Oppo Pad Air review

8MP on the back and 5MP on the front

As it's usually the case with tablets, the camera setup isn't anything to write home about. There's only one camera on the back - 8MP, f/2.0 with autofocus, while the front has a 5MP, f/2.2. They both do just fine for general use, like video calls or sending pictures over messaging apps.

We took a couple of samples with the back camera to see how it performs, but we were kind of disappointed, even for a tablet. Compared to most competitors, Pad Air fails to deliver decent enough images. Saturation is lacking, contrast is low and dynamic range is narrow. And those photos were taken on a nice, sunny day.

Main camera samples

The front-facing camera isn't impressive either, but in good lighting conditions, it can get the job done for casual video calls. Still a bit too fuzzy, though.

Selfie

Video recording capabilities cap at 1080@30fps, and the result is also underwhelming. The video is barely usable - it's extremely soft, with a narrow dynamic range and washed-out colors.

Verdict

The Oppo Pad Air is a budget tablet making it a bit hard for us to complain, but at the same time, the device doesn't really stand out from the crowd with memorable features or hardware. The Pad Air is okay in most aspects and drags behind the competition in others.

The display has a contrast shift at an angle, and it's 60Hz only; the camera image quality is appalling, battery life is below average, and even the charging speed isn't competitive. The set of four speakers failed to impress as well.

On the other hand, the build quality is nice; it has a microSD card slot, performance is mostly on par with the competition, it's lightweight, and it has capable software with some advanced multitasking functionalities.

Unfortunately, it's hard to recommend the tablet at the current price. At INR17,000 in India, it's a direct competitor to the Redmi Pad and it's a much better choice. At €300 in Europe for 4/64GB, it's downright expensive as there is a small gap within reach of the Xiaomi Pad 5, which is a device in a whole different market segment. Not to mention the older Realme Pad, which at least as good and costs a lot less.

Pros

• Nice build quality, thin and lightweight design.
• microSD card slot, USB OTG with reverse charging.
• Feature-rich and highly customizable ColorOS 12 based on Android 12.

Cons

• Display is not very high quality.
• Battery life and charging speed not great.
• Camera image quality is poor.
• Speakers sound dull and not very loud.