Xiaomi Redmi Pad SE review

Should you’re out there for a funds pill, then Xiaomi could have the mannequin for you. The Redmi Pad SE is available in below £200, providing a glossy construct, a good battery life and wonderful audio with Dolby Atmos help.  

At this value, this isn’t a mannequin for any heavy-duty artistic work or intense gaming. Nonetheless, for streaming, productiveness duties and normal searching, this pill has quite a bit going for it. However how does it fare towards rivals such because the Samsung Galaxy Tab A8? 

Design & Construct  

• Slim construct 
• IP52 ranking 
• Three colors

The Redmi Pad SE has a glossy design, with an aluminium alloy end. It is available in three colors: Lavender Purple, Graphite Gray, and Mint Inexperienced. I examined the gray, which has a refined and complex look – the opposite two colors are for many who favor bolder finishes.  

The pill is 7.36mm thick, so good and slim for slipping into luggage. It’s additionally mild to carry at simply 478g, which is 30g lower than the Galaxy Tab A8. There isn’t a case included within the field, however the pill does include an IP52 ranking, so it has some restricted safety towards water spray and mud.

I’ve seen that the paintwork across the charging slot has picked up some put on and tear throughout testing.

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

You may get some equipment, reminiscent of a case/stand and stylus, over on Mi.com. There isn’t an official keyboard accessible however third-party Bluetooth ones ought to work simply nice.  

The underside has a USB-C port for charging, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The facility button is on the highest, and the amount rocker is on the ride-hand aspect, together with a slot for a microSD card. In order for you a pill with SIM help, then this isn’t the mannequin for you because it’s Wi-Fi solely. 

There isn’t a fingerprint sensor included, however that’s fairly widespread on a funds pill. There may be face recognition accessible, which works properly in daylight, although it’s not in a position to distinguish my options when carrying glasses. Alternatively, you possibly can simply use a passcode or sample.  

Display screen & Audio system  

• 11-inch display screen
• 90Hz refresh charge
• Struggles in shiny situations 

The Redmi Pad SE boasts an 11-inch LCD show. It comes with a decision of 1920 x 1200 and 207ppi, a 16:10 show ratio, 1500:1 distinction ratio and 400 typical nits of brightness. While the show is daring and shiny when used indoors, it’s possible you’ll encounter some glare outside in shiny daylight.  

Most excitingly, the refresh charge goes as much as 90Hz. You’ll be able to both hold the pill on this completely, go for the decrease possibility of 60Hz, or activate balanced mode so it could actually change between the 2. With the excessive refresh charge turned on, graphics are clean and responsive.  

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

While this will simply be an LCD panel, it’s nonetheless nice for watching Twitch, YouTube, Netflix and the like on. That is doubly true when you think about the quad speaker set-up, which include help for Dolby Atmos. Audio is vibrant and detailed, and bass tones actually have a slight thump to them.  

Specs & Efficiency  

• Efficiency enough for primary duties 
• 4GB RAM
• 128GB storage 

The Redmi Pad SE runs on a Snapdragon 680 chip, the identical processor packed within the Realme 9 and the Motorola Moto G52.

That is paired with 4GB RAM and 128GB price of storage, although this may be prolonged as much as 1TB with a MicroSD card. Different markets supply greater RAM choices, too. 

Day-to-day efficiency is about what I anticipate from a pill of this value level. It’s gradual in addition up, and typically not fully fluid when switching between apps. Nonetheless, you shouldn’t discover this an excessive amount of if you happen to’re simply utilizing the Pad SE for notetaking, watching movies and browsing the net.  

Our benchmarking exams present that it outperforms the Tab A8 and the Nokia T21, however is on par with the Oppo Pad Air: 

I used to be in a position to play Genshin Impression on the Redmi Pad SE. Nonetheless, the pill did default to low graphics settings to keep away from overclocking, and even then there was nonetheless some popping and slight lag. I’d advise sticking to extra primary video games for this system for the smoothest efficiency.  

Cameras

• 8Mp rear digital camera 
• 5Mp entrance digital camera 

Tablets don’t sometimes have the identical highly effective digital camera set-ups that you just’d discover on smartphones, and those on the Redmi Pad SE aren’t something to shout about. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t put that as an enormous destructive, as that is very a lot the case throughout all funds tablets. 

You’ll probably be utilizing the front-facing 5Mp digital camera (with a f/2.2 aperture) most for video calls, and for that, it really works simply nice. For selfies, the entrance digital camera has a mushy look to particulars, and colors are extra muted than what you’d discover on a costlier system.  

