Not long after Honor Malaysia launched the Honor MagicPad 2 tablet (priced at RM2799) in September, the company launched another on the other side of the price spectrum. Featuring an affordable price tag of RM799, the Honor Pad X8a is an entry-level tablet for daily use.
This is very affordable for an 11-inch tablet and will appeal to those looking to buy a cheap device, such as students. So, is it a device worth buying? Read on to find out.
From a design perspective, the Pad X8a is a simple tablet without any particularly noteworthy features. The Space Gray variant we tested had a matte surface and was made of plastic, which is to be expected for a device in this price category. The frame was also made of plastic but still had solid build quality.
Back of the tablet
Only 7.25mm thick, it easily slips into a bag
Weighs 495grams, light enough to hold with one hand
Despite being an entry-level device, the Honor Pad X8a has four Hi-Res Audio speakers. They can produce clear and loud audio, so the audio experience when listening to songs and watching movies on it was pretty good. Moreover, its thin (7.25mm) and lightweight (495 grams) body makes it portable enough. While it's not a small tablet at 11 inches, you can still easily stuff it in a bag and carry it anywhere.
Mind you, the Honor Pad X8a doesn't have water resistance, so make sure you keep it in a waterproof bag. And don't use it by the poolside, near the beach or in a bathtub (trust us, some people do that).
In my opinion, the most standout feature of this tablet is its 11-inch screen. True, it's just a TFT LCD panel that doesn't deliver the level of colour, clarity, and contrast of AMOLED panels. However, it will provide satisfactory image quality for various uses, such as watching videos or reading documents. For an RM799 tablet, that's good enough.
While the average quality is ok for a tablet at this price, the bigger problem is the resolution. At 1920×1200, the Honor Pad X8a's pixel density is just 207 pixels per inch (ppi). This means that some images may look pixelated when viewed from close range. It's not always apparent or a problem, but something to take note of. The screen also has a refresh rate of 90Hz, which makes scrolling through websites or documents a smoother experience.
Decent screen for an affordable tablet
Another display issue to be aware of is that the peak brightness is only 400 nits. That means the Honor Pad X8a isn't suitable for use under direct sunlight, as the screen isn't bright enough to overcome glare. Also, it doesn't seem like the screen supports stylus use.
Now, let's move on to performance and user experience. The Honor Pad X8a features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 680, a 6nm chipset that's pretty old in 2024. It's not a chipset that'll produce blistering fast performance and smooth, high-quality gaming, nor can you use it for creative tasks like video editing. But for those who only want something to read the news on websites, browse social media or watch YouTube videos? Then, this tablet is more than up to the task.
The main problem you would encounter with performance is when switching apps. We tried opening several apps in one go but often experienced lag when switching between them. In addition, when we change any settings, the changes don't apply immediately. For example, when changing from Light Mode to Dark Mode, there's a noticeable pause before it switches mode.
Like many tablets, the Pad X8a lets you open and run two apps simultaneously. It works quite well, but won't feel very smooth. For example, if one of the apps is a web browser, there will be lag when scrolling down a web page. On the plus side, playing mobile games with this tablet is possible. Of course, that's assuming you're willing to set the graphics quality to low.
A low score on Geekbench
COD Mobile is considered playable
You could run 2 apps simultaneously
The tablet has a very large 8300mAh battery that can last more than a day. Even if we watch lots of YouTube videos and listen to plenty of songs on Spotify, the tablet still has some battery left at the end of the day. It's also nice that it supports microSD cards, which most mobile devices don't. However, one drawback of this tablet is its slow 10W charger.
How long does it take to charge an 8300mAh capacity battery with a 10W charger? It takes almost four hours to fully charge. With that in mind, we recommend charging this tablet overnight. At least the 10W charger is included in the box. But honestly, a 10W charger is a dinosaur in 2024. And Honor could have lowered the cost of the tablet further by not including it.
Charging from 11% to 95% takes 3 hours and 19 minutes
A 10W charger and USB-C cable are included in the box
For photography, the Honor Pad X8a has a 5MP rear camera and a 5MP front camera. But as expected, the quality of the photos was a bit lacklustre. However, that's not a major concern because almost nobody buys tablets to take pictures anyway. It does the job if you merely need the camera to scan documents or take simple pictures of objects to send in WhatsApp. For videos, it can record at 1080p resolution at 30fps.
On the other hand, the front camera is more important for a tablet and does well here. It delivers decent image quality for video calls, so you could use it for those Zoom meetings or online classes.
There is only one rear camera
No problem for video calls using the front camera
Sample picture from Honor Pad X8a camera
Overall, we were satisfied with the Honor Pad X8a and can recommend it to students who want to use the tablet to read slides, do their school assignments or participate in video calls. And when you want to relax, you can enjoy movies with the large screen and experience clear audio from its four speakers.
The performance leaves much to be desired, but that's expected for a tablet sold at this price. Our other complaint is the slow charging, which may or may not bother you, depending on how extensively you plan to use the tablet.
If you want alternatives, here are a few entry-level options we recommend. One is the Samsung Galaxy Tab A9 (RM699), a lighter 2023 tablet with Samsung's One UI. It's a smaller tablet with a less impressive screen but better performance at a lower price. The second would be the realme Pad 2 (RM899), which has performance comparable to the Galaxy Tab A9 but with a larger 1.5K screen that has a 120Hz refresh rate.
Anyway, that's a wrap for our review of the Honor Pad X8a. What do you think of this tablet? Let us know on our Facebook page and stay tuned to TechNave for more reviews like this.
Tech specs and features
- 11-inch IPS LCD screen, 1920×1200 resolution, 90Hz refresh rate, 400 nits peak brightness
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 chipset
- 4GB RAM + 4GB Honor RAM Turbo
- Internal storage 128GB, expandable with microSD up to 1TB
- 5MP rear camera + 5MP front camera
- 8300mAh battery
- 10W charging
- Android 14 operating system with MagicOS 8.0
- Four Hi-Res Audio speakers
- USB-C 2.0 port
- Supports 4G LTE network
- Wi-Fi 2.4GHz and 5Hz, Bluetooth 5.1
Pros: Large screen, microSD card support, and clear audio.
Cons: Slow charging, low max screen brightness, and poor performance.
Conclusion: Good for those who want a simple but affordable device.
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