As a reviewer, I have tested quite a few devices from Realme recently. I also had smartphones
7/10Rated by FerraRealme Pad Mini
Table of contents
- Appearance
- Display and shell
- Performance and autonomy
- Camera
- Competitors
- Huawei MatePad 10.4 2022
- Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite
- Total
Previous year for the tablet market in Russiaturned out not to be the worst. Due to the increase in prices, local retailers were able to sell not so many devices, only 2-2.3 million units (2019 level), but they managed to significantly increase their income. The average ticket grew by almost a third, which affected the entire market - now it is 20 percent more than in 2019. According to experts, it has grown to 43-50 billion rubles. However, all this is incomparable with sales volumes in the recent past.
In 2014 alone, the Russians bought almost 10million devices of this format. Ten times more than last year. The general decline in sales and their small volume on a national scale, of course, can explain the fact that there are fewer tablets in transport and in public places. But what made people abandon them? Maybe the tablets have quietly become something else?
— Hello!
— I can’t talk from my tablet right now, I’m busy!
“But you called me yourself.”
- Bye!
After all, those brave people whomanaged to make voice calls through these “shovels”. Yes, and memes about enhanced wind protection are hopelessly outdated when “compact” seven-inch smartphones came to the market. What can we say about their folding counterparts. Samsung, for example, is already releasing the fourth generation of the Galaxy Fold. But what about the tablet from Realme? Worth taking?
Appearance
When looking at the hero of the review, the first associationsme arise with smartphones from 2014-2015. Nobody made a monolithic metal back then, and Realme Pad Mini does not have it either. The back surface was broken into three parts for the sake of what? Unclear. As a result, we have something in between Lenovo Vibe and Redmi Note 3 Pro. The only thing that refers to the present times is the main camera. There is no question of any cool photographic possibilities, but the module still received its translucent substrate.
Realme Pad Mini
For some reason it's fashionable to make protruding camerasI got here too, although there was no technical need for this. It’s clear that the designer and the marketer, like artists, saw everything exactly the way we see it now, but the result is the same - the tablet sways from side to side while it’s just lying on the table. Clicked on the corner of the screen – The tablet hit the table, it's simple.
The dimensions of Realme Pad Mini correspond to the name.The thickness is only 7.6 mm, the weight does not even reach 400 g. And this despite the fact that the screen diagonal is 8.9 ”, and some very hefty 6400 mAh battery is hidden under the case, thanks to which the tablet can be used as external battery for wireless headphones or phone.
fourteen
Realme Pad Mini
To the right of the screen, all control buttons are placed:power button and volume rocker. A little non-standard for Realme, as in smartphones they are spaced on different sides. We didn't forget about the stereo speakers, they are located above and below the display, if you hold the tablet vertically.
Connectors deserve special mention.For some reason, the Type-C port and minijack deviated from the axis of symmetry. I don’t consider myself a perfectionist, but even my eyes here experienced some suffering from what they saw. Well, the thickness of the cover in the area of the audio jack is a separate surprise. Some kind of nanotechnology, not otherwise.
There is a tray for a SIM card, you will not be left without the Internet. It is separate, you can additionally install a microSD memory card up to 1 TB.
Realme Pad Mini
What's in front? Рамки визуально небольшие, по 0,5 см сбоку и по сантиметру сверху и снизу. После смартфонных размеров эти значения кажутся большими, но на деле идут только на пользу планшету, позволяя пользоваться им без ложных нажатий на экран. Хотя хотелось бы увидеть «безрамочность» в духе последних поколений iPad, а не iPad Air.
The tablet did without a fingerprint scanner,but received face recognition support. Protection, of course, in theory, is so-so, but for everyday use its level is more than enough. In any case, a pin code or even a full password in these times is your only ally. Everything else is done only for your convenience, but, alas, not for complete security.
Display and shell
Let's imagine a situation.You are walking through an electronics store with a Realme Pad Mini in your hands, and an annoying consultant blocks your way, who starts yelling at you that your tablet is not a tablet at all. You tell him about what a cool design and durable battery is, and he answers you: “DISPLAY”. And such an answer follows any of your arguments.
Realme Pad Mini
That's how I felt when I triedfind a reasonable use for this tablet. What is the problem with the display? With his permission. And an unacceptable number of dots per inch, respectively. 179 pieces today are definitely not enough for a pleasant reading of texts. The only benefit of such a screen is autonomy, all due to the low power consumption of a small number of pixels.
And they can't be used at all?If the task of “getting the best possible display for the minimum amount of money” was not in front of you, then it will be enough for most of your purposes. The screen behaves normally when changing viewing angles: the colors are not inverted, the contrast does not drop. Yes, and in terms of color temperature, everything is in order, if you do not forget that we are talking about a device from the upper part of the budget segment.
