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Honor Pad V9 assessment: One-minute assessment
It’s onerous to not view the Honor Pad V9 by the lens of its potential as a rival to the new base-model iPad (2025) – it got here out simply days earlier than (for roughly the identical value), has comparable specs, and half of the best Android tablets available on the market are attempting to tackle Apple’s market-dominating juggernauts, anyway.
The extra I used the Honor Pad for this assessment, the extra I acknowledged its strengths – it takes the fundamental iPad precept, strips away the pointless extras, and provides in some helpful productiveness instruments.
Take, for instance, efficiency: as an alternative of burdening its pill with extra processing energy than you’d ever virtually have the ability to use, Honor has given the Pad V9 a extra restrained mid-range processor. However it’s compensated with twice the storage of the fundamental iPad, and extra RAM. From my testing, utilizing the gadget felt as easy and snappy as anybody would wish it to.
Software program is one other vital factor to notice. Within the pill area, Android used to battle in comparison with iOS, however quite a bit has modified in the previous few years, with loads of related productiveness and multi-screen options between the 2 operating systems. What’s extra, as an alternative of burdening the slate with 1,000,000 first-party apps that you could be or might not ever use, Honor has solely added a couple of helpful apps to the default Pad V9 bundle. A few of these proved pivotal to my expertise, too.
Particularly, there is a suite of pre-installed Microsoft Workplace-like apps that every provide some helpful capabilities, like the power to transform your docs into PDFs (or different file codecs), compile paperwork from numerous apps, and in addition mark up PDFs. The place was this expertise after I was doing my diploma?
The Pad V9 is a dab hand at leisure, too: it has eight audio system, not like the iPad’s two, and I discovered it nice for streaming music or making a surround-sound impact when streaming motion pictures and TV reveals. The show, whereas solely utilizing LCD tech, helps a 144Hz refresh fee and a pair of.8K decision, which ought to sate spec-heads.
Most of my gripes with the Honor Pad V9 are fairly minor, and ones you possibly can stage on the overwhelming majority of Android tablets: there’s no 3.5mm headphone jack, you possibly can’t broaden the storage, and there are some irritating software program quirks – I’m speaking particularly concerning the bizarre design of the short settings menu, which is unduly cramped.
Like its Apple rival, I can see the Pad V9 being helpful to college students, or individuals who want a light-weight enterprise companion and assume a laptop computer is simply too cumbersome. It’s not as totally featured because it must be to be classed as a creativity powerhouse, and it’s a bit too superior for individuals who desire a easy on-the-go film software. That stated, a couple of extras over the brand new base-model iPad imply it manages to beat Apple’s pill at its personal recreation (on paper, at the least – we’re at the moment within the technique of reviewing the latter).
Honor Pad V9 assessment: value and availability
- Prices £399.99, however solely on sale in restricted areas
- Bundled with some equipment, relying on area
You may choose up the Honor Pad V9 for £399.99 (roughly $515, AU$820) within the UK. On the time of writing, it’s solely on sale in a handful of European nations, in addition to in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, although Honor does promote some tech within the US and Australia.
The gadget you get varies by nation. Within the UK, there’s just one variant on sale, which has 8GB RAM and 256GB storage, and also you get a flip cowl and stylus included within the field. Different nations have totally different combos of storage, reminiscence, and bundled equipment. So, within the pursuits of equity, I’ve handled the pill as unbiased of its equipment when weighing up its worth.
On the time of writing, Honor’s web site (within the UK, at the least) would not truly checklist any equipment to purchase individually. So ensure you do not lose or break those you get within the field, as a result of replacements could also be onerous to search out.
The value roughly places the slate within the mid-range of Android tablets, a truth mirrored in its positioning in Honor’s line-up: it beats the Honor Pad 9 and Honor Pad X9, however doesn’t match the Honor MagicPad 2. For context, Apple’s new base-model iPad begins at $349 / £329/AU$599 for 128GB storage.
