Didn’t buy tablets because they weren’t big compared to smartphones? How do you like this?

12-inch HONOR Pad 9 The tablet must be really big, because modern smartphones also have large displays. But if the tablet is large, is it heavy and too bulky? This used to be the case, but back then smartphones were chubby, with 4000 mAh and large frames. And now manufacturers have learned to do it compactly. And even with a good processor…© Ferra.ru8.5/10Rating according to FerraHonor Pad 9Contents

• Appearance
• Screen and interface
• Performance and autonomy
• Camera
• Competitors
• TCL NXTPAPER 12 Pro
• Xiaomi Pad 5 Pro
• Total

Appearance

Do you know why current Apple MacBook laptops have such strange diagonals? All sorts of 16.2″, 14.2″, 13.6″ etc.? Not in order to sell you laptop bags of non-standard dimensions (on the scale of a bag, such weather fluctuations do not make a difference), but because it became technically possible to install a larger display in a case that previously only accommodated 16″, 14″. and 13.3″.

The same story happens with tablets. While testing the HONOR Pad 9, I kept forgetting that I was holding a 12-inch tablet in my hands. And it would be fine if, in principle, I had held the tablet in my hands for a long time and stopped being aware of the dimensions. But no: I re-tested many different tablet models, I had both a 12-inch iPad Pro and 8-9-inch models from other manufacturers, I tested the HONOR Pad X9… I personally today own an iPad Pro 10.5 (2017 ) and Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 (“archive” iPad 3, original iPad, Nexus 7 and others, I don’t think, are in the drawer). So…

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In my opinion, the HONOR Pad 9 is just the perfect size for a “regular” tablet. The 12-inch models of competitors are already really huge and tiresomely heavy.

Yes, “by the numbers” the iPad Pro has a diagonal of not 12.1'', like the HONOR Pad 9, but 12.9'', but the difference in weight is colossal – 682 grams the lightest model versus 555 grams for HONOR.

This is 127 grams, which also seems like a small thing. But you hold your smartphone horizontally in your palm, and then put a jar of yogurt on its screen (thank you rogue manufacturers – they have already started making 120 gram yoghurts) and try how long you can hold the smartphone in your hand. I guarantee you that you will get tired faster than you think while reading now.

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That is, of course, the larger the screen, the better. But before, I always leaned toward more compact tablets, primarily because of the weight.

With the HONOR Pad 9, everything is different: there is a large screen, and all this weighs… well, almost like the usual 10-inch tablets. And it feels like a 10-inch tablet because of this.

And in this format, a 12-inch tablet is a great thing for movies and reading. If we take smaller devices, then these are something like iPad mini or folding smartphones (HONOR Magic V2, Tecno Phantom V Fold, Samsung Galaxy Fold, etc.). But a tablet with a diagonal larger than 12″ – already a pleasure below average, because it will be something like half a laptop or a small monitor, with such a screen it will be simply inconvenient to maneuver both at home and on the road.

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As is usually the case with modern tablets, a keyboard case is available for the HONOR Pad 9. It’s nice that in this case it is branded and completely Russified.

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The keyboard case is attached to the tablet using special holders.

Unfortunately, there are no physical contacts between the keyboard and the tablet; the keyboard works via Bluetooth, so it will have to be charged separately and turned on/off separately.

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Another 12-inch case could easily accommodate a 3.5 mm jack for wired headphones. But it’s not here – the spirit of the times, everyone uses Bluetooth.

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And there is no fingerprint scanner either. Usually in tablets it is built into the lock/power button, but for some reason they didn’t do that here. Therefore, unlocking is either using a PIN or face scanning.

Screen and interface

U HONOR Pad 9 12.1-inch IPS screen with a resolution of 2560×1600 pixels and a maximum refresh rate of 120 Hz.

The screen brightness is high, 553 cd/m2 (nits) according to measurements, even higher than the 500 cd/m2 stated on the official website. Contrast is 1500:1, which is not bad for IPS, although not a record.

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In general, the screen is almost perfect – no flickering, color reproduction is natural (unlike some Samsung tablets, for example), the sensor is very responsive.

HONOR Pad 9 Maximum brightness level (max/min .)553/1.84 cd/m2 Contrast (more = better) 1500:1 Color gamut (sRGB) (90-100% is ideal) 100% DeltaE (less = better) 4.59 Gamma (ideal – 2.2) 2, 2Color temperature (ideal = 6500K)8000K

Separately, I liked the design of the system shell: icons, their shape and size, graphics, menu logic. It’s noticeable that they looked at the Apple interface, and personally I like it more than Samsung, where the system elements are too small and too rounded (in all three cases the superellipse shape is used, but Samsung never found the ideal parameters for it).

HONOR Pad 9 interface, main screen

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The screen also supports control of a special stylus, but it is not included in the standard package (Samsung is already ahead here, but the Koreans want an additional payment for this, and a significant one – consider the stylus included in the price of the Galaxy Tab).