Realme Pad MiniMaximum brightness level(max./min.)358/2 cd/m2Contrast(more = better)1000:1Color gamut(sRGB) (90-100% is ideal)90%DeltaE(less = better)6.9Gamma(ideal - 2.2)2.1Colour temperature(ideal = 6500K)7700K
After high refresh rate screensIt can be hard to perceive interface animations on the Pad Mini screen, and often “slow” display is generally read by the brain as freezes and small friezes. But with the speed of the system, the tablet is all right, as it turned out. As soon as I turned on 60 Hz on my phone, the behavior of the system visually caught up with that on the tablet.
Instead of the colorful Realme UI 2.0, the Pad Mini uses Realme UI R edition based on pure Android. Here it is, quite clean. Almost no changes, except that the icons in the device settings have been replaced with some of their own, and the navigation buttons are not quite native.
1/7
Realme UI R Edition
There are not even applications native to Realme in the system.Of the pre-installed, only Yandex.Start and the domestic AppList, which was supposed to replace Google Play. All other applications that should be present on devices sold in Russia are presented only in the form of shortcuts leading to the corresponding page in (drumroll) Google Play. Thank you for this.
Performance and autonomy
If you are still confused by the word "Unisoc" inlist of characteristics of a smartphone, since 2018, when the company easily allowed itself to rivet mobile processors according to the 28 nm technical process, four whole years have passed, and during this time Unisoc learned how to make chips no worse than MediaTek does them.
The processor used in Realme Pad Mini isUnisoc Tiger T616. If we remove all marketing names, then we have a bunch of two powerful Cortex-A75 cores with a frequency of 2 GHz and six Cortex-A55 cores with a frequency of 1.8 GHz. Doesn't it remind you of anything? Correctly! Helio G85, which appeared in the Redmi 9 line and a dozen smartphones from Tecno and Infinix.
13
Unlike smartphones, tablets are moredegrees imprisoned for entertainment. Was it worth expecting more RAM in it than in smartphones of similar characteristics? Quite, but Realme for some reason decided to limit itself to 4 GB, not even leaving the opportunity to add a couple of gigabytes from the internal memory. With her, by the way, everything is not so simple either. The fattest modification of the tablet offers only 64 GB of internal memory. If you look at how much Android apps have grown in the last couple of years and how much they weigh today, you will realize the pain. Saves the tablet only the ability to put a memory card up to 1 TB.
12
Unisoc Tiger T616 behaves well underload, without giving out exorbitant temperatures. The throttling test shows excellent results. Even downloading and installing Genshin Impact, which caused fatal overheating on the Infinix Note 12 VIP, went smoothly here. The case did not get hot, the camera did not complain about overheating.
If the processor is properly loaded, thenit turns out that the chip is quite voracious. In our test gaming mode, the local 6400 mAh battery lasted approximately 750 minutes, which is comparable to smartphones that only have a 4500-5000 mAh battery. But everything changes if the processor is disturbed by the execution of less resource-intensive tasks.
Translated into human language - this dayThe tablet will live in any mode of use. Of course, if you do not smash enemies for hours on end in the next battle royale at maximum screen brightness. But as a typewriter with a wireless keyboard, it is ideal. Conditional 5-6 pairs of notes are provided.
Camera
The camera is probably the last thing you should pay attention to.attention when choosing a tablet. But how not to pay attention to it when it literally sticks out above the body? So not only does it stick out, it also does it in the spirit of Realme 9: on a translucent substrate. About how the whole structure behaves on a flat surface, I wrote a couple of paragraphs ago. Now about how the Realme Pad Mini camera shoots. Spoiler alert: let's pretend it's not there.
Realme Pad Mini
It is obvious that the camera performs here the nominalrole. Even the manufacturer of the module remains a secret, and of the known parameters, only 8 megapixel resolution and f / 2.0 aperture. And it seems that the “hole” is fast, but the small size of the pixels does not make it possible to get decent pictures in conditions other than daylight. In the evening, even with a support, it is unlikely that you will be able to remove something worthwhile. See for yourself what comes out of this venture.
15
A similar situation exists with the frontalcamera, only it received an even lower resolution - only 5 megapixels, which is not very suitable for video calls in the era of remote work. But you can still find a plus in this “soap”: no one will see your bruises under your eyes (fit, ha).
