Honor Pad 9 review: big-screen budget tablet is good for casual users

The Honor Pad 9 enters a chaotic, fast-developing market of tablets that want to be an alternative to the dominant iPad models on the market. But while Apple's offering is still one of the best tablets for creatives of all types, it's not exactly cheap, and it also locks you into a closed-shop, expensive ecosystem. 

So to see how one of its budget rivals would do, I got the Honor Pad 9 in for testing over a number of weeks, trying out creative, art and entertainment apps, as well as watching videos and trying out some gaming on it too. 

Honor Pad 9: Key specifications

Design and display

The aluminium body on the 12.1-inch Honor Pad 9 is basically reusing an older Huawei tablet body, and is thicker than most latest-gen tablets, but on the other hand I've come to trust the build of most Honor devices I use for that same reason; they are made using tried-and-tested external and internal components, even if they might not be the very latest ones.

It's 6.9mm thick and weighs only 555 grams, so it's no bulkier than the recently reviewed Lenovo Tab P12 Matte Display, and slightly lighter too. It comes in just the one colour option, Space Grey, and the camera notch on the back doesn't extrude uncomfortably far and it's centrally placed along the top edge, so laying it down on its back won't result in a weird wobble, unlike many other tablets. The build quality is solid and doesn't suffer from the plasticky feel of some other budget Android tablets (or older-gen iPads), with absolutely no flex in the construction.

The back is sleek but not slippery, which is good because the model doesn't come with a stand or case included (those are available on Honor's store, along with a stylus that's only included when promotional offers are on, such as at the time of writing).

The screen, as mentioned, is a generously sized 12.1-inch IPS screen, and while it's not as bright and sharp as the OLED and AMOLED screens I've been getting spoiled by recently, we're treated to a crisp 2560x1600 resolution and up to 120Hz refresh rate, which is pretty darned good for a sub-£300 tablet if you ask me. The bezels are thin, which makes it look even more attractive to modern sensibilities.

There's a single USB-C port for charging, and outfiring speakers from each side of the tablet. The buttons along the long edge are your standard power button and volume controller.

Features and performance

Now, as the Honor Pad 9 is a budget tablet, you won't be seeing some of the features found in higher-end devices like the iPad Pro M4 or Huawei MatePad Pro 13.2, mainly due to the fact that the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 processor on board this device is not going to enjoy working with heavy rendering or 3D/animation software, but you'll still find rapid Bluetooth connectivity, an 8300 mAh battery, a decent 13MP rear camera and a slightly less fantastic 8MP selfie camera, and 256GB storage alongside 8GB RAM (plus an 8GB 'Honor RAM Turbo' booster, drawn from free storage in the CPU if I understand the explanation correctly), along with a sound system that far outperforms my expectations.

There's a blue-light-reducing Eye Comfort mode along with an e-book mode for reading focus that worked beautifully for me when I wanted to read before bed but didn't want to feel wired (actual books also work, but y'know). 

Then alongside the standard Google-provided security and privacy features of the Android-based HonorOS, you'll find digital wellbeing and parental control features, such as screentime controls and even a separate kids profile (essential for keeping my game-fanatic 8yo kid under some semblance of control...). 

Speaking of gaming, I did try some games on it, and the 120Hz refresh rate and very decent resolution made for a mostly very pleasurable experience, although some slightly more demanding mobile games, such as CSR 2, showed the edges of the tablet's graphic prowess.

I also tried out a suite of creative apps, and found it deals best with casual video editing (ideal for people using online content-creation platforms) and note-taking and drawing.

As benchmark testing proved, it put the Honor Pad 9 at the top of the budget range, performance-wise. It's a good 30% slower than the Huawei MatePad Pro in Geekbench testing, but if you don't need that much power, the asking price for the Honor is much more palatable...

Battery life is really impressive, considering the battery is smaller than many competitors offer, at 8,300 mAh. Running in balanced mode, I regularly got about 12 hours of moderate mixed use out of it, and 30W charging would charge it from empty to full in under 3 hours. 

Price

At the time of writing, the Honor Pad 9 is unavailable in the United States (but keep an eye on our widget below for when that changes). In the UK, the RRP is £299.99 but it's currently discounted at £249.99 on Honor's own storefront, which for what you get is an extremely attractive price point. 

Mainland Europe can grab it for €299.90, and if you keep a keen eye out for deals, you can regularly grab discounts or a free stylus thrown into the deal. 

Who is it for?

Casual or low-demand content creators (that is, ones who don't require an abundance of post-processing or special effects work), hobbyist artists and people looking for an affordable, eminently portable tablet with a big, bright screen, will find exactly what they want here. If you want to run more demanding creative software, you need to step up to the next price bracket, I'm afraid.

Buy it if:

• You want a tablet to watch (and make) videos
• You want to listen to music on your tablet
• You are a casual/entry-level content creator

Don't buy it if:

• You need above budget-class performance
• You need graphic prowess for gaming