Performance and autonomy

The HONOR Pad 9, which came to us for review, does not have a module for a SIM card, but to be honest, in my entire history with various tablets, I have used this slot… literally once. I bought a second SIM card just to see if I like it or not.

Did not like. I just haven’t found a use for it. Considering the diagonal screen size of modern phones, it is pointless to constantly walk outside with a tablet; in many rooms there is already Wi-Fi, but where there is not, you can easily and simply distribute the Internet from a smartphone. Not to mention the costs of a separate SIM card with a separate tariff (in principle, there are no cheap tariffs in 2024, it will not cost a little money).

Among my friends, literally several people used the SIM card slot , and just so that you don’t once again have to strain yourself with distribution from your phone or connecting to someone else’s Wi-Fi. That is, it was not so much a necessity for them as a whim.

In principle, among the models that can be found on sale in Russia, HONOR has a more compact model – HONOR Pad X9 – it already supports a SIM card, this is already a model at a lower level in the hierarchy, with an 11.5-inch display and a less powerful processor . Probably, it would be absolutely ideal to have an 8-inch tablet with a SIM card in the range, but for the largest model this is really not so important.

Well, don’t forget that in China the HONOR Pad 9 also exists in a version with SIM card, so it all depends on whether chain stores want to bring such equipment to Russia.

Performance in the Antutu Benchmark

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The “hardware” here is the same as that of modern smartphones costing 30-35 thousand rubles (for example, like HONOR X9b and Realme 12 Pro) – Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 gen 1 processor.

The processor is not a flagship, but it is sufficient for everyday tasks. Even the games, after all, drag (except that Genshin Impact looks rather soapy). Again, the animation on the 120 Hz screen does not slow down, the system works smoothly and not jerkily, applications launch quickly. What else do you need from a tablet?

Time to completely discharge smartphones and tablets in minutes

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Autonomy is average. Better than last year's HONOR Pad X8, but worse than the current HONOR Pad X9 – all because of the screen size. Moreover, the screen here is IPS, and not OLED (of course, for such and such a price it’s difficult to find an OLED, unless it’s a buggy Lenovo, brought underground from China).

In general, there are more durable tablets, but, again, on average a tablet is used less often than a smartphone; you won’t sit at it from morning to evening. And in the absence of active pedaling of the processor by games or GPS/GLONASS navigation, the energy consumption is not that high (even if the tablet is connected to Wi-Fi).

Pad 9 charges relatively quickly – an hour and a half from the included charging power of 35 Tue If you've ever tried to charge a tablet with its large battery from puny 15-18-watt chargers, you understand how important this is.

Camera

Some people believe that a camera in a tablet is not needed at all. I can’t agree with this completely: after all, a selfie camera would be useful for some kind of video calls. Yes, and the main camera is useful for scanning documents.

Of course, no one bothers to put a top-end flagship camera in a tablet, but this will be reflected in the price. How many people will want to overpay for it? Would you buy a “same, but better camera” tablet at a higher price if there are tablets at the same price with a worse camera, but an OLED display or a flagship processor? I already know that no.

Although, I have seen people on excursions walking around with tablets and taking photographs on them. But, firstly, it’s still inconvenient, and it’s scary for the tablet. Once I was filming on my tablet for the sake of review and accidentally dropped it on the asphalt. It was no longer subject to restoration…

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HONOR Pad 9 main camera

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Secondly, nothing prevents you from shooting on your phone, even if you later want to look at or process the pictures on your tablet. Thanks to cloud services and easy file transfer between devices, this is never a problem. And I’m not even talking about Telegram, VK or other “file sharing” services here – have you tried Nearby Share/Quick Share on Android? It works better than Apple's Air Drop, and is also compatible with anything – I even drop files from my Android smartphone this way on my MacBook.

However, the camera in the HONOR Pad 9 can even take quite decent pictures in daylight. There is more than enough for “scanning” documents.

© HONOR Pad 9 – an example of video shooting in 4K/30

The tablet even shoots video in 4K/30!

Competitors

You understand that the HONOR Pad 9 turned out to be a successful tablet when you start looking at competitors. Of course, you should only look among 12-inch tablets – that's the whole point. Yes, in nature there are also 11-inch models “almost, a little more, roughly speaking, the same,” but still no – the difference is noticeable. And the problem is that the market on average offers two options: something very cheap, but only 12 inches, and a top-chic shine for a CRAZY amount of money.

I’m generally silent about the iPad – Apple has long been in tangled waters and what they offer is not worth that kind of money at all (when the iPad learns to run applications from macOS, when full versions of Logic Pro and Final Cut will be available on it – then we’ll talk , with such and such prices).

Samsung is not doing much better: they believe that 12-inch tablets are needed only by some mega-professionals who are ready to pay 100 thousand rubles for a device.

What remains so as not to stoop to incomprehensible nonames and to be available in Russia without problems? TCL, Xiaomi, Realme, for example.

