ASUS Pad review: An Android tablet for work, play and everything in between

With a vibrant OLED display, lightweight design and seamless PC connectivity through GlideX software, the ASUS Pad makes a strong case as both an entertainment screen and a useful work companion

The ASUS Pad is one of those tablets that makes its size noticeable the moment you pick it up, but its weight almost makes you forget about it. With a large 12.2-inch display, this is not a compact tablet that you casually throw into a small bag, yet it feels remarkably easy to carry and hold for its size.

 

That lightweight design ended up being one of my favourite things about the ASUS Pad. The tablet is thin, the bezels are narrow and the overall profile feels unusually light for something with such a large screen. There is a small trade-off here. The thin bezels leave little room for your fingers when holding the tablet, and I did run into accidental touches from time to time. It is something you eventually get used to, but it can be annoying when you are watching something or scrolling through a page.

 

 

The payoff is a much more immersive display. Once you start watching a movie or a YouTube video, the thin bezels largely disappear from your attention.

 

And that is where the ASUS Pad makes a particularly strong case for itself.

The display is the star

The ASUS Pad has a 12.2-inch 2.8K OLED display of 144Hz refresh rate, stretched in a 3:2 aspect ratio. The numbers are good, but it is the way the screen looks in everyday use that makes it stand out.

 

The OLED panel is bright, vibrant and has the kind of contrast that immediately makes movies, shows and videos look better. Colours have plenty of punch without making the display feel unpleasant to look at, while the deep blacks are exactly what you would expect from an OLED panel.

 

Brightness is another strength. ASUS rates the display at up to 2,000 nits under certain conditions, and the screen remains quite easy to see even in bright environments. The large canvas also works well for productivity. The 3:2 aspect ratio gives you more vertical space than many conventional widescreen tablet displays, which is useful when reading documents, browsing the web or working with two apps side by side.

The four-speaker setup with Dolby Atmos support complements the display well. Dialogue is clear and the speakers can get loud enough for a room, making the Pad a very capable device for watching movies and videos.

 

Music is a different story. The sound profile is fairly flat and there isn't much of that low-frequency thump you might want when listening to music. It is perfectly usable for casual listening, but I would reach for headphones or a dedicated speaker for music.

GlideX is what makes the ASUS Pad interesting

The feature that changed how I used the ASUS Pad, however, was not the display. It was ASUS GlideX app.

 

The tablet comes with GlideX preloaded, while the companion Windows application can be downloaded from the Microsoft Store. Once set up, the Pad can work with a Windows laptop in several different ways.

 

You can use it as a secondary display, mirror your laptop's screen, remotely access the computer, transfer files between devices and receive notifications. The tablet and laptop can be connected over the same Wi-Fi network or through a USB connection.

 

I have used similar cross-device systems on other tablets before. They have usually worked, but there has often been some friction involved in getting everything connected and keeping the connection stable.

 

GlideX feels considerably more straightforward.

 

The apps on both devices are clean and easy to understand. Once the tablet and PC are connected, you can mark the connection as trusted, which makes subsequent setups much quicker. I did not have to repeatedly go through the entire pairing process every time I wanted to use the Pad with my laptop.

The screen extension feature is easily my favourite part of GlideX. The ASUS Pad effectively becomes a second monitor for the laptop, and the experience is smooth enough that I could actually see myself using it regularly while travelling or working away from my desk.

 

Having a 12.2-inch OLED screen next to a laptop is useful when you need more space for a document, browser window or reference material. It also gives the tablet a purpose beyond being another device for watching videos.

 

Screen mirroring and remote access are not quite as smooth. There is some noticeable lag, particularly with remote access, but it isn't severe enough to make the features unusable. They are more useful for specific situations than as something I would use all the time.

 

The broader point is that GlideX makes the Pad feel more connected to a laptop than most tablets I have used. It turns what would otherwise be a large Android screen into something that can slot into an existing PC workflow.

 

That gives the ASUS Pad a fairly interesting work-centric side while still leaving it as a very good entertainment device.

Performance is good, but this is not a flagship tablet

The ASUS Pad is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 8300, paired with 8GB RAM. It is a capable combination for the kind of things most people are likely to do on a tablet.

 

Apps open quickly, switching between applications is generally smooth and the tablet handles multimedia without much trouble. Casual gaming is also perfectly fine, and the large OLED display makes games look particularly good.

 

The limitations become more apparent when you push it harder.

 

The chip does not have the extra headroom that you need for running more demanding workloads. Heavier games require some compromises and long editing sessions are not really where this tablet feels most comfortable.

Battery life is another strong point

Battery life has been consistently good during my time with the ASUS Pad.

 

The 9,000mAh battery comfortably gets through more than a day of normal use, and with lighter usage, getting multiple days out of a charge is realistic. Standby performance is particularly good. The tablet doesn't seem to lose a significant amount of battery simply sitting unused, which makes it easy to pick up after a day or two and continue using it.

 

That matters more on a tablet than it might on a phone. Tablets are often secondary devices, so they can spend long periods sitting on a desk or in a bag. Good standby efficiency means you don't have to remember to charge it every time you want to use it.

 

The 45W charging support also helps when you do need to top it up.

There is one obvious omission

There is no keyboard bundled with the ASUS Pad.

 

At this price point, that is worth considering, particularly because ASUS has put so much emphasis on using the tablet alongside a PC. The GlideX functionality makes the Pad genuinely useful as a work accessory, but a keyboard would have made the proposition considerably more complete.

 

I recently used the HP OmniPad 12, which comes at a similar price point and includes a keyboard in the box. That makes the comparison difficult to ignore.

 

The ASUS Pad has a better argument for itself as a second screen and entertainment device, but anyone looking at it as a laptop replacement or a more serious productivity machine will have to factor the additional cost of a keyboard into the purchase.

Verdict

The ASUS Pad is an interesting tablet because it gets the fundamentals right and then adds features that genuinely change how you use it.

 

The 12.2-inch OLED display is excellent for watching movies, browsing and working. The lightweight body makes the large screen much easier to live with than you might expect, while the battery comfortably lasts through long stretches of use.

 

GlideX is the feature that pushes it beyond being just another large-screen Android tablet. The ability to turn the Pad into a secondary display for a Windows laptop is genuinely useful, and the fact that the setup is this straightforward makes it something I could see myself using regularly.

 

There are compromises. The thin bezels can cause accidental touches, the speakers are better for movies than music and the Dimensity 8300 chip falls short of flagship-level performance.

 

Still, after spending time with it, I found myself reaching for the ASUS Pad for two very different reasons. It is a very good screen for entertainment, and with GlideX, it becomes a surprisingly useful extension of a laptop.

 

That combination gives the ASUS Pad a clear identity in a crowded tablet market. It doesn't need to be the fastest tablet around to be useful. It just needs to be a really good screen when you want one and a useful second screen when you need one.

• Price: Rs 45,990

ASUS Pad: Unboxing

 

 

 

 

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