Top 10: Cheapest tablets in testing – Xiaomi, Lenovo, Samsung & Co.

The Honor Pad 9 offers strong value for money as a large tablet with a 12-inch display. Testing shows how it performs in everyday life.

If you’re looking for a tablet for entertainment on the couch, you don’t necessarily have to spend a lot of money. Anyone who frequently uses it to watch movies, series or YouTube clips will be happy with the larger display. with Honor Pad 8 (Test Report) Last year a cheap tablet with a 12-inch screen came out – a good compromise between the usual 10 or 11 inches and larger devices over 13 inches.

Successor to Pad 9 239 euros in alza Now there is significant improvement in many areas. This test report shows how good a large tablet at a low price is and where the problems lie.

The Honor Pad 9 comes to buyers in an angular metal housing which is typical of tablets. The only color available is dark brown. The workmanship is impeccable; Neither lag nor wobbly components are a problem. The power button and volume rocker provide a solid pressure point. Both are located on the longer top – a solution with one of the buttons on the shorter side would have been nice. Otherwise there is a risk that you will press the power button when you really want to reduce the volume.

Compared to an 11-inch tablet like that Acer Iconia Tab P11 (Test Report) At 12 inches, the Honor Pad 9 is about 10 percent larger. It offers dimensions of 278.27 × 6.9 × 180.11 mm with a weight of 555 grams. This makes its size almost the same as its predecessor. Honor Pad 8 (Test Report)But a little heavy. However, the Pad 9 does not offer water protection.

Like its predecessor, the Pad 9 has a 12.1-inch display diagonal with a 5:3 aspect ratio. So when you hold the device horizontally it offers slightly more space in height than a 16:10 tablet. This provides benefits when reading websites or writing emails. It makes more sense to use it in portrait format than a pure widescreen model. The screen-to-body ratio of 88 percent is quite high for this price range. The technology used is IPS.

The resolution of 2560 × 1600 pixels results in a fairly sharp image with 250 ppi (pixels per inch), which is important for large screens. Image quality is excellent, colors look strong and vibrant, contrasts are clear and viewing angle consistency is high. We haven’t tested a better display in this price range yet. Honor has once again tweaked the refresh rate and now flickers at 120Hz instead of 60Hz like the Pad 8. This ensures a smooth picture while scrolling or playing.

We were able to measure a maximum brightness of just over 500 cd/m². It’s extremely bright for the price; You can also read the display outdoors as long as the sun is not shining directly on the tablet. However, the surface is quite reflective, which may reduce enjoyment of outdoor videos.

The main camera is 13 megapixels, the front camera is 8 megapixels. You can take good shots during the day, even if the dynamic range needs room for improvement. Some photos appear quite pale and image sharpness is lower than similarly priced smartphones. The camera becomes very weak in the dark.

Unlike smartphones, we do not attach as much importance to the tablet’s camera, since it is unlikely to be used in everyday life. But it’s enough for photographing documents and taking occasional snapshots. The front camera supports Full HD at at least 30 fps, which can be useful for video chats. The main camera also shoots movies in 4K.

No version with mobile communications is offered in this country. That’s why the Honor Pad 9 requires a WiFi connection – via the smartphone as a hotspot if necessary. The device only supports Wi-Fi 5, which is no longer the latest standard. Wi-Fi 5 only supports the 5 GHz band, which doesn’t penetrate walls well. It also has high latency with less data transfer. In our opinion, Honor would have liked to offer Wi-Fi 6 here, especially considering the price. There is no GPS either.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 is used as the drive. It’s almost two years old now, but provides adequate performance for common tasks on a media tablet. Compared to its predecessor, it has a significant increase in performance. This also becomes evident from the benchmark results of 11,000 points on PCMark and 2400 points on 3DMark “Wild Life”. In everyday life, the operating system responds without any significant delay and opens applications instantly. Performance is enough for casual games, but if you have to use more graphically complex titles, you should reduce the graphical details so that the device still runs smoothly.

Memory features are generous: The Honor Pad 9 has 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. However, expansion via microSD card is not possible. The USB-C port only supports the USB 2.0 standard, which only allows for slower wired data transfers, but that’s normal in this price range. There’s no fingerprint scanner – not a surprise in this category either. To unlock you use pattern, PIN or facial recognition in 2D. However, this is less secure against fraudulent attempts than entering a PIN.

A total of eight speakers ensure a spacious and clear stereo sound. This soundscape is more than enough for watching movies and series. Bluetooth 5.1 is available for wireless headphones. Widevine Level 1 certification is available, so streaming in Full HD is possible via Netflix, Disney+ or Prime Video. However, there is no support for an active stylus.

The Pad 9 comes with Android 13, but now runs Android 14 and the Honor user interface Magic OS 8.0. At the time of testing in early October, the security patch was from September and therefore still very much current. Honor does not provide accurate information about the update policy.

The user interface looks good and runs smoothly. Control is done through gestures. If you want, you can drag the most used apps from the left or right or open an overview of all apps here, as there is no other classic app drawer. You can also display apps as windows, either as a split screen or as floating windows. Unusual: You don’t place widgets on the background by long pressing them, but by dragging two fingers inward.

Battery capacity is 8300 mAh. Battery life wasn’t entirely reassuring. We got just under 7.5 hours on PCMark with 120Hz. If you change the refresh rate to 60Hz, you can get just over an hour. The tablet charges relatively quickly with the included 35-watt power adapter. This means that the charging process from 20 to 100 percent takes about 90 minutes.

The Honor Pad 9 has an RRP of 329 euros and is currently priced at around 239 euros in alzaEarlier it was available for 250 euros. There is only one variant in dark gray color with 8/256 GB without LTE.

The Honor Pad 9 is a cheaper option for those who prefer a larger tablet without spending a lot of money. The screen is really great; Honor has significantly increased the resolution and refresh rate compared to its predecessor. The display is well-equipped for most tasks and allows smooth operation – the Android tablet is not designed for serious gaming. The workmanship is impeccable and the memory is generously measured.

However, as is common for cheap tablets, this device comes with some outdated standards. The Honor Pad 9 only uses Wi-Fi 5 and USB-C 2.0. There is no LTE or 5G variant, nor is there any pen. Battery life also has some room for improvement in our opinion, you can switch to 60Hz for more stamina if you want. Overall, buyers get a great tablet with a good price-performance ratio and a great display.

Adjustable bezel: This is believed to be a feature only on the iPhone 18 Pro