In my long career of reviewing tech gadgets, it's kind of mind-boggling that I never really reviewed a tablet until the HONOR Pad X8. As a successor to the HONOR Pad 8, you may think that the former is the superior variant but it's the other way around. With this, it's best that you read this review with slightly lower expectations, so here we go.
To begin, the X8 measures 240 x 159 x 7.55mm and weighs 460g which is kind of heavy but still compact. The bezels surrounding the display are rather thick but I guess that's what we should expect from a lesser variant. Compared with the original 8, the two tablets don't look that much different except for the rear camera.
The HONOR Pad X8 only comes in Silver Grey
The rear camera, volume rockers and power button
Hybrid SIM card tray, USB C and the bottom speaker
Apart from that, the X8 is slightly smaller in size since its LCD measures 10.1-inches and offers a FullHD 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution. There are a pair of 2.2cc sound speakers on the top and bottom which is nice so that when you turn it sideways, the sound would come out from the left and right equally. Speaking of sounds, I find the volume a bit imbalanced because when I set it on approximately 75%, it's quite soft but it can get quite loud after passing that mark. Volume strength may vary depending on the source but nonetheless, it still sounds fairly good.
In terms of visual performance, the X8 performs as well as it should. You can watch most video content fairly well in 1080p, but its rather low brightness and reflective screen leaves much to be desired. If you happen to come across some dark scenes in a movie or TV show, you may have a hard time seeing what is on the screen, especially if you're in a bright living room.
For the most part, video streaming is fairly good
Multi-Window is...
Hope they get to the bottom of this
I couldn't really test out the visual performance further due to some limitations. This is because for some reason, I was not able to update Netflix to the latest version and it seems that the app is not supported yet for the Magic UI 6.1 OS. On that note, I find it odd that you can still download Prime Video, HBO Go and Disney+ Hotstar (to which I'm not subscribed). I didn't try out the Multi-Window feature much either because the UI is kind of weird and not maximized as seen in the screenshot above.
Moving on to the performance, the X8 features a MediaTek MT8786 chipset, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. This isn't a lot of storage space, considering today's standards, but at least you can slot in a microSD card of up to 512GB (or a 4G SIM card if you want to). It should also be noted that the cameras for the front and back are 2MP and 5MP respectively.
A normal shot from the rear camera
Close-up shot from the rear camera
A selfie snap
Another one
Games such as Call of Duty: Mobile must be set to the lowest graphic settings to be playable
On paper, the tech specs above are pretty basic and that's what the X8 is. You can use it to do most of the basic social stuff, including playing some mobile games. However, don't even think that you can get the X8 to play graphics-intensive games. Apex Legends Mobile and Call of Duty: Mobile are fine in low graphics settings (albeit ugly-looking), but Diablo Immortal and Asphalt 9 are practically unplayable.
Thankfully, despite the standard 5100mAh battery, the X8 can last for quite some time. On normal daily usage including playing some simple pixel games, the X8 can last the whole day easily, or maybe even more than two days if you aren't using it continuously. On that note, the tablet doesn't support fast charging so it takes two hours to be fully charged.
Takes 2 hours to fully charge
So... that's pretty much it. Overall, the HONOR Pad X8 is a rather basic tablet for the entry-level market. Since it's meant for that purpose, I find the tablet just fine if that's what you're looking for especially if you need it to last longer and have its own 4G LTE connection. While the 10.1-inch display is full HD (something you don't see often in entry-level tablets) the fact that it's an LCD with low brightness does not take advantage of this. However, if you own an HONOR smartphone, you could take advantage of the ecosystem and use HONOR Share to transfer files seamlessly.
The price tag of RM899 seems reasonable although some people would argue that you might as well get a budget smartphone since it's more compact. For other contenders, it kind of falls flat to the Redmi Pad which features much better tech specs (90Hz 10.6-inch display, Helio G99 chipset, and 8000mAh battery with 18W fast charging) for the same price. On the other hand, the Nokia T20 also has a much bigger battery at 8200mAh with 15W fast charging but is priced at RM1099. However, only the X8 and T20 have 4G LTE connectivity built in. Either way, if you need such a tablet, you are welcome to get this one.
A perfectly normal tablet
HONOR Pad X8 tech specs and features
- MediaTek MT8786 chipset
- 4GB of RAM
- 64GB of storage (supports microSD card up to 512GB)
- Measures 240 x 159 x 7.55mm, weighs 460g
- 10.1-inch LCD FullView (FHD+, 1920 x 1200 pixels)
- 5MP rear camera + 2MP front camera
- Features 2.2cc sound speakers with HONOR Histen technology, Multi-Window, TÜV Rheinland Low Blue Light Eye Protection Certification, E-Book Mode, HONOR Share
- Supports WLAN, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooth 5.1, OTG and USB C connectivity
- Android S + MagicUI 6
Pros - A basic 4G LTE tablet with long battery life
Cons - Not for gamers, 64GB of storage
Conclusion - A perfectly normal Android tablet with 4G LTE
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