Competitors
Realme Pad MiniHuawei MatePad 10.4 (2022)Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Liteoperating systemAndroid 11 + Realme UI R EditionAndroid 10 + EMUI 10.1Android 11 (upgradable to Android 12) + One UI 4.1ScreenIPS, 8.7", 800"1340 p., 5:3, 179 PPIIPS, 10.4", 1200"215;2000 p., 5:3, 224 PPITFT LCD, 8.7", 800 x 1340 p. , 5:3, 179 PPICPUUnisoc Tiger T616, 12 nm, 8 cores (2 coresCortex-A75 2GHz + 6x Cortex-A55 1.8GHzKirin 710A 14nm 8core (4x Cortex-A73 2.2GHz + 4x Cortex-A53 1.7GHz)Mediatek Helio P22T 12nm, 8 cores (4x Cortex-A53 2.3GHz + 4x Cortex-A53 1.8GHz)GraphicsARM Mali-G57 MP1ARM Mali-G51 MP4PowerVR GE8320RAM4 GB4 GB4 GBStorage device64GB + microSD64GB + microSD64GB + microSDConnectionWiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot, Bluetooth 5.0, A2DP, LE, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDSWi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac /6, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot, Bluetooth 5.1, A2DP, LEGPS Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDSWi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi -Fi Direct, hotspot, Bluetooth 5.0, A2DP, LE, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEOCamerasRear: 8 MP, f/2.0, 1080p@30fps Rear: 13 MP, AF, LED flash, HDR, 1080p@30fps Rear: 8 MP, AF, 1080p@30fps Front: 5 MP, f/2.2 Front: 8 MP, HDR Front: 2 MPBattery6400 mAh 7250 mAh 5100 mAhDimensions211.8×124.5×7.6 mm245.2x155x7.5 mm212.5×124.7×8 mmWeight372 g460 g371 gPrice16 thousand rubles20 thousand rubles18 thousand rubles
Huawei MatePad 10.4 2022
Huawei MatePad 10.4 2022
Budget tablets are a strange thing.Here, manufacturers can easily get away with things that they would not do in smartphones today. Seriously, what is the Kirin 710A in 2022? The processor is from 2018, the era when Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 was a new model, and ASUS released budget smartphones ZenFone Max Pro M1/M2 (remember those?).
However, in terms of speed, a simplified versionKirin 710, 710A does not differ much from the new Unisocs, and higher heating is not particularly relevant due to the small technical process: tablets are quite large equipment, they have where to dissipate this heat.
But the screen is a little better than the tabletRealme. The resolution here has grown to Full HD, the design is taken from you know who. Yes, the price is higher than that of the Realme Pad Mini, but you have to pay for a normal display, alas (although you don’t really want to with such a processor). Well, where without the main thing: there are no Google services in the tablet and are not expected.
Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite
Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite
Last year's tablet from Samsung receivedstuffing with similar performance. Inside is a lousy and very ancient Helio P22, albeit made according to a 12 nm technical process (instead of 14 nm for the Kirin 710A), and as much as (!) 3 GB of RAM. It sounds doubtful, I understand, but there is either 3 GB of RAM from Samsung, or 4 GB from Huawei. And something tells me that the first option is much prettier in conditions of limited choice. The price is slightly lower than the Realme Pad Mini, the screen is identical - HD resolution with 179 PPI.
Total
Even if I show you in the final paragrapha dozen photos with pens, markers and notepads, Realme Pad Mini will not get any support for styluses from this, nor a screen suitable for such creative tasks. The question remains: what is it for? Because without all this, it looks like an inexpensive smartphone that was stretched “without shift” in Photoshop.
Realme Pad Mini
The first thought that comes to mind is tofrom a tablet to a device for a child. Here on the main screen and the YouTube Kids icon immediately catches your eye, why not? Yes, but you don’t really feel sorry for your eyes, they endured in this life and not like that, but giving a child a choice “grain” is not a good idea, because the eyes with a 9” HD screen strain pretty much. Just in case, I'll just remind you that the screen does not shine with a pixel density - official 179 dpi.
If you use Realme Pad Mini ase-book, it can give very good autonomy. But again, everything rests on a screen that is not the most suitable for this. Your phone's display, although not as hefty, but the fonts are displayed better there due to the greater pixel density. For the rest of the media consumption, not related to the text, the screen is enough. Provided, of course, that you are aware of what you are getting into.
The tablet looks like a car navigatoralready better. There is a hefty and high-quality display without “glare” and color inversion, and the local Unisoc Tiger T616 can easily rotate Yandex.Maps and a couple of applications in the background.
But I'm here now finding fault, and you take a lookon competitors! Let's not pretend that Huawei with Kirin 710A and without Google services stands out particularly favorably (the rest of the characteristics are almost the same). Or that a tablet based on MediaTek Helio P22 is at least somewhat better than a smartphone based on Helio P22 (smartphones with such processors are sold for about 6-8 thousand, and even then there are better options for this money). Xiaomi generally left the release of budget tablets and chose a different price category, trying to enter the "territory" of Apple. Only tablets of little-known brands remain, but, of course, it is worth talking about them separately from the “big ten” manufacturers of smartphones / tablets. And in such a lack of fish, Realme Pad Mini with its Unsoc T616 already looks not such an outsider as it seemed at first. There are no competitors.