At the same time, Realme, unfortunately, does not have 12-inch models – it’s immediately missed.

TCL has just the case when “only 12 inches” – i.e. the price is adequate (it was when I wrote these lines, but stopped when I finalized the text), but the hardware is not very good.

Xiaomi… Well, if you find the Chinese version of Xiaomi Pad 5 Pro, then it will cost around 30 thousand rubles. Which is pretty good for a tablet with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 870. But in this version there will be only Chinese and English languages ​​(welcome to w3bsit3-dns.com in the section about firmware, yeah), a bunch of extraneous Chinese applications that you will turn off for two days (and still won’t turn off completely), and, as an option, all sorts of instructions for installing Google services. Russification seems to be possible, but this is an even more time-consuming process, which includes obtaining root access (say goodbye to licensed cinemas and banking applications that update their protection and even your Magisk, which hides root access, has learned to bypass).

In short, for the list of competitors I selected both TCL and the global version of Xiaomi Pad 5 Pro (i.e. with Russian language and without “Chinese”), which, of course, will cost significantly more.

HONOR Pad 9TCL NXTPAPER 12 ProXiaomi Pad 5 ProOperating systemAndroid 13 + MagicOS 7.2Android 12Android 12 + MIUI Pad 13ScreenIPS 12.1″, 2560×1600 pixels, 16:10, 249 ppi, 120 HzNCVM IPS 12.2'&#x27 ; , 2160×1440 pixels, 3:2 (15:10), 213 ppi, 60 HzIPS 12.4″, 2560×1600 pixels, 16:10, 243 ppi, 120 HzProcessorQualcomm SM6450 Snapdragon 6 Gen, 4x Cortex-A78 2.2 GHz , 4x Cortex-A55 1.8 GHzMediatek MT8771, 2x Cortex-A76 2.4 GHz, 6x Cortex-A55 1.8 GHz Qualcomm SM8250-AC Snapdragon 870 5G, Cortex-A77 3.2 GHz + 3x Cortex-A77 2.42 GHz + 4x Cortex-A55 1.8 GHz Graphics Adreno 710 Mali-G57 MC2 Adreno 650 RAM 8/12 GB 8 GB 6/8 GB Storage 128/256/512 GB 256 GB 128/256/512 GB Communications Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.1, GPS, GLONASSLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.1, GPS, GLONASSWi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS, GLONASS Cameras Main: 13 MP, f /2.0, video quality: up to 4K@30 FPS, front: 8 MP f/2.2 Main: 13 MP, f/2.0, video quality: up to 1080@30 FPS, dual front: 8 MP + 8 MP Main dual: 50 MP, f/1.8 + 2 MP f/2.4 (depth sensor), video quality: up to 4K@30 FPS, front: 20 MP f/2.2 Battery 8300 mAh 8000 mAh 10,000 mAh Charging power 35 W 18 W 67 W Dimensions 267, 3×167.4×6.9 mm279x192.5×6.9 mm285x185.2×6.7 mmWeight555 g599 g620 gProtection classnononoStylus supportadadadaPricefrom 23 thousand rublesfrom 30 thousand rublesfrom 35 thousand rubles

TCL NXTPAPER 12 Pro

TCL NXTPAPER 12 Pro

© TCL

We already reviewed this tablet once – its feature is a special screen that seems to imitate paper. But it is not paper: have you seen paper somewhere with a refresh rate of 120 Hz? So don’t expect this from the TCL NXTPAPER 12 Pro. It also has a rather weak processor, slow charging, and one of the advantages is the ability to install a SIM card. But the price is the same as the HONOR Pad 9 without discounts, or even more expensive. It depends where to buy.

Xiaomi Pad 5 Pro

Xiaomi Pad 5 Pro

© Xiaomi

The tablet from Xiaomi is already much more interesting: it has a powerful processor, adequate battery capacity and also fast charging. Minuses? Well, firstly, you have to pay for the battery capacity and the tablet turned out to be a bit heavy.

And secondly, the Chinese versions of the tablet will have to be problematic and flashed independently (otherwise there will be no Russian language in the system), and the global versions of this model will have to wait from AliExpress/Ozon Global and… they are more expensive than the HONOR Pad 9. Moreover , that, as usual, you will not have a guarantee when purchasing with delivery from China.

Total

HONOR Pad 9 is the optimal 12-inch tablet. Both in price and in size, with an accessible fully Russified keyboard, a good screen, and more than sufficient performance. It can handle any games, it’s one of the best options for watching movies and TV series (large display, high resolution, good color rendition and brightness), and it’s also convenient to work with – this is not “bare” Android, but an almost laptop-like shell for convenience.

< p>And the main thing is that it’s easy to buy HONOR Pad 9 in Russia; you don’t have to wait for delivery for several weeks or even days. Additionally, you can purchase a keyboard and/or stylus – and your working tool is ready.