Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 – Best Small Tablet Yet? Or Is It?

As I unboxed the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7, my first impression was that it’s surprisingly compact. Having handled larger tablets recently, the smaller form factor felt almost nostalgic, a throwback to a time when tablets were designed for true portability.

However, any sense of it being undersized quickly faded when I considered its price point. At an official retail price of RM1290 here in Malaysia, the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 aggressively positions itself as a frontrunner, potentially offering the best value proposition in the current small tablet market.

The crucial question that lingers, and what this review aims to dissect, is how this attractive price translates into real-world user experience. Can the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 deliver a satisfying and capable tablet experience without breaking the bank? Let’s delve deeper and find out.

Mi Pad 7 Overview

The Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 immediately conveys a sense of quality thanks to its solid block of aluminium unibody construction. This design choice not only lends a premium feel to the device but also suggests a level of durability that users will appreciate. Weighing in at around 500g, the tablet feels substantial in hand, perhaps leaning slightly towards the heavier side for a device of this size. While this heft might contribute to its robust feel, it’s something to consider for users prioritizing ultimate lightweight portability.

In terms of aesthetics, the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 is available in a trio of appealing colors: a classic Grey, a vibrant Blue, and a subtle Green. This range allows users to choose a style that best suits their preferences. Interestingly, the design language of the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 remains largely consistent with its predecessor, the Mi Pad 6.

This isn’t a point of criticism, however, as the Mi Pad 6 boasted a sleek and functional design that was widely well-received. This familiarity ensures a mature and refined aesthetic for the new Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.

Cover / Focus Pro keyboard

The optional cover or the Focus Pro keyboard for the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 and its Pro brethren is more than just a protective layer; it cleverly doubles as a functional keyboard, significantly enhancing the tablet’s versatility. A standout feature of this cover is its integrated tension locking mechanism stand. This ingenious design allows users to securely prop the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 at various angles, even seemingly locking it mid-air, which greatly improves ergonomics for different usage scenarios, from typing to media consumption.

Connectivity between the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 and its keyboard is facilitated via a reliable pogo-pin connection. I personally appreciate this approach as it bypasses the need for Bluetooth pairing, thus minimizing wireless band congestion and ensuring improved input accuracy with minimal latency – crucial for a responsive typing experience.

While the inclusion of a physical keyboard is a major plus, the key spacing is undeniably on the smaller side. My larger hands did feel slightly constricted during extended typing sessions, something users with bigger fingers should be aware of. However, Xiaomi has thoughtfully designed the keyboard area with a sunken profile. This clever indentation provides more vertical travel for the keys, resulting in surprisingly tactile and satisfying feedback when typing.

An unexpected yet highly welcome addition is the backlighting of the keys. This feature significantly improves usability in dimly lit environments. It’s a slight shame that Xiaomi didn’t opt for hollow keycaps to allow the light to shine through the legends, as that would have elevated this keyboard to among the best in its class. Nevertheless, the backlighting is a valuable inclusion.

The integrated touchpad, while functional for basic navigation, is noticeably smaller, appearing almost half the size of a typical laptop touchpad. While it gets the job done for simple tasks, users accustomed to larger touchpads might find it a bit cramped.

Finally, it’s worth noting the soft PVC layer that wraps the exterior of the cover and keyboard. This material feels gentle against the palms, providing a comfortable resting surface during use, a small detail that contributes to a more pleasant overall experience with the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7’s Focus Pro keyboard.

Display

The visual centerpiece of the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 is its impressive 11.2-inch display boasting a sharp 3.2K resolution and a silky-smooth 144Hz refresh rate. This combination ensures that everything from scrolling through web pages to playing fast-paced games feels fluid and responsive. With a peak brightness of 800 nits, the display remains comfortably viewable even in brightly lit environments.

Xiaomi’s “Original Color Pro” technology further enhances the visual experience, enabling the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 to reproduce a staggering 68 billion colors within the wide DCI-P3 color gamut, resulting in vibrant and accurate visuals. The touch responsiveness is equally impressive, reaching up to 360Hz for finger input, though this drops slightly to 240Hz when using a stylus.

For multimedia enthusiasts, the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 offers comprehensive HDR support, including Pro HDR, HDR10, and Dolby Vision. This allows users to enjoy compatible video content with enhanced contrast and dynamic range, bringing scenes to life with greater detail in both the brightest and darkest areas.

The visual fidelity is further refined by an integrated AI image engine. This intelligent system automatically analyzes and fine-tunes the displayed images in real-time, subtly boosting highlights and deepening shadows, effectively mimicking the enhanced contrast of HDR even in standard dynamic range content.

Recognizing the importance of eye comfort, especially for prolonged usage, Xiaomi has equipped the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 with a display that has received multiple certifications from TÜV Rheinland. These include certifications for low blue light (achieved through a hardware solution), flicker-free operation, and circadian-friendly light emission.

These certifications collectively signify that the display is designed to minimize potential eye strain and disruption to sleep patterns, making the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 a suitable companion for extended reading, studying, or entertainment sessions.

Audio

The Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 is equipped with a capable quad-speaker system. The strategic placement of these speakers, positioned perpendicularly and diagonally, is a thoughtful design choice aimed at creating a more expansive and immersive spatial audio performance. This design works in tandem with the integrated Dolby Atmos support, which adds another dimension of dynamic range and depth to the audio output, enhancing the overall listening experience.

The audio volume on the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 can get surprisingly loud, more than sufficient for most personal use cases. Importantly, this volume doesn’t come at the expense of audio fidelity. The sound produced is rich in detail, free from any noticeable muffling. While it does exhibit the characteristic “hollowness” often associated with tablet audio, it’s not overly pronounced and remains within acceptable limits.