Its value marks the Honor Pad V9 as fairly good worth for cash when you think about its specs and options. It doesn’t fairly veer proper into ‘drop what you are doing and purchase it now!’ territory, however for those who discover a deal that reduces its price ticket by a wholesome margin, I might say it is a must-buy.
The Honor Pad V9 was introduced on the world tech expo MWC 2025 in February 2025, and went on sale shortly afterwards.
Honor Pad V9 assessment: specs
Listed here are the Honor Pad V9’s specs at a look:
|
OS |
MagicOS 9.0 (Android 15) |
Row 0 – Cell 2 |
|
Chipset |
MediaTek Dimensity 8350 Elite |
Row 1 – Cell 2 |
|
Reminiscence (RAM) |
8GB |
Row 2 – Cell 2 |
|
Storage |
256GB |
Row 3 – Cell 2 |
|
Show |
11.5-inch LCD |
Row 4 – Cell 2 |
|
Weight |
475g |
Row 5 – Cell 2 |
|
Battery |
10,100 mAh |
Row 6 – Cell 2 |
|
Charging |
33W wired |
Row 7 – Cell 2 |
Honor Pad V9 assessment: design
- Light-weight and straightforward to hold or maintain
- USB-C port however no 3.5mm jack
- Digicam bump creates some wobble
Honor hasn’t shaken up the pill world with the V9’s design, however it echoes the premium cleanliness of iPads (and most different Android tablets available on the market proper now).
The size of the Honor Pad V9 are 259.1 x 176.1 x 6.1mm – sure, it’s good and skinny, so it gained’t take up a lot area in a backpack. It weighs 475g, so it’s fairly mild, and I discovered it straightforward to carry for lengthy intervals of time (at the least, the size of time it takes to observe a film in mattress).
You may choose up the pill in grey or white, and as you possibly can see within the photos included all through this assessment, my pattern was a grey mannequin.
When holding the pill in panorama, the facility button is on the left edge whereas the amount rocker is on the top-left nook. There’s a USB-C port on the appropriate edge however no headphone jack to talk of. Holding the slate on this orientation signifies that the front-facing digital camera is within the high bar of the bezel, which I discover to be the very best positioning for video calls.
On the again are two round mounds. One, which barely sticks up from the floor of the slate, homes the flash, whereas the second holds the digital camera lens. It doesn’t stick too far up, however it does imply the slate has just a little wobble when put flat on a desk.
So far as I can inform, the Honor Pad V9 doesn’t have an IP score in opposition to mud or water ingress, so maintain it protected.
You will get some further use out of the Pad V9 with some equipment; the slate helps a keyboard folio and a stylus, the latter of which comes with its personal options. As talked about, although, I didn’t obtain both, so didn’t take a look at them, and might solely see them on sale in some areas. In different areas, they arrive bundled with the pill in numerous combos – it’s a bit complicated, in all honesty. In the event you can’t choose up the keyboard or stylus in your area, it’s very potential that third-party equivalents will go on sale earlier than too lengthy.
Honor Pad V9 assessment: show
- Giant 11.5-inch show
- 1840 x 2800 decision and 144Hz refresh fee
- Vary of eye consolation overlays
The Honor Pad V9 is fairly massive, as mid-range Android tablets go – don’t go taking that ‘9’ within the title to be its display screen measurement. As a substitute, the show measures 11.5 inches diagonally.
The show has a 2800 x 1840 pixel depend, which is billed by Honor as a 2.8K decision, and it helps a refresh fee of as much as 144Hz (although you may battle to search out an app or recreation that helps such a excessive determine). I couldn’t discover a determine on the max brightness however suffice it to say, it’s actually shiny.
The display screen makes use of LCD tech so it’s not bought the identical distinction or sharpness that your telephone (or a extra premium pill) might have, however this type of show is less complicated to see in direct daylight for those who’re working, say, in a well-lit cafe or espresso store. And Honor is clearly pulling out all of the stops to make sure it’s nonetheless legitimate as a streaming gadget.
