The Xiaomi Mi Pad 5 is finally here, after months of rumors and speculations, and it seems the wait could well have been worth it. The tablet does look promising, at least the spec sheet would like us to believe that. A comparison with the iPad Pro launched earlier this year too does not seem out of place either, as the tablet, especially the Mi Pad 5 Pro seems well equipped to take on the Apple device.
Here is the lowdown.
Design and display
The Mi Pad 5, as already stated, comes in two flavors – the basic Pad 5 and the high-end Pad 5 Pro. Needless to say, it is the Pro model that is the more exciting of the two, more so given its extremely affordable price tag though the tablet has only been launched in China and it is not known when, if at all, the tablet will make it to foreign shores.
Coming to specs, both the tablet models sport the same design and come with 11-inch sized 2.5k LCD displays. That comes to around 275 PPI, which betters the iPad Pro’s 264 PPI pixel density marginally. The Xiaomi tablets otherwise have a peak brightness of 500 nits compared to 600 nits for the iPad Pro.
The Mi Pad however matches almost all other display characteristics of the Apple offering, which includes Dolby Vision, HDR10, TrueTone, a 120 Hz refresh rate, along with a 1500:1 contrast ratio. Bezels along the sides are quite thin – by tablet’s standards – and houses the front cam as well instead of having a separate cut-out for the same. Another common feature across the range is a quad-speaker arrangement with Dolby Atmos support.
Performance and price
For the processor, the Mi Pad 5 does not boast of the most powerful processor that an Android tablet is likely to come with. Instead, it is the Snapdragon 860 SoC that powers the Pad 5 while the Pad 5 Pro features the more powerful Snapdragon 870 chipset. The tablets run MIUI for Pad which can be seen as the same smartphone-oriented software that has been specially adapted for tablet devices.
The Mi Pad 5 comes with 6 gigs of memory along with 128 GB of storage that is priced at CNY 1999 ($310) while the same with twice the storage is priced at CNY 2,299 ($350).
With the Mi Pad 5 Pro, there is the same 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage for the starting model and is priced at CNY 2,499 ($390) while the variant having 6 GB RAM and 256 GB ROM will set one back CNY 2,799 ($430). Then there is the 5G model as well that forms the top-end model with 8 gigs of RAM and 256 GB of storage priced at CNY 3,499 ($540).
All dollar conversions are approximate estimates only for reference and aren’t likely to reflect the actual pricing.
All models are compliant with a stylus and keyboard cover that is priced CNY 349 and CNY 399 respectively.
For comparison’s sake, the 11-inch iPad Pro is powered by the Apple M1 processor that is coupled to an 8 GB RAM and 128 Gb of storage. The tablet starts at $799.
Camera
Coming to optics, both models sport a pill-shaped camera module at the rear that reminds us of the company’s Mi 11 smartphone. The base Pad 5 comes with a single 13 MP rear shooter and an 8 MP front cam. With the Pro model, things remain the same save for the addition of a second 5 MP depth sensor at the rear. Things get even better with the 5G version where the primary cam is enhanced to 50 MP, with everything else remaining the same.
Battery
For power, the base Pad 5 gets an 8,720 mAh battery though that gets downgraded slightly to 8,600 mAh on the Pro model. The Pro model gets a 67W charger while the same for the Pad 5 stands at 33W.
Availability
The Mi Pad 5 series has only been introduced in China though there is no word yet about its actual market availability. Also, it is not known when the tablet will make it to other parts of the world. In fact, there is no surety of that happening either.
With a keen interest in tech, I make it a point to keep myself updated on the latest developments in technology and gadgets. That includes smartphones or tablet devices but stretches to even AI and self-driven automobiles, the latter being my latest fad. Besides writing, I like watching videos, reading, listening to music, or experimenting with different recipes. The motion picture is another aspect that interests me a lot, and I'll likely make a film sometime in the future.