Annoyingly, Xiaomi permits ‘beautify’ mode by default – a private bugbear of mine because it encourages unrealistic magnificence requirements.

The 8Mp digital camera (with a f/2.0 aperture) on the rear can get clear photographs in good lighting situations indoors and outside – it captured the crops and greenery surprisingly properly, although textures which can be additional away, reminiscent of leaves on the prime of timber, free readability.

Shiny lighting leads to glare and many shadows, while any of lack of sunshine leads to a blurry picture. There’s a evening mode, however this blows out the colors and doesn’t actually spotlight any textures higher than the usual mode.

You should use as much as x5 digital zoom, however I wouldn’t advocate something previous x2. Even that leads to colors changing into rather more insipid and pictures shedding depth and element.  

Each cameras can do primary video recording in 720p and 1080p at 30fps.   

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

Battery Life & Charging  

• Killer two-day battery life 
• Sluggish charging 

It’s at all times signal after I’m struggling to put on down a battery on a tool I exploit for testing functions.

The Xiaomi Redmi Pad SE has an 8000mAh cell, which on common gave me two days of utilization. That was with the utmost 90Hz refresh charge turned on, and never utilizing any conservation modes. 

Should you activate the VRR (variable refresh charge), or use the power-saving modes, then this pill would stretch additional.  

While the battery itself is a winner, charging will not be. The Redmi Pad SE managed a measly 16% cost from flat in half-hour with the included 10W brick, with no quicker speeds supported.

On common it takes round three hours to cost from flat to full, which is notably slower than some rivals and looks like one thing that ought to be properly previously.  

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

Software program  

• Android 13
• MIUI 14
• Two years of OS updates

The Xiaomi Redmi Pad SE runs on MIUI 14, Xiaomi’s pores and skin excessive of Android 13. You get all of the Google apps as customary, together with Drive, Images, Gmail and extra.

Like its telephones, the pill does include some annoying bloatware courtesy of Xiaomi’s primary apps together with calendars, browsers, be aware apps and extra. Nonetheless, the model isn’t as egregious as some rivals.  

iPhone customers can be used to navigation on the Pad SE, as the short settings is accessed from swiping down from the highest proper, while notifications present up by dragging down on the left. Annoyingly, the short settings (which look remarkably like Apple’s) are siloed to the nook of the display screen quite than being totally optimised to take up the entire prime half as they do on cellular.  

Xiaomi has confirmed that this pill will get simply two years of OS updates, and three years of safety updates.  

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

Value & Availability  

The Xiaomi Redmi Pad SE prices simply £199 and you should purchase it from Mi.com and Amazon.

As with different Xiaomi merchandise, this pill will not be accessible within the US.  

This value undercuts Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 and is on par with the Nokia T21. That mentioned, it’s lighter, gives a greater battery life and an superior pair of audio system. For the value, you actually do get quite a bit.  

For extra choices, try our charts of one of the best funds tablets and one of the best tablets general.  

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

Do you have to purchase the Xiaomi Redmi Pad SE? 

General, I’ve actually loved my expertise with the Xiaomi Redmi Pad SE. The highly effective audio system imply that streaming sounds nice, and the display screen can be nice to make use of indoors. Plus, it doesn’t run out of battery simply.

Certain, the Xiaomi Redmi Pad SE makes compromises in some areas – all funds tablets do to maintain the prices down. Nonetheless, these shortcomings are all in the appropriate areas, such because the cameras and charging speeds.  

In order for you a pill only for movies and day-to-day duties and don’t need to spend some huge cash, then it is a stellar selection.  

Can the Samsung Galaxy Tab A9 beat it? We’ll discover out when that arrives for testing.

Specs  

• MIUI 14 (Android 13) 
• 11-inch FHD+ LCD show 
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 
• Reminiscence: 4GB  
• Storage: 128GB + microSD as much as 1TB 
• Cameras: 8Mp rear, 5Mp entrance  
• Ports: USB-C, 3.5mm Headphone Jack, SIM, MicroSD 
• Accelerometer  
• Digital ambient mild sensor  
• Corridor sensor 
• Twin-band Wi-Fi (2.4GHz), Bluetooth 5.0, 4G (on LTE fashions) 
• Quad audio system with Dolby Atmos help 
• 8000mAh battery
• 10W charging
• Dimensions: 255.53 x 167.08 x 7.36mm 
• Weight: 478g 
• IP52 ranking  
• Launch colors: Mint Inexperienced, Graphite Gray and Lavender Purple