Honor Pad V9 Review: The iPad Challenger

Price when assessed

Not available in the US

How time flies. Just over a year since we have rated the Honor Pad 9, the company has returned with a follow-up that solves many of the problems we had with that affordable tablet.

Shifting focus to mid-range has done wonders here, and the Honor Pad V9 is a worthy successor in just about every way to the cheaper Honor Pad 9.

It has improved performance, a sharper display and the whole thing just neuriede together with everything we threw in it. Although we acknowledge that there are fewer Android tablet apps than on the iPados side of the fence, this Sub-£ 400 model feels like a real challenger for Apple’s dominance.

Design and Build

• Comfortable to hold on for a long time
• Durable
• Magic Pencil sold separately, but available in bundles

On a quick look you may be shocked to find out that the Honor Pad V9 is not made by the Cupertino Giant. The 11.5 -inch display has a narrow, curved ring, and even the speaker grilles look a lot familiar for anyone who spent time with an iPad.

In the box it is only the tablet, with the magic pencil of Honor sold separately (although bundles are available), and the build quality is impressive everywhere – there is no way in which the tablet itself bends when you slide it into a bag.

There is a volume rocker on the right edge and a sleep/alarm button at the top, while the basis has a USB-C port for charging and data. If you have the magic pencil, it confirms magnetically on the right.

On the back, the Honor Pad V9 proudly announces that it is “Imax Enhanced”, where we will come soon, and there are two cameramodules. One is the AI ​​camera, while the other is a more traditional snapper, but the more spherical shape of the latter means that it is not so easy to type on the tablet while it is laid flat.

There is also no headphone connection, but from an M2 iPad Pro I was happy with how comfortable the Honor Pad V9 is to hold a long period of one hand.

Screen and speakers

• 11.5-inch LCD panel
• 144Hz renewal percentage
• 2800 × 1840 resolution

One of our favorite things about this tablet is that the display is large and clear and almost believes it is an LCD panel. While OLED would undoubtedly have increased the prices, the 11.5-inch screen here is fantastic.

Although Android loves his primary colors, it has been a while since we look the will of Google documents so lively, and it is all as smooth as you could ask for a refresh speed of 144Hz and 500 Nits of brightness, which corresponds to his rivals.

The resolution of 2800 × 1840 is marginally less than the Lenovo Yoga Tab Plus, but you would not know, and it is beautiful and clear for just about everything, even in sunlight.

In fact, the display has an industrial-first layer on top, which minimizes stains without influencing the reaction capacity.

It has been a while since we look the will of Google documents so lively

Regarding what the ‘IMAX Enhanced’ is all about, it’s hard to say, but it’s certainly color accurate and feels great to watch movies.

Another aspect of this is his eight-speaker drink, making it a fantastic media consumption device, whether that is films, TV or music. In fact, it feels a bit like witchcraft to get so much bass out of this little chassis.

Specifications and performance

• MediaTek Dimensity 8350 Elite
• 8 GB or 12 GB RAM, depending on the region
• 256 GB Internal Storage

Although the Honor Tab V9 is not what you would call a “flagship” in terms of performance, it certainly put it above the expectations created by its modest price tag.

Playing Genhin impact was great with the clear display, and at no time it felt like it was struggling, and the same could be said of games such as PUBG Mobile.

It is not the same quality of visuals that you would get at the Lenovo Yoga -Tabplus, for example, but it does enough with what you throw there.

In terms of storage, there is bad news for European customers. Although some countries get 12 GB RAM to collaborate with the chipset, in Europe, you can only get a version of 256 GB with 8 GB RAM.

That is disappointing, because there is no expandable storage and is one of only two complaints that we have with this fantastic tablet.

Lenovo Idea Tab Pro Benchmarks

Cameras

• 8MP camera on the front
• 13MP Reversing camera

Our other complaint? The cameras. It is not that they are bad, but they are essentially identical to those of the original Honor Pad 9 last year.

Images suffer enormously if light slightly less than is optimal and details and color are washed away fairly quickly. If you are looking for a tablet to take photos, this is probably not the one for you (although we are sure that you agree that this is a relatively small niche).

Our other complaint? The cameras

The front camera, despite the fact that it is only an 8MP sensor, it actually does better if you have a lot of light. If not, you will see decreasing return fairly quickly.

Battery and charging

• 10,100 mAh battery
• Long loading times
• 45W Max charging

The extensive cell in the Honor Pad V9 keeps you running for, well, ages. In our tests with PC Mark’s Work 3.0 Benchmark we hit 13 and a half hours.

Fortunately this time you can make it much faster, instead of the slow load of the Honor Pad 9. The V9 can be fully charged in less than an hour, making it ideal for everyone en route, and there is also a charger in the box (which is not always a given).

Software and Functions

• Android 15
• Magicos 9.0 Overlay
• No confirmation about osupgrades yet

The Honor Pad V9 contains the latest version of Android with Android 15, which is just as good because Honor still has to respond (at least in our research) about how long users can expect new updates for the Google platform.

For our money, Magicos 9.0 is one of the best-looking and clearest Android overlays, so we are happy that it is here on such an impressive display. It is a big focus, as you would expect, is AI productivity tools.

Instead of just hit those two letters on the box, however, the honor has given more quantifiable use for technology. It can accelerate notes with AI transcription, organize your documents and updates the Apps app for Honor Docs means that it can solve comparisons immediately, even when it is by hand.

Magicos 9.0 is one of the best-looking and clearest Android overlays around

Honor Free Space also makes floating window support for multiple apps, such as viewing a recording, making notes and organizing documents.

So our only small problem is that there is simply not the same level of tablet apps in the Play Store as in Apple’s own App Store. For example, our PCmark 3.0 battery test has no native tablet version, so it runs in a “floating window”.

You would hardly notice the difference, but it is worth checking the apps for which you buy an honorary path V9 are all compatible.

Price and availability

As we said earlier, the Honor Pad V9 is available for £ 9.99, but EU customers only get 8 GB RAM and 256 GB of storage. At the time of writing you can buy a bundle of Amazon for £ 399.99, consisting of the tablet, magical pencil and flip loss. But the better deal is to buy directly The Honor websiteWhere the same bundle is available for only £ 299.99.

If you look further away, you can find 12 GB RAM and 512 GB of storage in other regions, so depending on your region it might be worth watching an imported model.

If this is not the right tablet for you, view our top recommendations in our round-up of the best tablets we have tested. We also have recommendations for the best budget tablets.

Do you have to buy the Honor Pad V9?

Apart from two small flies in the ointment, which are the lack of expandable storage and some mediocre cameras, the Honor Pad V9 is one of the best mid-range tablets that you can now buy. It is a fantastic device that can handle just about everything that you can throw there.

Specifications

• Processor: MediaTek Dimensity 8350 Elite
• Security: access code, face recognition
• Internal storage: 256 GB
• Expandable storage: no
• Sensors: none
• Memory (RAM): 8GB
• Battery: 10,100 mAh
• Display: 11.5-inch LCD
• Resolution: 2800 × 1840
• Rear camera: 13MP
• Front camera: 8MP
• Dimensions: 259.1 mm x 176.1 mm x 6.1 mm
• Weight: 475G
• Gates: USB-C port
• Bluetooth