In 2000, with Windows XP, Microsoft co-founder and then-CEO Bill Gates predicted tablet computers would take over the world. We are in 2023; tablets aren’t pervasive, but are certainly a mainstream form of computing. However, this shift didn’t happen because of Microsoft. It happened because of Apple, which started developing new touchscreen technology and software integration paradigms for a tablet in the mid-2000s. It culminated in the original iPhone in 2007 and the first iPad in 2010. The iPad followed the trend of the iPhone and became one of the most successful consumer electronics products of all time. The iPad 2 was also the last product Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs launched in 2011, just months before his death in October that year. While Apple strode ahead with its iOS-equipped tablets, Microsoft and Google were left behind with their various Windows and Android platforms.
Despite limited business sense and dramatic platform costs, Google and Microsoft tried hard to compete with Apple. Google first came out with Android Honeycomb, first seen on the Motorola Xoom tablet. Microsoft did a complete redo of Windows with Windows 8 and Windows RT, which first debuted on the original Surface tablets.
Google had some initial success with its Nexus tablets, such as the Nexus 7 made by Asus. But, for the most part, the Android tablet market had only one relevant player – Samsung, which still makes its Galaxy Tabs. Microsoft got burnt by Windows 8 as its new “Metro” UI (user interface) wasn’t well received by average users despite critical acclaim. This is what resulted in another major design change with Windows 10 and then more refinement with Windows 11. Eventually, Microsoft did turn its Surface tablets into a relevant business that competed with the high-end iPad Pro models. But for the masses, tablets only meant iPad.
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Foldables are pushing Android tablets forward
But thanks to foldables, this is changing again. In 2019, when Samsung launched the first Galaxy Fold Z, much work had to be done to optimise Android apps and the operating system UI for large-screen devices. Samsung did a lot of the leg work, but then even Microsoft joined hands with Google to do some work on the Surface Duo dual-screen phone. In the time that has passed, Google has been working with its Android developer community to fix the issue of Android tablet apps, which have systemically not been optimised for the larger screen of tablets. This issue is being fixed not just for tablets but also foldables, as when the phone is unfolded, it is fundamentally a tablet.
This is why Google announced its Pixel Tab at Google I/O – a developer conference it organises annually in California – last year but will only launch it this year after the Google I/O event next week. The tech giant announced the Pixel Fold, its first foldable phone, earlier this week, and plans to unveil it at the 10 May conference. Like Google, OnePlus also announced its plans to launch its first foldable later this year. It also announced the OnePlus Pad, which I have been testing for over a week. The OnePlus Pad points toward the revival of the Android tablet ecosystem – an ecosystem for affordable tablets –as the premium segment is dominated by Apple. Many business users now opt for the Windows-based Surface, while some fringe Android users go for Samsung’s solutions.
Because foldables will be in vogue – especially in the premium segment of a fast slowing smartphone market – Android apps for tablets will get better fast, which is why more and more manufacturers will have better tablets. And the OnePlus Pad is an excellent tablet in its own right, regardless of the app situation.
For normal users, tablets are better – they have a better webcam, better screen, better speakers, and a lighter OS, making the device more responsive on meagre computing hardware. Better battery life and slimmer design are other key advantages users get.
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The OnePlus pad is a great first tablet
The OnePlus Pad encompasses all these features and more. At just 6.6mm, it is a svelte device with a bigger screen than the 11-inch iPad Pro;11.6 inches with an impressive 144-hertz refresh rate. It has an LED screen, but a darn good one. It also has really loud speakers, which are quite decent for watching movies and playing games. The cameras, particularly the front-facing ones, are oriented for landscape use, which is not the case with the iPad. More importantly, OnePlus has optimised Oxygen OS according to the tablet UI paradigm, making it simple and almost iPad-like in use.
It also has a keyboard folio and stylus that work similarly to the Apple Magic Keyboard with the trackpad and Apple Pencil. Now, all of this doesn’t work as seamlessly – because Android is not as seamless or well-integrated as iPadOS, and you’re also talking about a product that maxes out at Rs 39,999 for the top-of-the-line model with 256GB storage.
Coming to its power, if you want to edit videos on the go or play games, it comes with the MediaTek Dimensity 9000, its flagship chip from last year, which competes with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. In iPad terms, it will be faster than the A12Z powered 2020 iPad Pro but slower than the newer iPad Pro and Air models. That’s a lot of power for any normal person, and it’s faster than a similarly priced Windows notebook with better all-around hardware. Of course, the keyboard and stylus cost extra.
Battery life is excellent, thanks to its 9,510mAh battery that can match an iPad Pro and charge faster due to the 67-watt fast charger.
Now, it is up to Google to get its house in order, show us an intuitive new UI for tablets at Google I/O, and motivate developers to make more apps for tablets. As Apple has proven, this is a lucrative market. But for Android app developers, with low-end smartphone sales slowing down, this is existential as foldables are the future.
Sahil Mohan Gupta is Editor, Technology at Acko Drive. Views are personal.
(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)