The Redmi Pad series tablets have always been one of the best mid-entry tablets that we can recommend, as they usually come with pretty good hardware features that many similar priced tablets fail to offer, this continues to be the case with the Redmi Pad 2, which is the successor to the first Redmi Pad that debut in 2022, what’s changed after three years and is it any better?

The Redmi Pad 2 is a very well-built tablet with an aluminum body just like its predecessor, it has a 11-inch IPS LCD display that pushes a 2560×1600 resolution with 90Hz refresh rate, the screen bezels are nicely uniformed and I am impressed that they managed to make the screen bezels slimmer than the more expensive iPad Air, though that can’t be said the same for the tablet’s body thickness, as it measures 7.4mm and weighs 519g, still not too crazy for an 11-inch tablet but you will definitely feel the heft when you hold it on hand.

The tablet has one of the best in class quad speakers with support for Dolby Atmos, though it doesn’t produce much bass that you get from more expensive tablets, it is definitely sufficient for music and movies without the need to connect a Bluetooth speaker. Best of all, you still get a 3.5mm headphone jack, which is omitted by many mid-range tablets today even though they have the absolute space to include one.

The Redmi Pad 2’s performance is marginally better than its predecessor with a Mediatek Helio G100 Ultra chipset, as it has slightly faster clock speeds than the Helio G99 but built on the same 6nm process and core architecture. Fortunately, the Redmi Pad 2 comes with up to 8GB RAM and 256GB of expandable storage, which does better in multitasking and allows you to store more media as compared to its predecessor.

On top of that, the Redmi Pad 2 is available in a 4G variant which isn’t available back on the Redmi Pad, this is useful for those who wants to stay connected without depending on public WiFi networks.

Running on HyperOS 2 based on Android 15, the Redmi Pad 2 performs fine as a mid-range tablet, I’m surprised that the tablet isn’t infested with any preloaded apps and games like you usually see on Xiaomi phones, this tablet isn’t exactly a fast device for switching between apps and running graphics heavy games, but it gets the job done fast enough that you won’t feel like throwing it away, unlike some similar priced tablets that still only comes with 4GB RAM, the Redmi Pad 2 is a lot more usable.

One superb feature of the Redmi Pad 2 is the ability to use it as a wireless extended display of your computer, it supports both Windows and Mac computers, and it is very easy to enable the feature by just swiping down the notifications shade and tap on the wireless display extension button, you will then see the tablet’s name when you are on the screen mirroring menu of your computer, this really enhances my productivity when I needed a secondary screen for reference when I’m on the go.

The Redmi Pad 2 is one of the few mid-range Android tablets to support Google’s Circle-to-Search, which lets you perform on-screen search by circling on things you want to know about, it also comes with preinstalled with Google Gemini and I find Gemini Live to work extremely well with the tablet’s rear 8MP camera, which is very useful for learning.

With a larger screen, the Redmi Pad 2 is naturally juiced by a much larger 9000mAh battery that offers up to 86 days of standby time and 17 hours of video playback time, I usually have to charge it every three days with an average 3 hour usage time per day which is very reasonable, though what isn’t great is the slow 18W charging input, as it takes around two hours to top up the tablet’s battery if it is entirely flat.

Overall, the Redmi Pad 2 has some meaningful upgrades from the previous model and is still one of the best recommendations if you are looking for a budget tablet, you should definitely skip the 4GB RAM+128GB storage model for the 8GB RAM+256GB model despite costing RM300 more, as it is going to be more usable and you won’t regret paying more.

The Redmi Pad 2 can be purchased here.