Review of tablets Honor Pad 6 and Honor Pad X6

Representatives of Honor introduced the new tablets Pad 6 and Pad X6 at the annual IFA exhibition. According to the company, these are the first tablets to be sold worldwide, including Europe and the UK.

Key Features of Honor Pad 6 and Honor Pad X6

The specifications below may vary depending on the market.

Design

The new tablets have a truly flagship look. Matte surface of the back cover, rounded corners - nothing more. Announced aluminum body, thin metal frame around the perimeter and impact-resistant display glass. The assembly is of high quality, no protruding parts, deflections and backlashes.

As for the color, the younger version comes with a mint hue, the older one with gray, but this is the official version. According to unofficial information, the gadgets will be available in Russia only in black (this, by the way, is also confirmed by online stores that have opened pre-orders for flagships).
On the back cover there is a rectangular camera module (large enough for rather modest characteristics) with three sensors and a brand logo. In fact, there is only one camera, complete with flash and LED. On the top side face there is a volume control button, on the bottom there is a Type-C connector and a SIM card slot (only for the older version). On the right side face is the power button.

As for the dimensions, the novelties turned out to be not too large in size, with a thin body (only 7.8 mm), but quite weighty - almost 500 grams. Keeping such a device on weight will not be very convenient.

Display

Both devices received a display with an IPS-matrix, multi-touch technology, with support for a stylus and gesture control. The main differences are in the diagonal size (9.7 inches for the younger version, 10.1 for the older one) and display resolution - 800 x 1280 and 1200 x 1920, respectively. The refresh rate is 60 Hz.

When you first turn on the display seems pale, color - with a predominance of blue tints. But this is easy to fix with brightness and color settings. To increase the duration of the battery and, of course, to reduce eye strain, the modes "dark", "electronic book", "eye protection" are provided. The latter is hardly applicable to the IPS-matrix - the image is too dark, which is more likely to harm vision.

Sufficiently wide frame around the perimeter (7.9 mm) does not interfere with the review, and at the same time protects against accidental clicks.
Declared support for Magic-Pencil styluses from Honor on both models. The updated version in a stylish silver case is not included in the package, but you can get it by pre-ordering on the company's official website (you can see the promotion period there).

By the way, the information on the display can be seen even in the sun (brightness characteristics - 430 nits, standard for modern smartphones). Another plus of the IPS-matrix is ​​that the eyes are less tired even during prolonged work or watching a video. And if you add realistic color reproduction, a large viewing angle and an instant response to user commands, you get an almost perfect option.

Camera and sound

As for the camera, nothing extraordinary should be expected. The flagships received 2 sensors. The main one is on the rear panel, 5 megapixels with HDR support, the front camera is at the top of the display, 2 megapixels.
It is clearly impossible to get professional-quality pictures with such characteristics, but it’s quite possible to take a photo for memory. By the way, the pictures are quite bright, with good detail, it is possible to set the mode to focus on an object with a blurred background effect. As for the video, there is nothing special here either. With relatively good 1080p performance at 30 frames per second, and the ability to shoot at 4K resolution, you won’t be able to get a smooth picture without built-in stabilization.

The gadgets are equipped with 4 speakers (located on the side faces) with support for Histen 6.1 surround sound technology - whatever it is, the sound is really excellent. Only the older version has a headphone jack.

Performance and battery life

At the official presentation, representatives of the manufacturer said that the flagship tablets are ahead of their counterparts from Apple in terms of performance. Whether this is really so - tests will show, but what is known now.

The Kirin 985 processor is responsible for performance, so there should be no problems with watching videos, and even more so with switching between tabs. Flagships do an excellent job with "heavy" games, if not for one thing - when you set the maximum settings, a display with 60 Hz updates may not be enough.

As for battery life, the battery capacity is enough for 13 hours of video playback, for games, the time will be reduced by about half. Fast charging included - recharge the battery to 100% in about 1.5 hours.

Interface

There are no significant differences from previous versions. The system works quickly, does not overwhelm with advertising, has an intuitive and eye-pleasing design. The APP Multiplier function allows you to work with two windows of one application. The idea is good, but it just doesn't always work. For example, when you try to open two video players at the same time (with a trailer and a movie), either the first or the second does not open.

The ecosystem of smart things 1 + 8+ N presented by Honor in the summer is also implemented - managing several (from smart vacuum cleaners to a laptop) using a smartphone. Thanks to this feature, you can share files via Magic-link, as well as restrict or filter content (for children, for example) on connected devices.

When you switch to Desktop mode (desktop) opens a screen with folders and shortcuts strongly reminiscent of a laptop monitor. You can open up to 8 tabs at the same time. That's just to work in multitasking mode on such a small display is quite inconvenient. Plus, there are questions about optimization, when you open the browser and any document at the same time, the system starts to “freeze”. So all attempts to create a tablet - a full-fledged replacement for a laptop have so far failed.

Finally, there is a "children's" mode with the ability to limit the time you use the tablet and protect children from inappropriate content.

Equipment

Modest. In a beautiful box with a corporate logo, the buyer receives the tablet itself, an adapter, a USB cable, an adapter for a 3.5 connector, a paper clip to open the memory card slot.

But again, if you pre-order on the official website, you can get headphones, a keyboard case or a router as a gift.

Google services

They are not, and therefore there is no YouTube, Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp. But there is a pre-installed AppGallery, so applications can be downloaded from third-party applications. To alleviate the disappointment of users, Honor offers good gifts and relatively low prices.

What is the result

Honor tablets are truly productive devices with excellent technical characteristics at an adequate price. Large display, excellent image quality, user-friendly interface.

If we consider flagships as an e-reader, a mobile monitor for watching movies or a monitor for playing games, this is a great solution. But tablets are unlikely to be able to replace a full-fledged laptop for work. Typing large amounts of text from the keyboard is inconvenient, opening several tabs in the "desktop" mode too.

• high performance;
• stylus support - drawing lovers will definitely appreciate it;
• large display;
• good camera;
• excellent design, quality assembly;
• integration of the Honor ecosystem;
• the ability to share files between devices;
• long battery life;
• reasonable price for a device of this class.

• there are no significant ones, except perhaps the lack of pre-installed Google services, but this can be attributed to all Honor devices released this year.

In general, the tablets are excellent. Pre-sales on major online platforms have already started. The price for the older version in the basic configuration is 30,000 rubles.