Asus Pad Review: A Good Tablet Missing Key Pieces

Like HP with its OmniPad 12 tablet, Asus has made a comeback after a decade. Back in 2016, we saw the launch of the ZenPad 8. As I mentioned in my last couple of reviews, RAM prices have soared through the roof. With laptop prices getting out of hand, and even smartphones becoming unaffordable, tablets are the secondary value-for-money option for on-the-go entertainment.

The ASUS Pad (T3201), on paper, seems like a winner. It’s once you look at it from afar that you realise it's missing one crucial piece of the puzzle. It’s got a sleek design, a tandem OLED display, quad speakers, and more.

The Asus Pad retails for ₹45,990 for the 8GB RAM and 128GB storage variant. The higher-end 8GB/256GB model is available for ₹49,990. Compare that to HP’s recently launched OmniPad 12, which starts at ₹48,999 and goes up to ₹54,999 for the 256GB storage variant.

As tablets become productivity devices, you need a keyboard accessory to complete the picture. Increasingly, people use these tablets to attend online classes, draft long emails, write reviews (I’ve written countless of them on my Xiaomi Pad 8), watch YouTube videos, join long work calls, and maybe even do some light doodling.

And here’s the kicker. Unlike HP, which bundles in a detachable keyboard, Asus doesn’t even have one on sale. I mean, they have regular wireless keyboards, but nothing like a 2-in-1 (keyboard and case). That adds tremendous value to the HP OmniPad 12 and makes the Asus Pad look much more expensive in comparison.

The Favourite Part Is Design

With the pricing and value out of the way, let me tell you how the Asus Pad performs on its own. Asus opted for a plastic build, hence keeping the weight to a minimum. The Asus Pad weighs 523g and has a slim 6.5mm chassis. Its curved frame makes it comfortable to hold one-handed. It includes a folio case that doubles as a stand, if you want to use it.

Carrying it alongside my laptop was seamless. It fit right into my backpack, and sometimes I forgot it was there. It’s ergonomic and well thought out. The Asus Pad features a 12.2-inch dual-stack tandem OLED panel (2,800 x 1,840) with a 144Hz refresh rate. It’s got 600 nits of typical brightness.

With a 3:2 aspect ratio, this tablet is very good for reading long articles and working in split-screen mode. Watching videos may not be ideal, but I’ll take the trade-off. It’s a one-of-a-kind panel in this price range, and it does stand out.

It has a microSD card slot (hallelujah), a volume rocker, power buttons, two microphone holes, a USB 3.0 port, and two speaker vents. Pretty robust, I must say.

My only complaint about Asus is the lack of colour options for the tablet. The tablet is available in only one colour: pure white.

Watching videos is a delight, as the quad speakers perform above expectations. They can get very loud, with decent instrument separation. Add in Dolby Atmos, and you have a winner on your hands.

Performance & Software: Average

Where Asus falls behind is in the software department. Asus hasn’t committed to an OS upgrade timeline for this tablet. It may come with Android 16 out of the box, which is genuinely a good thing, but that’s not enough in today’s world.

Silence from a brand this big is worrying. Consumers spending upwards of ₹45,000 expect much more. Especially when upgrades and new-product purchases are scarce these days.

Still, the software experience is fairly standard and nothing to write home about. The GlideX app acts as a bridge between the tablet and PC for screen mirroring, file sharing, and more. There’s not much AI baked into the software, which I am happy about. It doesn’t support “floating windows”, and I, for one, am not happy about that.

The tablet runs on the MediaTek Dimensity 8300a, paired with 8GB of LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 3.1 storage. For daily tasks, it can handle them with aplomb. But compared to the competition, this one falls firmly behind. It can handle tasks like video editing, but it cannot play many games and even stutters when you’ve got multiple Google Chrome tabs open.

Camera & Battery

Asus knows its target audience. It’s not targeting the high-end users (even if the pricing might make it seem so). The 5MP front camera more than suffices for work calls, which is a good thing. It’ll serve you well during daily work calls. The rear camera can easily scan documents.

Since you’re using this tablet for entertainment and basic work, the 9,000mAh battery should easily get you through a day. The tablet can also charge quickly. It takes just an hour to go from dead to full.

Verdict

Can I recommend the Asus Pad to my readers? It’s a mixed bag. Asus excels with its panel choices, as it does with all its laptops.

As an entertainment device, it's a solid tablet. With that display, and a sub-₹50,000 price, this could have been an outright winner.

But a few drawbacks — mid-range SoC, software without any support, and a lack of any keyboard attachment — dampen the overall experience.

Asus is experienced enough to take feedback in stride and come back with an even better tablet next time.