The model touts that the display screen helps DCI-P3 colour gamut and 10-bit colour (principally, it will probably present a variety of colours, making movies look reasonable) and it’s additionally licensed by IMAX Enhanced. This principally signifies that it reaches a set of requirements within the visible and audio departments to precisely play IMAX content material – that is principally out there on Disney Plus, in response to IMAX’s web site, although Bravia Core, iQIYI, and Rakuten TV even have some such content material.
Like most rivals, Honor provides a couple of display screen modes to profit eye consolation or battery life. These embody eBook mode (which makes the show grayscale), eye consolation (which reduces the prevalence of blue colours), and Darkish mode (you have most likely used this earlier than, and it is a first rate battery-saving choice).
Honor Pad V9 assessment: software program
- Android 15 with MagicOS 9.0 laid excessive
- Vary of helpful pre-baked working apps
- A number of person interface quirks to be ironed out
The default software program for the Honor Pad V9 is MagicOS 9.0 – that’s Honor’s personal pores and skin, which relies on Android 15, and whereas it’s largely a graphical overhaul of Android, it brings a couple of helpful extras.
One among these is Honor Docs, a pre-installed suite of doc processing apps that look near-identical to the Microsoft Workplace equivalents (and may very well be them). There are further instruments, too, like the power to transform numerous paperwork to PDF and the aggregation of paperwork throughout your pill into one place, regardless of their file format.
In the event you’re shopping for the Pad V9 for productiveness causes, I can see these instruments being a core a part of your person expertise, and it was fairly helpful to have them pre-installed on the pill. They will be particularly helpful for college kids, or individuals who already personal Honor tech, as docs shall be shared between gadgets.
Android software program was poorly carried out on tablets, however in 2025, that’s not the case, with helpful options that benefit from the massive show measurement. It is nonetheless not excellent, although.
Working example, the quick-settings menu on the Pad V9, which is summoned while you swipe down from the top-right fringe of the display screen, is unnecessarily cramped and clustered. It makes it quite onerous to make use of, and I don’t see a motive why it needs to be shoved to date to the facet. Hopefully, an replace can repair this. You may see it within the picture above, and I do not perceive why it will probably’t be a bit wider to make use of extra of the empty display screen area.
All tech firms tout ‘AI options’ these days, and Honor has a couple of too, like the power to create assembly minutes out of your notes, summarize paperwork, or robotically add typesetting. They’re fairly light-touch, however that’s how I prefer it, and Honor hasn’t staked the complete use case of its pill on a couple of AI options.
Honor Pad V9 assessment: efficiency and cameras
- MediaTek Dimensity 8350 Elite provides middling processing energy
- 8GB RAM and 256GB storage (relying on area)
- Spectacular octo-speaker providing
Powering the Honor Pad V9 is a MediaTek chipset referred to as the Dimensity 8350 Elite. Regardless of the identify, this can be a mid-range chipset that we’ve seen in a couple of Oppo telephones and tablets earlier than.
Multi-core benchmark outcomes attest to this: over a number of checks, I bought a median rating of 4409, whereas the very best chipsets on telephones and tablets proper now attain as much as 6000. That goes to point out that this can be a pill designed extra for streaming and dealing than intensive processing.
Most video games I examined on the pill ran simply nice, however noticeably not as snappily or fast as tablets or telephones working high chipsets. When graphical choices have been out there, I didn’t push to the highest graphics as a result of concern of how the slate would reply, and the identical was true of framerate. So, the Pad V9 shall be nice for avid gamers, however there are higher choices on the market.
The slate has numerous reminiscence configurations relying on the place you reside. Within the UK, it’s on sale in a sole 256GB storage and 8GB RAM mannequin, however the model I examined had 12GB RAM, and sure areas have fashions starting from 128GB to 512GB storage. There’s no reminiscence card slot, so that you’ll have to stay to the storage of whichever variant you choose up.
