessive. Given how transportable it’s, that’s a little bit of a disgrace but in addition comprehensible on the value.

Clicky energy and quantity controls might be discovered on one facet, although the previous is unnecessarily fiddly. Urgent each buttons collectively merely takes a screenshot, whereas holding down the ability button solely triggers the Google Assistant initially, with round 5 seconds required for energy choices. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

The USB-C port is in its normal place on the backside, however there’s no fingerprint sensor of any description. Whereas the front-facing digital camera works in a short time for face unlock, it’s a lot much less safe. 

Display screen & Audio system

• 12.1-inch LCD show 
• 120Hz refresh fee 
• Quad stereo audio system 

The Honor Pad 9 is constructed round a big 12.1-inch, 2.5K (2560×1600) show. It’s solely an IPS LCD panel, however I actually didn’t miss having OLED. 

The display screen combines wonderful element with wealthy, punchy colors, making it ideally suited to watching movies or gaming. Visibility can be excellent; the 628 nits of max brightness I recorded truly exceeds Honor’s declare of 500 nits. Consequently, utilizing the system outside on a shiny sunny day isn’t a problem. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

The show has a most refresh fee of 120Hz, although the default ‘Dynamic’ mode will routinely alter between it and the usual 60Hz. This provides you wonderful fluidity and responsiveness to swipes and gestures with out the massive hit to battery life, although you’ll be able to manually set it to 60- or 120Hz in case you’d want.

Nevertheless, dropping all the best way all the way down to 1Hz depends on LTPO, a kind of OLED display screen. Nevertheless, even with out it, you’re in all probability not lacking out on an enormous enchancment in energy consumption. 

The Pad 9 combines that excellent show with quad stereo audio system – two on the high, two on the backside. They ship punchy, room-filling audio that avoids distortion, even at excessive volumes. Readability is excellent, although a scarcity of bass makes them greatest suited to voice-based content material or extra stripped-back music. 

Even so, these are up there with one of the best audio system you’ll discover on an inexpensive pill. There’s no 3.5mm audio jack, however until you’re in a public place, you received’t want to attach Bluetooth headphones more often than not. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Specs & Efficiency

• Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 and 8GB RAM 
• 256GB of storage 
• No 5G possibility 

On paper, the Honor Pad 9’s efficiency doesn’t sound like something particular. It’s powered by the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1, a mid-range Qualcomm chipset from 2022.

It combines with 8GB of RAM on the one mannequin accessible in Europe, although there’s the choice so as to add 8GB of digital RAM. 

Given these common specs, I used to be stunned by simply how good efficiency is on the Pad 9. It speeds by way of all on a regular basis duties with ease, whether or not it’s net looking and emails or social media and YouTube. Rapidly switching between them or utilizing split-screen multitasking isn’t a problem, both. 

Navigating round (utilizing both gestures or on-screen buttons) is fluid and responsive, with the 120Hz display screen coming into its personal. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Nevertheless, I actually didn’t count on the Pad 9 to carry out this effectively whereas gaming. I examined 5 of probably the most demanding titles accessible on the Google Play Retailer – Asphalt 9, Name of Obligation: Cell, EA Sports activities FC Cell, PUBG Cell and Rocket League Sideswipe.  

There have been some dropped frames right here and there, however gameplay remained comparatively easy and controls had been very responsive. I’d haven’t any drawback utilizing the Pad 9 as my main cellular gaming system, one thing which might’t be stated for a lot of low-cost tablets. 

Gaming is the one time the place you’ll discover the again of the system received fairly heat to the contact. Nevertheless, this didn’t seem to have any impact on efficiency, and by no means grew to become uncomfortably scorching.

Honor Pad 9 benchmarks

The one model of the Pad 9 accessible within the UK and Europe gives 256GB of inside storage. With no assist for microSD growth and round 25GB taken up with system information, you’ll in all probability have to depend on cloud storage earlier than too lengthy relying in your utilization. That is one thing most individuals are already doing, although. 

Honor hasn’t specified which model of Wi-Fi the Pad 9 makes use of, although we do understand it options Bluetooth 5.1. That’s just about the place the connectivity ends, so that you miss out on each 5G (or any mobile information) and NFC. 

Cameras

• 13Mp rear digital camera 
• 8Mp selfie digital camera 
• Video as much as 4K at 30fps 

Not like on smartphones, the rear cameras on tablets aren’t notably essential. That’s mirrored on the Pad 9, with Honor together with only one 13Mp shooter on the again. 

And let me simply get this out of the best way… it’s not excellent.

Photographs are nearly satisfactory in well-lit environments, however are inclined to ship washed-out colors and there’s a constant wrestle with publicity. Dynamic vary and element are often fairly good, although.  

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Nevertheless, that every one goes out of the window when there’s much less lighting accessible. Pictures usually develop into a blurry mess, with a number of further noise and underexposed topics. There’s no long-exposure night time mode in any respect, so you’ll be able to neglect about taking usable pictures as nightfall approaches. 

You do get a portrait mode throughout the digital camera app, but it surely doesn’t appear to do a lot. I couldn’t discover any distinction within the quantity of background blur between it and an everyday photograph. 

Apparently, I discovered the rear digital camera to be best for close-up pictures. Whereas there’s no macro mode, it tends to do a very good job with distinctive flowers or leaf patterns. 

