Alongside the European unveiling of the Reno 8 series in Paris, Oppo also debuted the Pad Air – the first tablet from the company to be released in the UK and Europe.
This budget tablet comes in at £239 and is available to buy from 1 September on Amazon and the Oppo store. In addition, customers who purchase the top phone in the new Reno series – the Reno 8 Pro – will get this new device for free until 28 September.
This isn’t technically a global debut – the Oppo Pad Air already launched in China and India this summer.
The Pad Air features a Snapdragon 680 chipset with 4GB RAM and two storage options: 64GB and 128GB. The tablet boasts a 10.36in LCD display with a 2K resolution and an 83.5% screen-to-body ratio. It also houses quad speakers with support for Dolby Atmos.
The back of the tablet is slate grey, with the signature Oppo logo in the centre of the metal body and a textured strip where the camera module is. The Pad Air weighs 440g and is 6.94mm thick, making it useful for using on the go.
Under the hood, the tablet houses a 7100mAh battery – Oppo claims that this can deliver up to 10 hours of video calls. The tablet supports up to 18W fast charging, which is pretty sluggish by modern standards.
Oppo
Software wise, the Oppo Pad Air runs on ColorOS 12.1 – Oppo’s skin of Android 12. This has support for multi-device connectivity, for those who also have an Oppo phone. Oppo has confirmed that the tablet should get ColorOS 13 in the first half of 2023.
The tablet has Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 5.1, but sadly there’s no sign of a cellular version of the Pad Air coming to market.
Based on the price point, the Oppo Pad Air will be useful for day-to-day multitasking and watching videos, but doesn’t have the power or display chops for heavy-duty creative work. The cost is just shy of the Apple iPad 10.2in (2021) and the Lenovo Yoga Tab 11, but you can see more tablet options in our charts of the best budget tablets and best tablets overall.
Oppo debuted the tablet along with the Reno 8 Pro, 8 and 8 Lite for the UK and Europe, the Oppo Band 2, and a black variant of the Oppo Enco X2 earbuds.
Author: Hannah Cowton, Senior Staff Writer
Hannah Cowton is a Senior Staff Writer at Tech Advisor and Macworld, working across entertainment, consumer technology and lifestyle. Her interests and specialities lie in streaming services, film and television reviews and rumours, gaming, wearables and smart home products. She's also the creator of The London Geek, a geek culture and lifestyle blog.