Finally, an Android tablet that I wouldn’t mind putting my iPad Pro away for

jun / 2025

Follow ZDNET:Add us as a preferred source may arguably be the company’s most ambitious product in 2025. It has a bigger screen, a bigger battery, and even a bigger speaker system this time around. There’s also a bigger price tag, but $699 for the Pad 3 has felt more reasonable as each day of testing has gone by.

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This summer, I used the Pad 3 as a laptop replacement for a full month, and it proved to me that $699 may be all you really need for a premiumAndroid tabletexperience.

Of course, you’ll want to surround the tablet with capable accessories, which OnePlus almost gets right. The Android software experience can have its off days, but the overall experience has been just as good, if not better, than what I’ve gotten out of Samsung and Apple tablets that cost hundreds of dollars more.

The moment I unboxed the OnePlus Pad 3, I knew I wouldn’t have a problem putting down my 13-inch MacBook Pro for it. The latest model has a 13.2-inch display (up from last year’s 12.1-inch), which makes a meaningful difference for readers eyeing a tablet for work and play. Anything larger, like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra’s 14.6-inch display, would be overkill for a tablet.

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Understandably, a 13-inch tablet is still much bigger than most options on the market, and folks who prefer something more portable and easy on the wrists may want to look elsewhere.

To ease the potential pain, OnePlus has slimmed down the Pad 3 from its predecessor, going from 6.59mm of thickness to just 5.97mm. It’s no M4 iPad Pro slim, but sleek enough to easily slip into a backpack sleeve or rest cleanly on a desk.

OnePlus has equipped the Pad 3 with the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chip that powers its flagship OnePlus 13 phone, and the performance has been reliably fast. To plan an upcoming trip, I ran variations of multi-app workflows, including Gemini, Google Maps, YouTube, Chrome, and even a banking app.

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Besides a few software-level hiccups, like the YouTube video player disappearing after expanding it on Open Canvas, the Pad 3’s multi-window feature, the tablet never showed frustrations with loading graphics, responding to inputs, and keeping services running in the background. I gracefully danced between on-screen gestures, keyboard shortcuts, and trackpad swipes, much like how I remembered doing with the $1,099 iPad Pro last year.

Speaking of, the Pad 3 comes fitted with three new accessories, and here are my key takeaways for each:

• Smart Keyboard: A kickstand-style keyboard case with spacious keycaps and tactile feedback that reminds me of high-end laptops. I found the default trackpad speed too sensitive and fast for parsing through text-heavy workflows, but I was able to dial it down within the settings. I still wish the case had a floating design, much like Apple’s Magic Keyboard cover, as it’s almost unusable on a lap or smaller desk (think cafe tables).
• Folio Case: The slimmer and less bulky Folio Case was the ideal accessory for casual browsing and viewing. Thanks to its origami-style back cover, it features several orientations, all of which keep the Pad 3 well stabilized.
• Stylo 2: Now with 16,000 different levels of pressure, the stylus is optimized for precision inputs and quick note-taking. It magnetically attaches to the top side of the tablet (when set horizontally) and has a textured grip that reminds me of old-school number two pencils.