Xiaomi Pad 6: Excellent Android tablet with slight flaws – sinfa

Introduction

2021 saw a major breakthrough in Android tablets with the arrival of the Xiaomi Pad 5. This news brought excitement that had long been in short supply in the tablet space. Xiaomi has significantly changed the rules of the game by offering a great tablet at a fair price. This year, its successor, the Xiaomi Pad 6, appears on the scene, and we will see how successful this successor is.

Design and processing:

Xiaomi Pad 6 impresses us at first glance with its modern and elegant design. The aluminum body of the tablet looks durable and high-quality. Compared to the best tablets on the market, such as the iPad Pro or the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9, it may fall behind a bit, but for most users its processing will be absolutely sufficient. The main credit for this goes to Xiaomi, which decided not to try to unnecessarily compete with top models with a tablet, but to offer a quality alternative at an affordable price.

In terms of ergonomics, the 490 gram tablet can be comfortably held in one hand while browsing the web or reading e-books. The volume buttons are located on the top right while the power button is located on the top edge. This arrangement may confuse some users for a while, but they will soon get used to it. The only major absence in terms of control is the fingerprint reader. To unlock the tablet, it is therefore necessary to use either facial unlocking (2D), which works acceptably, or classic password entry.

Display

One of the most striking features of the Xiaomi Pad 6 is its display. This 11-inch 10-bit IPS LCD display offers a resolution of 2,880 x 1,800 pixels with a pixel density of 309 pixels per inch. The display supports a refresh rate of up to 144 Hz, which means a smooth experience when browsing a variety of content. In addition, the display is compatible with Dolby Vision and HDR10 technologies for an exceptional visual experience when watching videos.

Users have the option to choose between three color display modes: Original PRO Colors, Vivid and Saturate. With this option, you can adjust the color display according to your preferences. The display also allows customization of the color space (DCI-P3 or sRGB) and RGB. Adaptive colors, which change the color temperature depending on the ambient light, are comfortable for the eyes and increase overall comfort.

Thanks to the 144Hz refresh rate, the tablet seamlessly adapts to the content, whether it’s browsing the web, watching videos or playing games. The display copes well with content that has different refresh rates, so it guarantees a smooth experience for most applications and games. Although it is an LCD display, its performance and quality are great, you don’t have to regret the absence of an OLED panel.

Performance and hardware

The Xiaomi Pad 6 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 processor, which is a modified Snapdragon 865+. Combined with 6 or 8 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and fast UFS 3.1 storage with a capacity of 128 or 256 GB, this tablet is able to handle a wide range of tasks. We didn’t experience any lags or multitasking issues during our testing, but multitasking could be a problem at times with the 6GB RAM version. The Xiaomi Pad 6 handled common tasks including browsing the web, editing photos and videos, and even playing games with ease.

Playing games on the Xiaomi Pad 6 is a decent experience. A game like Genshin Impact ran smoothly on the tablet. The 144Hz screen makes gaming impressive and gamers can enjoy fast response times and smooth animations.

The 8,840mAh battery in the Xiaomi Pad 6 tablet is able to provide solid endurance on a single charge. Under normal use, which includes browsing the web, watching videos, and occasionally playing games, we got three days of use from the tablet before needing a charge. Fast charging with 33W support allows you to quickly top up the battery from 0 to 100% in less than an hour and a half. This is especially useful if the tablet dies in the middle of an important task.

Software and Features

The Xiaomi Pad 6 runs on the MIUI 14 for Pad superstructure, which is built on the Android 13 system. For users who have experience with Xiaomi mobile devices, the environment will be very familiar and intuitive. MIUI 14 for Pad is practically an extended version of MIUI for tablets with several additional functions. One of the significant improvements is improved multitasking. With the Xiaomi Pad 6, you can easily split the screen and run up to four applications at once. Two of them can be on the main screen, the other two can be launched as floating windows. This is especially useful if you need to perform several tasks at once.

One of the other interesting aspects of MIUI 14 for Pad is the ability to display the screen of your Xiaomi phone on the tablet and quickly move files using the drag and drop function. This is handy for quickly sharing content between devices. One of the complaints about MIUI is the placement of icons on the home screen. Some users may have issues with icons being placed too far apart and widgets taking up too much space. Hopefully this situation will be resolved in future updates.

Camera

Tablets aren’t usually known for their cameras, but the Xiaomi Pad 6 has a lot to offer in that regard. The rear 13Mpx main sensor copes with situations in good light and provides acceptable photo quality. Considering the price of the tablet, this is a pleasant surprise. Of course, in low-light conditions, the quality of the photos is lower, but still enough to capture moments.

The front camera with a resolution of 8 Mpx has a wide field of view and the FocusFrame function, which allows you to keep the subject in the frame even if it is moving. This feature is useful for video calls or taking photos. The front-facing camera was capable of taking solid selfies and worked well for video calls.

Conclusion

The Xiaomi Pad 6 is an interesting addition to the Android tablet market. It offers great performance, a high-quality display with a high refresh rate and many useful functions for multitasking. Its camera is surprisingly solid and the battery provides decent battery life on a single charge. The design and processing of the tablet are at a level, and the ergonomics will satisfy most users.

The essential element of this tablet is its affordability due to the functions offered. Xiaomi has once again proven that it is possible to offer a quality device at a fair price, which can be tempting for those looking for an affordable alternative to premium tablets.

However, not all features of the Xiaomi Pad 6 are top notch. For example, the missing fingerprint reader can be a nuisance. Although the Xiaomi Pad 6 offers a very decent performance, it is not comparable to the latest high-end tablets on the market.

All in all, if you’re looking for a quality Android tablet that won’t break your budget, the Xiaomi Pad 6 could be just the thing. It offers comfortable use, a quality display and useful functions for everyday multitasking. Despite some shortcomings, this is a tablet that can meet the needs of most users, especially if they use it mainly for entertainment, working with documents and surfing the Internet.