Tablets have become a more user-friendly device in recent years, they are built with much better quality, packed with good processors, and the software is largely in line with a laptop now. Therefore the competition in this category has also become increasingly fierce.
For average consumers, a budget-friendly tablet can not only meet daily needs, but also bring a better user experience. As a new member of the Android tablet camp, Honor Pad 9 is a really good choice for many consumers, with its excellent performance, feature-packed system and reasonable pricing. Let’s take a close look at this one in this review.
Design and Build Quality
It’s almost an unseen example to have this kind of brilliant design and build quality on such a budget-friendly pad. The one complete piece of metal with a matte finish wraps around the whole back, the overall feel of holding this pad is very good. All the cutouts for the speakers, mics and the rear camera are all symmetrical, so whether you put this pad up horizontally or vertically, everything you see is lined up neatly.
Coming to the design of the screen side, there is a slight slope between the body and the screen, visually it adds an extra layer of sleekness, which is a nice touch on a product like this. And since the system enables you to swipe from the sides, so this also creates a better user experience.
When I review a pad, I always recommend buying the keyboard from that particular brand. The reason being: 1. The build quality is always better than those from third-party sellers 2. The compatibility between the keyboard and the pad is always the best. So for the Honor Pad 9, the keyboard case that goes with it is phenomenal. It has the typical vegan leather texture, and good travel within the keys, and the other piece that holds the pad can magnetically attach to the keyboard side when unfolded. It’s safe to say that you can never go wrong with official accessories like this from a well-known brand. The only downside of this case is that, the whole case does not remain completely shut when folded. So if there are magnets to hold the case together, this would be the perfect keyboard case.
The rear camera is located at the center of the upper side, just at the back of the front camera, this kind of design is clearly made for more advanced use, such as working, watching videos, etc. This pad also supports the Magic Pencil 3, so people who need to use such an accessory can get a better experience in drawing and writing. Unfortunately, we don’t have that in the package, so we can’t show the actual user experience in this review.
Performance
About the Hardware it comes with, Honor Pad 9 is equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chip, 16GB of RAM ( 8GB physical and 8GB Virtual ), there is also a 12GB RAM option. The Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 chip is known for its good performance and efficiency, it can handle most everyday tasks with ease, including web browsing, social media, and gaming.
In actual use, it does perform very well for some daily tasks. Although the version we got is with 256GB of storage, it is still more than enough for installing all the apps we would need. After installing all those apps, It kept running smoothly during multi-tasking and large apps running.
Outstanding Screen
Honor Tablet 9 is equipped with a 12.1-inch In-cell screen, 2.5K resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, 88% screen-to-body ratio, and maximum brightness of 526nits. There is a variant that’s by AG glass etching technology, so it can eliminate 98% of ambient light, and it’s TÜV Rheinland certified. NOW this is another pity with the pad we have in hand, it is a regular variant instead of the one with AG layer, but if you want, you can still get that better one instead. All the specs together tell us that this display not only can meet daily use perfectly, but also protects your eyes very well.
Even without that AG layer, the pad we have here still supports Eye Comfort & Sleep and eBook mode, so these two modes can still protect your eyes and brain better than others.
Excellent Audio
The Honor Pad 9 is equipped with eight stereo speakers, it’s astonishing to see such amount of speakers on a pad like this. So whether you are listening to music, watching movies or playing games, it can present clear and full sound effects. Specifically for those two at the bottom, although they are facing the downside, the benefit of doing so is to utilize the reflection from the table, to enhance the overall audio effects. And in actual use, compared to the iPad Mini we have, which only has two speakers, the volume, sound stage and characters are way better on Honor Pad 9.
One thing to mention here, there isn’t a 3.5mm headphone jack on this pad, so if you want some privacy when watching videos or having a conference, then you should either get a pair of headphones with Type-C or go get TWS earbuds.
OS
It is MagicOS 7.2 running on this tablet, with Android 13 as the base, combining unique Honor features with the original Google app pack. If you are a long-time Android tablet user, you may be well aware of the aesthetics and functionalities of such kind, but the new feature you may not know is the smart connection that these OS have developed in recent years. Basically, they are not only better looking overall, but come with many distinct features that can make using them much better than a pure Android system. So whether it is consumers who are new to a tablet or users who have some experience, they can quickly get started and master various functions easily.
So let’s talk about some unique features this pad has:
1. Personalized Home screen: Expandable Service Card, Large folder
2. Multi-tasking: Split screen, Floating Windows
3. Smart Connections: Smart App control, Transfer calls and notifications between devices
4. Video feature: Video enhancer, Auto-create videos, automatic camera recognition
5. Google app support
The first one, is actually a newly emerged feature on tablets, although not new on phones, and many brands have been adopting into the OS, it allows quicker access to things you need. With apps that support expandable service cards, you can long press and choose the basic functions you need. For now, it works very well on official apps, such as Notes, Clock, Calculator and Recorder. Also some Google apps like Drive, Maps, and Gmail. For other apps, not so much.
Then the multi-tasking feature, it feels to me that people are relying on this feature more and more, one reason being the products now are powerful enough to do that, and also we are moving faster than before and anxiously wanting to finish tasks sooner. When you need to split the screen in half and fill it with two apps simultaneously, just swipe down from the middle part on the top, drag it to the left or the right, and then choose another app on the other side, you can also resize each app as your will. Then if you want more apps opening at the same time, swipe up from the bottom to see all the apps opening, then click the little window icon at the top right corner of each app, drag it to whatever place you want, also you can resize it as your will. These two functions greatly improve work efficiency and convenience in life, and I am sure you will be using them a lot.
The third one is the Smart Connection. Since the product lineup within Honor has been very enriched a lot, so enabling them to work together is an easy task. So in this part, you can transfer calls, notifications, files and videos seamlessly across devices, and of course they should all be under Honor brand. And also if you need to move some tasks from one device to another, it will sync all the data instantly, like if you are writing a note and you need to move immediately, you can pick up that task on your phone right after. Or you can continue to edit your photo from the phone to the tablet using Honor Share. This is the power of the ecosystem, and this is probably the base feature of having an OS rather than a simple phone system.
Video is the mainstream right now, everybody wants to create something to share, and we should be glad that Honor has brought some creative features in shooting and editing into the tablet, saving you the trouble of installing another app to do it. It is not that fancy or complicated, but rather an app that can meet your daily needs. So in the Gallery app, you can make your own video using the pictures or videos saved already. And the camera can take the best photo when shooting portraits or food, this is a sort of AI feature. So overall, the experience is also very good.
Lastly, it comes with the whole Google Package, everything you love about those apps, they won’t be missing on this pad.
Battery Life
The Honor Pad 9 has an 8200mAh battery built-in, with a 35W charger. This is about the best level on such a tablet and should be able to support 1-2 days of use without any worry.
Verdict
As a budget-friendly Android pad, the Honor Pad 9 has won the favor of many consumers with its excellent performance, rich functions and reasonable price. And since it comes with the upgraded MagicOS, the features that support better work and entertainment experience are the things you would love the most. So if you are looking for a tablet that can meet your daily use needs, then the Honor Pad 9 is undoubtedly the new best choice. I believe it will become a helpful assistant in your work and life.