Thankfully, the 8Mp front-facing digital camera is rather more spectacular – ignore the decrease megapixel depend. Selfies are usually well-exposed and provide a very good quantity of element, but keep away from the widespread tendency for overexposed backgrounds. 

See a spread of my digital camera samples within the gallery beneath:

Video might be captured in as much as 4K at 30fps, although the default 1080p at 30fps can be positive for most individuals. Each cameras have first rate element however have a tendency to scrub out colors and have problem with publicity.  

An absence of OIS (optical picture stabilization) means they’re greatest for eventualities the place you retain the system in a single place, reminiscent of a video name. 

Battery Life & Charging

• 8300mAh battery 
• 35W charging 
• Related charger within the field 

Honor has geared up the Pad 9 with an 8300mAh battery. That’s not precisely small, however battery life is disappointing.  

Throughout testing, it lasted 2-3 days between prices, although this was solely with an hour or two of utilization within the evenings. If I had been to make use of it as my principal productiveness system, it wouldn’t make it by way of a full day. And nearly as good because the Pad 9 is for gaming, it will deplete the battery in a short time. 

Our common PCMark battery benchmark check, which simulates real-world utilization at 200 nits of brightness, displays that. A rating of 8 hours and half-hour is beneath common, although it’s price noting that this was with the refresh fee set to a hard and fast 120Hz. 

By dropping all the way down to 60Hz, turning off location providers and enabling energy saving mode, you may get the Pad 9 to final for much longer on a single cost. Nevertheless, this can be at an enormous price to the person expertise.  

Sadly, charging through USB-C is frustratingly sluggish. The Pad 9 helps speeds as much as 35W, and the required charger is included within the field (albeit with an EU plug in my case).  

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

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Nevertheless, it nonetheless solely went from 0-17% in quarter-hour and 32% by the half-hour mark. A full cost took slightly below two hours – I used to be anticipating higher. 

Finally, the mix of mediocre battery life and comparatively sluggish charging makes the Pad 9 a lot much less interesting. 

Software program & Apps

• MagicOS 7.2 over Android 13 
• No phrase on Android 14 replace 
• Not clear what number of years of updates 

For some motive, the Honor Pad 9 isn’t operating the newest model of Android at launch. As an alternative of Android 14, you’ll should put up with MagicOS 7.2, which relies on Android 13. 

It’s not clear when the system can be up to date, or how lengthy it’ll be supported by Honor. I actually hope it’s an enchancment on 2023’s Pad X9, which is simply getting two years of OS updates and three years of safety patches. That basically isn’t adequate for a pill, even an inexpensive one. 

Regardless of these caveats, the precise software program expertise is best than you may count on. Certain, there are too many annoying further apps (often known as bloatware) and plenty of third-party apps aren’t optimised for the massive display screen, however these are points that have an effect on many Android tablets. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Total, the software program feels well-suited to the bigger display screen, with app icons, widgets and fast settings all sized appropriately. Identical to on an iPad, the latter is revealed through a swipe down from the top-right of the display screen, with notifications accessed from the top-left.

There are additionally some excellent multitasking options, with the choice to open two apps in split-screen mode and have a 3rd excessive as a floating window.  

In the event you personal an Honor cellphone or laptop computer, there are a number of additional ecosystem options, reminiscent of the flexibility to share calls, notifications and app information between gadgets. Nevertheless, even with out them, MagicOS is one thing I genuinely loved utilizing on the Honor Pad 9. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Worth & Availability

Given the whole lot you’re getting right here, the Honor Pad 9 is priced very fairly.  

It prices £299.99 within the UK, direct from Honor. An early fowl provide will get you the official Flip Cowl and a pair of Honor Earbuds X6 free of charge – simply enter the voucher code ‘APD950’ at checkout. 

Alternatively, the pill is obtainable from Amazon, the place you may get the keyboard cover included for the same price by making use of the on-page coupon. – simply be sure you apply the on-page coupon to keep away from it being £349.99.

Nevertheless, it’ll nearly definitely by no means be bought within the US, so your greatest guess is to attempt to import one in case you stay there. 

It sits on the higher finish of what we contemplate to be a price range pill, with the Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ and Xiaomi Pad 6 as its principal rivals.

The common iPad from 2021 stays one of the best various on the Apple facet, with different fashions costlier. 

Do you have to purchase the Honor Pad 9?

The Pad 9 is a transparent success for Honor, providing a flagship pill expertise for a fraction of its normal value. 

Its design, show, efficiency and audio system are all higher than you’d count on from such an inexpensive slate. Even the software program, one thing I’m not often a fan of on Honor telephones, is first rate right here.  

Nevertheless, there’s uncertainty relating to when it’ll get the newest model of Android and the way lengthy Honor will present software program assist. Even at launch, battery life and charging speeds aren’t nearly as good as I’d count on them to be. 

Whether or not you purchase this pill will depend upon how essential these shortcomings are, however there’s no scarcity of similarly-priced options.  

Specs

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chipset  
• 8GB RAM (as much as 8GB further digital RAM) 
• 256GB storage  
• 12.1-inch 120Hz 2.5K (2560×1600) IPS LCD show  
• Quad stereo audio system  
• 13Mp rear digital camera, f/2.0  
• 8Mp entrance digital camera, f/2.2  
• USB-C  
• WiFi (model unspecified) 
• Bluetooth 5.1  
• 8300mAh battery  
• Wired charging as much as 35W  
• 555g 
• 278.27 x 180.11 x 6.96mm  
• Android 13 with MagicOS 7.2