Looking for a light weight Android tablet for work and entertainment ? The Oppo Pad Air might be a good fit for this purpose.
Weighing at only 440g and 6.94mm thin, this lightweight portable 10.36″ tablet will fit most of your needs with it’s 7100 mAh battery that can last you for more than 15 hours of video call time or 12 hours of movies. It supports 18 W USB-PD charge.
Powered by the Snapdragon 680 processor and 4GB + 3 GB extended ram, most applications can run but for those who are used to the snappiness of the smartphone’s 8 Gen 1 or mid range smartphones processors, the 680 is pretty in the range of mediatek dimensity 700 or 845 processor of yesteryear.
In daily use, the 10.36″ 2K screen is sharp but it may not be suitable to be used under bright sunlight due to the relfective nature of the screen.
Turn on Dolby Atmos and immerse yourself into clearer and deeper audio from it’s 4 x 1W speaker found on the four corners of the tablet. It really makes a lot of difference playing back Live concerts, football matches with Dolby Atmos. You can also select the environment profile. (see screen shot below).
One particular feature of the Oppo Pad Air is the Dual Windows, just swipe two fingers across the screen and you can have two supporting apps running side by side. e.g. Gmail on left and Youtube on the right.
You can also run two instances of the same app in split screen (for supported apps).
If you have a compatible ColorOS 12.1 OPPO Smartphone you can use the multi screen connect where you can share clipboard, drag and drop files from your smartphone to the tablet easily.
[nextpage title=”Front and Back Cameras”]
The Oppo Pad Air comes with a 8 MP Rear and a 5 MP front camera. The camera take pretty decent pictures in day tim but not for night or dim environment shorts. Here are some photo shot using the rear camera.
Camera Specifications
Camera
Rear
8MP (f/2.0); FOV 80°; 4P lens; CAF supported
Front
5MP (f/2.2); FOV 77°; 3P lens; FF supported
Shooting Mode
Rear: Video, Photo, Portrait, Panorama, Time-lapse, and Text scanner; Panorama not supported in landscape mode.
Front:Video, Photo, Portrait, Panorama, Time-lapse, and Text scanner; Panorama not supported in landscape mode.
Video
Rear
1080p/720p@30 fps
60 fps not supported
Image stabilization supported
Video zoom supported
Front
1080p/720p@30 fps (Default: 1080p@30 fps; Retouch mode turned on by default)
Video zoom, Steady Video, or 60 fps is not supported by the front camera.
[nextpage title=”Performance, Gaming”]
The processor in the tablet is a Snapdragon 680 which performs almost in the same level of an old Snapdragon 835.
We tested the game ASPHALT 9 at HIGH QUALITY the highest settings and it seems to be able to handle it very well.
[nextpage title=”Using the Oppo Pad Air as a Productivity tool”]
As the Oppo Pad Air supports WIFI connectivity. It is well suited as a productivity tool when you have WIFI access. It is a pity that a 4G or 5G modem is integrated. That would make it such a portable mobile producitivity device that you can work anywhere where there is 4G coverage
In our case, we bring it out and pair it up with our smartphone (hotspot) to edit, submit news articles on line. Reviews can also be updated remotely just like what we usually do from our desktop. When it comes to video, we used capcut app, and it runs very well under Android.
The WIFI standard supported is up to 802.11ac. We tested it against our fibre broadband of 500 Mbps and we achieve the result of 269 Mbps. Some higher end tablets will support 802.11ax.
This speed should be good enough as you probably don’t need to download so much but the uplink is quite suitable for youtube video uploads.
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We used capcut to edit the video captured on the Oppo Pad Air and posted it on youtube using the device.
[nextpage title=”Conclusion”]
The performance is decent and is usable for tasks like video editing, watching youtube, streaming video. As we have seen, we have no issues playing our favourite racing game on it.
The 10″ screen is easier to hold then a 12″ tablet. Somewhat annoying is the positioning of the power button which is not in line with the volume rockers. Enjoy watching streaming videos or youtube with better sound with Dolby Atmos. Seriously, it would be better if it came with a phone jack.
The Dual Window is also useful but it is limited to certain apps. As for the multi screen connect, you would need to pair it up with selected Oppo phone model.
Unlike the Samsung tablets, the device do not support a pen. There is also no 4G or 5G connectivity option.
If you are looking for a small, portable tablet for mobile computing, this device is worth considering.
Priced at S$399 on online retails Shopee.sg and Lazada.sg
Pros
- Lightweight and Slim design
- 10″ screen
- Dual Window
- SD card for external storage
Cons
- Lack of earphone jack
- Screen is too dim under strong sunlight
- no 4G / 5G connectivity
- Night photography features
Ratings
- Performance 7
- Design 9
- Features 8
- Usability 8
- Value for money 9
Rating 8.2 / 10