I discussed earlier that the pill is IMAX Enhanced; that extends to the audio system too, with a whopping eight of them across the slate (on different tablets, you’re fortunate to get 4). They make motion pictures and TV reveals sound just a little bit higher, with audio unfold out to the left and proper in addition to up and down (relying on the video you watch). Nonetheless, the max quantity isn’t precisely deafening – streaming a film in mattress was nice, however after I tried to placed on some Netflix whereas I used to be cooking, I generally struggled to listen to what was being stated over the varied cooking noises.
On the digital camera entrance, you’re taking a look at a 13MP rear digital camera and an 8MP front-facer. They’re match for scanning paperwork, conducting video calls, and facial recognition, however you’re not precisely going to take creative snaps with sensors like these. There was noticeable noise in darker areas of images (even pretty well-lit ones), and I couldn’t see a distinction in photos taken in portrait mode versus the usual mode.
Honor Pad V9 assessment: battery
- 10,100mAh battery will see you thru a number of days of use
- 33W charging is gradual for a battery of this measurement
The Honor Pad V9 packs a ten,100mAh battery, which is a sliver larger than those seen on some comparably priced rivals.
Virtually, this will get you about two days of heavy use earlier than the pill must be charged. In my testing interval, which noticed me replicate my normal pill use (some phrase processing right here, a film evening there, and a good quantity of music streaming), I reached about 5 days of cost earlier than the slate wanted powering up.
If there’s a slight disappointment with the Pad V9’s battery, it’s the charging pace, which caps at 35W – on the worldwide launch of the slate, at the least, although the Chinese language model will get 66W. You’re taking a look at a charging time of a number of hours to fill that massive battery, so bear in mind to plug it in early if it wants a cost!
I discovered it best to cost the pill up in dribs and drabs, so I may guarantee it at all times had some cost, however by no means wanted to half with it for a whole working day.
Must you purchase the Honor Pad V9?
|
Attributes |
Notes |
Score |
|---|---|---|
|
Worth |
It provides all the pieces you want and nothing that you do not, at an inexpensive value. |
4 / 5 |
|
Design |
Although you have seen it earlier than, the design is interesting and minimalist. |
4 / 5 |
|
Show |
A terrific-looking show for the worth, with some helpful further eye consolation options. |
4.5 / 5 |
|
Software program |
A number of helpful built-in instruments and a sensible distance from AI instruments compensates for some person interface quirks. |
4 / 5 |
|
Efficiency |
Its chipset will run most apps simply, although there’s not as a lot processing energy as avid gamers or editors will need. |
3.5 / 5 |
|
Battery |
Its meaty energy pack will maintain the V9 working for days, however it’s gradual to cost again up. |
3.5 / 5 |
Purchase it if…
Don’t purchase it if…
Additionally take into account
Not satisfied by the Honor Pad V9? Listed here are a couple of different choices to contemplate:
| Row 0 – Cell 0 |
Honor Pad V9 |
iPad 11 |
Oppo Pad 3 Professional |
|
Value |
£399 |
£329 |
£499 |
|
Display screen |
11.5-inch, 1840 x 2800, 291ppi, 144Hz, |
11-inch, 1640 x 2360, 264ppi, 500 nits |
12.1-inch, 2120 x 3000, 303ppi, 144Hz, 900 nits |
|
Chipset & RAM |
Dimensity 8350 Elite + 8GB RAM |
Apple A16 Bionic + 4GB RAM |
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 + 12GB RAM |
|
Battery |
10,100mAh |
TBC |
9,510mAh |
How I examined the Honor Pad V9
I examined the Honor Pad V9 by utilizing it in lieu of my regular pill (an iPad Professional from years in the past) for a number of weeks, for all of the duties I usually use my iPad for.
This included typing up and enhancing paperwork, watching motion pictures, taking part in video games, and trying out the information. The mannequin I examined had 12GB RAM and 256GB storage, and I used it with out first-party equipment.
I have been reviewing merchandise for TechRadar since early 2019, protecting all the pieces from tablets and smartphones to headphones, health trackers, and electrical scooters.
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First reviewed March 2025