OnePlus Pad 3 Review: A Premium 13” Tablet That Rivals Samsung

	OnePlus Pad 3: MSRP $699 (Without Keyboard) The OnePlus Pad 3 is a slim, sleek and attractive Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite-powered flagship Android tablet that makes very few compromises and delivers superb value.
	Sleek, premium design Beautiful 13.2-inch display Outstanding performance Fantastic speaker array Massive battery with 80W charging Delightful user experience	Lackluster cameras No keyboard backlight

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OnePlus Pad 3: Hardware, Design, And Performance

With the Pad 3, OnePlus is offering a sleek (5.9mm thin) aluminum tablet with a beautiful 13.2-inch 3.5k LTPS LCD (3392 x 2400 pixels, 7:5 aspect ratio, 144Hz refresh rate, 900 nits HBM). It’s powered by Qualcomm’s mighty Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC, paired with 12 or 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM and 256 or 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage. There’s a 12,140mAh battery under the hood, which supports 80W SuperVOOC fast wired charging.
OnePlus even includes an 80W SuperVOOC fast charger in the box. The Pad 3’s cameras are basic, with a 13MP f/2.2 shooter with autofocus on the back and 8MP f/2.0 fixed-focus selfie camera in front. It features a handful of shooting modes, including time lapse, night and panorama (main only), portrait (selfie only), plus a separate document scanner app. Video recording maxes out at 4k 30fps (rear) and 1080p 30fps (front).
In terms if its design, the Pad 3 looks like any other modern tablet, with slab sides, rounded corners, and small, even bezels all around. The rear shooter and LED flash are housed in a horizontal pill-shaped island in the Pad 3’s back. With the tablet in landscape mode, the selfie camera is centered in the top bezel while the power/lock key and volume rocker are located on the sides, in the top left corner, and the USB Type-C port is on the right edge.
Other specs include WiFi 7 (802.11be), Bluetooth 5.4, USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps), dual mics, and face unlock. There’s no GPS or fingerprint sensor, however. On the audio front, the Pad 3 comes with a whopping eight speakers (four woofers and four tweeters). These are mounted on the left and right sides, and sound fantastic. In the US, Europe, and India, the Pad 3 is available in Storm Blue, but India also gets a Frosted Silver version.

We didn’t have time to play games for very long, but the Pad 3 does a fine job with sustained workloads, dropping to just 81.5% of its peak performance after 20 iterations in 3DMark’s Wild Life stress test. Overall, performance is in-line with the latest flagship mobile devices powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite.
Battery life is solid too. After using it casually for a week, we finally had to charge the tablet yesterday. While writing this review in Google Docs, we lost 15% of charge in 2.5 hours with the keyboard attached and the screen brightness set to 75%.

Speaking of which, the Pad 3’s display is excellent overall, and bright enough in most conditions. The eight speakers array sounds loud and clear, with decent bass for a tablet. The only area where the Pad 3 falls short is imaging. Honestly, its shooters are lower quality than we expected, even for a tablet. Photos are typically overexposed and lack detail, colors are muted, and dynamic range is lacking. Our MacBook Air takes better pictures.

OnePlus Pad 3: Software, AI, And User Experience

The OnePlus Pad 3 runs OxygenOS 15, which is based on Android 15, and continues to deliver a wonderful user experience. It’s fast and slick, clean and polished, yet doesn’t stray too far from stock Android. But what really sets OxygenOS 15 apart – especially on a tablet – is Open Canvas. This multi-window interface, which was first introduced with the OnePlus Open, is super intuitive and makes juggling multiple apps a cinch.

Obviously, the Pad 3 also packs a bunch of AI features, including OnePlus’s AI Toolbox, which makes it easier to write, translate, and summarize documents, in addition to Google’s Circle To Search and Gemini. You even get OnePlus’ AI-based image editing tools in the Photos app, including AI Eraser, AI Detail Boost, AI Unblur, and AI Reflection Eraser. We suggest you read our OnePlus Open and OnePlus 13 reviews for more info on those features.
With the Pad 3, you can even share files with other devices, mirror your phone’s screen on your tablet, and remote control nearby laptops. This is made possible with the O+ Connect app, which is available for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and Windows. This functionality is built right into the Pad 3, and most recent OnePlus and Oppo devices. We previously tried O+ Connect – with mixed results – to access a MacBook Air with the Oppo Find N5.

O+ Connect works quite well if you simply want to transfer files, AirDrop style, between OnePlus, Oppo, and Apple devices. We just found the permissions you have to grant the O+ Connect app to remote control your Mac a little too broad for our liking, and not worth the security risks. Your mileage may vary. Finally, OnePlus is promising three years of OS upgrades and 6 years of security updates for the Pad 3.
In all, the only thing really holding the Pad 3 back is technically Android, and specifically the lack of tablet-specific and tablet-optimized Android apps. This is where the iPad and Apple’s tablet app ecosystem truly shine. If you’re just using the Pad 3 for basic productivity, communication, and entertainment – including gaming – you're all set. But where are all the great content creation apps for visual artists and musicians?

OnePlus Pad 3: Accessories

Our review unit came with three accessories: the OnePlus Pad 3 Smart Keyboard ($200), OnePlus Stylo 2 ($100), and OnePlus Pad 3 Folio Case ($50). We mostly used the Pad 3 together with the Smart Keyboard, but we didn’t use the Folio Case much. The Stylo 2 is identical to the one that shipped with last year’s OnePlus Pad 2. It supports 16,000 pressure levels, double tap to switch tools (instead of a button), and haptic feedback.

It’s pleasant to type on, and the trackpad is responsive. You’ll even find an NFC tag on the palm rest to instantly pair other OnePlus and Oppo devices. The only problem we ran into is that when pressing on the trackpad to click on something, the mouse cursor often moves away from the click target slightly, resulting in missed or erroneous clicks. Obviously, this won’t be an issue if you enable using tap to click, but we prefer press to click.
Also, the Smart Keyboard lacks a backlight, which is an unfortunate omission considering the $200 price tag. But overall, these are well rounded and useful accessories. We wouldn’t consider buying the Pad 3 without the Smart Keyboard unless you plan to only use the tablet for entertainment or gaming. As for the Stylo 2, it’s pretty great, but may be worth skipping unless you prefer taking handwritten notes or doodling.

OnePlus Pad 3: Our Takeaway

The OnePlus Pad 3 is one of the best Android tablets available today. It boasts a gorgeous 13.2-inch display, speedy Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, 256GB base storage, plenty of RAM, quality speakers, massive battery with 80W fast charging, and a pleasant user experience thanks to Open Canvas – all wrapped in a slim, premium package that costs just $699. That’s $200 less than Apple’s 256GB iPad Air 13 and $400 less than Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra.