Honor Pad 9 – Review

Since its split from Huawei, Honor now has access to all Google apps and services and this has reinvigorated the company in Europe in terms of its smartphones and tablets. The Pad 9 is an affordable tablet that the company has introduced in 2024 and it offers premium features for a very low price.

Design and build

Even though its pricing is that of a budget tablet, the Honor Pad 9 feels and looks like a flagship. It is a blend of glass and aluminum, which is impressive to see on an affordable device. It is recommended that you get a case for the device because it is a bit slippery. It also has a distinctive circular rear camera module, similar to the OnePlus Pad. It is a bit on the heavy side, considering that it weighs 555g.

One side has volume controls and power button and you can press both buttons together to take a screenshot. The USB-C port is at the bottom, but you will not find a fingerprint sensor. The front-facing camera can be used for face unlock, but it does not offer the same security as a fingerprint sensor.

Screen and speakers

The 12.1-inch IPS LCD panel of the Honor Pad 9 is 2.5K, or 2560 x 1600. The screen offers excellent detail, with punchy and rich colors, making it a good choice for gaming and watching videos. It has good visibility and the display also comes with a 120Hz refresh rate. But, there is a ‘dynamic’ mode that adjusts the refresh rate at 60Hz. This makes the device responsive and fluid and also preserves battery.

The good display has been combined with quad stereo speakers, with two each at the top and bottom. They deliver room-filling and punchy audio that does not get distorted even at high volume. They also have good clarity, making them the best speakers you will find on an affordable tablet. But, there is no 3.5mm audio jack, so you will require Bluetooth speakers.

Specs and performance

The Honor Pad 9 is powered by a mid-range Qualcomm chipset from 2022, which is the Snapdragon 6 Gen and boasts 8GB of RAM. But, you do have the option of adding virtual RAM of 8GB as well. Even though the specs are quite average, it is surprising how good the device performs. It can do all the everyday tasks easily, whether it is YouTube, social media, emails, or web browsing. You can switch between them quickly and even multi-task without any complains.

Navigation is also quite fluid and responsive, all thanks to the 120Hz screen. But, the biggest surprise is the performance of the Pad 9 in gaming. The gameplay is mostly smooth and the responsiveness of the controls is also surprising. But, the only storage option you can get is 256GB and there is no option of microSD card, which means you will have to rely on cloud storage.