Honor Pad 9 review

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

Having the ability to entry all Google apps and companies 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 superb at making pill {hardware} for some time now, and that’s no totally different on the Pad 9, its reasonably priced 2024 slate to rival the iPad and different Android choices. 

On paper, it affords an array of premium options for an impressively low sub-£300 worth. 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 ranking 
• No fingerprint sensor 

The Honor Pad 9 could be priced like a price range pill, but it surely appears to be like and looks like a flagship. We’ve seen this mix of aluminium and glass numerous occasions earlier than, although it’s nonetheless spectacular on such an reasonably priced machine.  

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

Nevertheless, I’d suggest getting a case or cowl both manner. The machine nonetheless feels a bit slippery in my fingers, and I’m typically apprehensive about it sliding off the desk. 

The distinctive round rear digital camera module (making it look much like the OnePlus Pad) helps a bit, given it stands proud quite a bit from the again of the machine. Although that is pointless – rear cameras aren’t that necessary 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 snug to carry for lengthy durations of time. 

Whereas the Pad 9 feels very nicely made, there’s no official IP ranking for mud or waterproofing. It ought to nonetheless be nice if briefly caught within the rain, however I wouldn’t suggest something extra excessive. Given how moveable it’s, that’s a little bit of a disgrace but additionally comprehensible on the worth.

Clicky energy and quantity controls could be discovered on one facet, although the previous is unnecessarily fiddly. Urgent each buttons collectively merely takes a screenshot, whereas holding down the facility 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 typical 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 & Audio system

• 12.1-inch LCD show 
• 120Hz refresh charge 
• 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 fitted to watching movies or gaming. Visibility can also be superb; the 628 nits of max brightness I recorded really exceeds Honor’s declare of 500 nits. Because of this, utilizing the machine outdoor on a shiny sunny day isn’t a difficulty. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

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The show has a most refresh charge of 120Hz, although the default ‘Dynamic’ mode will robotically regulate between it and the usual 60Hz. This offers you wonderful fluidity and responsiveness to swipes and gestures with out the massive hit to battery life, although you possibly can manually set it to 60- or 120Hz in the event you’d want.

Nevertheless, dropping all the best way right 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 superb 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 superb, although an absence of bass makes them finest 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 reasonably priced pill. There’s no 3.5mm audio jack, however until you’re in a public place, you gained’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 obtainable in Europe, although there may be the choice so as to add 8GB of digital RAM. 

Given these common specs, I used to be shocked by simply how good efficiency is on the Pad 9. It speeds by means of all on a regular basis duties with ease, whether or not it’s internet searching and emails or social media and YouTube. Rapidly switching between them or utilizing split-screen multitasking isn’t a difficulty, 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 anticipate the Pad 9 to carry out this nicely whereas gaming. I examined 5 of essentially the most demanding titles obtainable 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 clean and controls have been very responsive. I’d don’t have any drawback utilizing the Pad 9 as my main cell gaming machine, one thing which might’t be mentioned for a lot of low-cost tablets. 

Gaming is the one time the place you’ll discover the again of the machine acquired 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 obtainable within the UK and Europe affords 256GB of inside storage. With no help for microSD growth and round 25GB taken up with system recordsdata, 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 significantly necessary. 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 superb.

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

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Nevertheless, that each one goes out of the window when there’s much less lighting obtainable. Photographs typically turn out to be a blurry mess, with a number of further noise and underexposed topics. There’s no long-exposure evening mode in any respect, so you possibly can overlook about taking usable photographs as nightfall approaches. 

You do get a portrait mode inside 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 a daily picture. 

Curiously, I discovered the rear digital camera to be only for close-up photographs. Whereas there’s no macro mode, it tends to do a great job with distinctive flowers or leaf patterns. 

Happily, the 8Mp front-facing digital camera is far more spectacular – ignore the decrease megapixel depend. Selfies are usually well-exposed and supply a great quantity of element, but keep away from the frequent tendency for overexposed backgrounds. 

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

Video could be captured in as much as 4K at 30fps, although the default 1080p at 30fps might be nice for most individuals. Each cameras have respectable element however have a tendency to clean out colors and have issue with publicity.  

An absence of OIS (optical picture stabilization) means they’re finest for eventualities the place you retain the machine in a single place, corresponding to 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 costs, although this was solely with an hour or two of utilization within the evenings. If I have been to make use of it as my principal productiveness machine, it wouldn’t make it by means of a full day. And pretty much as good because the Pad 9 is for gaming, this can deplete the battery in a short time. 

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

By dropping right down to 60Hz, turning off location companies and enabling energy saving mode, you may get the Pad 9 to final for much longer on a single cost. Nevertheless, this might be at a giant value to the person expertise.  

Sadly, charging by way of USB-C is frustratingly gradual. The Pad 9 helps speeds as much as 35W, and the mandatory 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 just below two hours – I used to be anticipating higher. 

Finally, the mixture of mediocre battery life and comparatively gradual 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 working the newest model of Android at launch. As a substitute of Android 14, you’ll should put up with MagicOS 7.2, which relies on Android 13. 

It’s not clear when the machine might 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 just getting two years of OS updates and three years of safety patches. That actually isn’t ok for a pill, even an affordable one. 

Regardless of these caveats, the precise software program expertise is best than you would possibly anticipate. Certain, there are too many annoying further apps (often called bloatware) and many 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

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

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

When you personal an Honor cellphone or laptop computer, there are a selection of additional ecosystem options, corresponding to the power 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 moderately.  

It prices £299.99 within the UK, direct from Honor. An early chicken supply will get you the official Flip Cowl and a pair of Honor Earbuds X6 without cost – simply enter the voucher code ‘APD950’ at checkout. 

Earlier Honor tablets have additionally been obtainable by way of Amazon, so that could be the case once more as soon as the early chicken supply expires. 

Nevertheless, it’ll virtually definitely by no means be bought within the US, so your finest guess is to try to import one in the event you reside there. 

It sits on the higher finish of what we think about 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 dearer. 

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 typical worth. 

Its design, show, efficiency and audio system are all higher than you’d anticipate from such an reasonably priced slate. Even the software program, one thing I’m not often a fan of on Honor telephones, is respectable 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 help. Even at launch, battery life and charging speeds aren’t pretty much as good as I’d anticipate them to be. 

Whether or not you purchase this pill will rely on how necessary 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