Honor Pad 9 Review: A Great Affordable Slate

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

With 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 primary motive we will’t advocate them. 

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

On paper, it provides 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 ranking 
• No fingerprint sensor 

The Honor Pad 9 may be priced like a funds pill, however it 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 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 to be like like a shiny turquoise.  

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Nonetheless, I’d advocate getting a case or cowl both manner. The system nonetheless feels a bit slippery in my palms, and I’m typically apprehensive about it sliding off the desk. 

The distinctive round rear digicam module (making it look just like the OnePlus Pad) helps a bit, given it stands proud quite a bit from the again of the system. Although that is pointless – rear cameras aren’t that vital 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 nicely made, there’s no official IP ranking for mud or waterproofing. It ought to nonetheless be effective if briefly caught within the rain, however I wouldn’t advocate something extra excessive. Given how moveable 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 aspect, 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 standard place on the backside, however there’s no fingerprint sensor of any description. Whereas the front-facing digicam 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 suited to watching movies or gaming. Visibility can also be excellent; the 628 nits of max brightness I recorded truly exceeds Honor’s declare of 500 nits. Consequently, utilizing the system outdoor on a shiny sunny day isn’t a problem. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

The show has a most refresh charge of 120Hz, although the default ‘Dynamic’ mode will mechanically 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 may manually set it to 60- or 120Hz in the event you’d want.

Nonetheless, dropping all the best way right down to 1Hz depends on LTPO, a kind of OLED display screen. Nonetheless, even with out it, you’re most likely 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 superb, although a scarcity of bass makes them finest suited to voice-based content material or extra stripped-back music. 

Even so, these are up there with the very 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 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 choice 

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 stunned 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 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

Nonetheless, 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 Responsibility: 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 have been very responsive. I’d haven’t any drawback utilizing the Pad 9 as my major cellular gaming system, one thing which may’t be mentioned for a lot of low-cost tablets. 

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

Honor Pad 9 benchmarks

The one model of the Pad 9 obtainable within the UK and Europe provides 256GB of inside storage. With no assist for microSD growth and round 25GB taken up with system information, you’ll most likely 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 comprehend 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 knowledge) and NFC. 

Cameras

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

In contrast to on smartphones, the rear cameras on tablets aren’t significantly vital. 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 likely 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

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

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

Apparently, I discovered the rear digicam 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. 

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

See a variety of my digicam samples within the gallery beneath:

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

A scarcity of OIS (optical picture stabilization) means they’re finest for eventualities the place you retain the system in a single place, similar 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 expenses, 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 essential productiveness system, it wouldn’t make it by means of a full day. And pretty much as good because the Pad 9 is for gaming, this may 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 value noting that this was with the refresh charge set to a set 120Hz. 

By dropping right 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. Nonetheless, this will likely be at a giant value to the consumer expertise.  

Sadly, charging through USB-C is frustratingly gradual. 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

Nonetheless, 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 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 is predicated on Android 13. 

It’s not clear when the system will likely 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 barely getting two years of OS updates and three years of safety patches. That basically isn’t adequate for a pill, even an affordable one. 

Regardless of these caveats, the precise software program expertise is healthier than you may anticipate. Positive, there are too many annoying further apps (generally known as 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. 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.  

If you happen to personal an Honor cellphone or laptop computer, there are a selection of additional ecosystem options, similar to the power to share calls, notifications and app knowledge between gadgets. Nonetheless, even with out them, MagicOS is one thing I genuinely loved utilizing on the Honor Pad 9. 

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Worth & Availability

Given all the pieces 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 chicken provide will get you the official Flip Cowl and a pair of Honor Earbuds X6 totally free – simply enter the voucher code ‘APD950’ at checkout. 

Earlier Honor tablets have additionally been obtainable through Amazon, so which may be the case once more as soon as the early chicken provide expires. 

Nonetheless, it’ll virtually definitely by no means be offered 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 funds pill, with the Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ and Xiaomi Pad 6 as its essential rivals.

The common iPad from 2021 stays the very best different on the Apple aspect, 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 standard value. 

Its design, show, efficiency and audio system are all higher than you’d anticipate 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.  

Nonetheless, there’s uncertainty concerning 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 pretty much as good as I’d anticipate them to be. 

Whether or not you purchase this pill will rely on how vital 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 digicam, f/2.0  
• 8Mp entrance digicam, 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