Overall, the audio experience on the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 is generally pleasant and well-suited for personal enjoyment of movies, casual music listening, and video calls. However, for users who prioritize a truly high-fidelity audio experience with deeper bass and a wider soundstage, we would still recommend utilizing a good pair of earbuds or external speaker units to fully appreciate their audio content. The built-in speakers provide a solid and enjoyable baseline, but dedicated audio peripherals will undoubtedly offer a more refined sonic experience.

For more information about Dolby Atmos on tablet, check out our dedicated article here:

Mi Pad 7 SOC and performance

The Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 is powered by the capable Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 system-on-a-chip (SOC), placing it firmly in the mid-range performance category. This SOC strikes a good balance between power efficiency and processing prowess, making it well-suited for a variety of tasks.

The review unit we received boasts a generous configuration, featuring 12GB of high-speed LPDDR5X RAM paired with a fast 256GB UFS 4.0 storage module. This combination is particularly noteworthy for a device utilizing the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3, as it significantly contributes to smooth multitasking, quick app launches, and rapid file transfers.

Prospective buyers should be aware that a base variant of the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 exists, which comes with 8GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 128GB of UFS 3.1 storage. While still adequate for many users, the UFS 3.1 storage in the base model will likely result in slightly slower performance when dealing with large files compared to the UFS 4.0 found in our review unit.

To quantify the performance of the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7, we ran a series of benchmark tests. In 3DMark’s Steel Nomad Light benchmark, the tablet scored 969, with a similar score of 965 in the Steel Nomad Light Unlimited test. Moving to the more demanding Wild Life Extreme benchmark, the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 achieved a score of 2883, and 2913 in the Unlimited version. These benchmark scores position the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 squarely within the mid-range segment of the market, offering a noticeable step up from entry-level tablets without reaching the flagship performance tiers.

In real-world usage, the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 delivers a commendable gaming experience. We were able to run Diablo Immortal with nearly maxed-out settings smoothly (the absolute maximum settings and ray tracing are currently unsupported). Similarly, MetalStorm, a visually impressive title, also ran flawlessly at its highest graphical settings. These experiences highlight the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7’s ability to handle demanding mobile games with respectable performance, making it a viable option for casual and more serious mobile gamers alike.

Battery & Charging

The Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 is powered by a substantial 8850 mAh battery, providing ample capacity for extended usage. Complementing this battery is the inclusion of 45W Turbo Charging support, a welcome feature for quickly topping up the device. Unlike some manufacturers who omit the charging brick, Xiaomi thoughtfully includes a 45W Turbo Charging adapter directly in the box with the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7, saving users the additional expense and hassle of purchasing one separately.

To assess the battery life under sustained load, we ran the PCMark battery benchmark. In this test, the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 managed to deplete its battery in 5 hours and 4 minutes. While this might seem like a relatively quick discharge time compared to some other tablets, it’s important to consider the contributing factor of the bright 800-nit display, which inherently consumes more power when active.

When it came to recharging, we tested the speed of the included 45W Turbo Charger by plugging in the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 when the battery level reached 20%. It took us approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes to bring the battery back up to a full 100%. This rapid charging capability significantly mitigates the relatively shorter battery benchmark result, allowing users to quickly get back to using their Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 without prolonged downtime.

Mi Pad 7 User experience: Satisfying well design

While the 11.2-inch display of the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 might be considered small by some, we found this to be one of its key advantages. The more compact screen real estate actually contributes to a more focused and precise touch input experience. Furthermore, the optional keyboard cover elevates the input capabilities of the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 to another level. Although the keyboard layout is somewhat compact and might initially feel cramped for users with larger hands, a short period of intensive typing allows for adaptation and surprisingly efficient text entry.

Productivity

Productivity on the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 is a genuinely top-notch experience. In fact, this entire review was drafted and edited directly on this tablet, a testament to its capabilities. The design of the cover, which lifts the screen, is particularly appreciated for its ergonomic benefits, promoting a more comfortable typing posture.

However, it’s worth noting a slight limitation in the stand’s adjustability. It offers only two fixed viewing angles – approximately 110 degrees and 70 degrees. This necessitates some physical adjustments by the user to find the most comfortable viewing position depending on the task and environment.

Gaming

Gaming on the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 is also a surprisingly enjoyable affair. The smaller screen size makes on-screen controls feel more accessible and manageable. As mentioned earlier, both Diablo Immortal and MetalStorm ran smoothly and looked fantastic, a testament to the capable Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 SOC and the fluid 144Hz display. The responsive screen and powerful internals combine to deliver a satisfying mobile gaming experience.

Media Consumption

Finally, consuming multimedia content on the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 is a genuine pleasure. The vibrant display with HDR support, coupled with the immersive Dolby Atmos audio, creates a captivating viewing experience. We particularly recommend using Amazon Prime Video, as it offers a wide selection of content that takes full advantage of both the HDR visuals and the spatial audio capabilities of the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.

Whether you’re catching up on your favorite shows or watching movies, the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 provides a portable and engaging entertainment hub.

Conclusion: Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 – Silver Award Winner for Value and Versatility

In conclusion, the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7, priced at RM1290, proves to be an exceptional value proposition in the small tablet market. Its premium build, impressive display, capable performance, and thoughtful features make it a strong contender.

Crucially, when paired with the optional Focus Pro keyboard, the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 transforms into a highly effective productivity tool, offering one of the best work-focused tablet experiences in its price range.

For its outstanding balance of features, performance, and affordability, the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7 earns the Hello Express Silver Award. It’s a highly recommended choice for users seeking a versatile and capable small tablet that doesn’t break the bank.

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If you are interested in either the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7, we would really appreciate if you purchase them via the links below. The affiliate links won’t cost you any extra, but it will be a great help to keep our lights on here at HelloExpress.

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