Move on Opp

Oppo’s first crack at the UK tablet market goes for the budget zone – but doesn’t skimp on screen size or build quality

Opp-town funk

Don’t expect ‘home cinema’ performance from the Dolby Atmos-branded quad speakers. They don’t get loud, and the sound is overly airy. With no 3.5mm port or USB-C dongle, it’ll be Bluetooth for solo listening.

All shook Opp

It’s not very well endowed in the camera department, with a single 8MP snapper on the back and a 5MP webcam up front. Both are best reserved for video calls: photos lack dynamic range and recording is limited to 30fps. £239 / go.stuff.tv/padair

■ The imaginatively named Pad Air really doesn’t feel like a budget tablet. The (mostly) aluminium construction, ipad-esque flat sides and rounded corners make a great first impression; and while the 3D ‘Sunset Dune’ strip along the back is plastic, its textured effect is neat. The only giveaways are the weedy-looking rear camera lens and chunky bezels – although these do give you somewhere to rest your thumbs.

■ The 10.36in panel is big and sharp enough for catching up on your latest streaming addiction without needing to squint. There’s no HDR support, and this isn’t the brightest screen around, with only average contrast and colours that are a little on the cool side. A 60Hz refresh rate is not surprising given the price, but you’ll notice it if you’re used to faster.

■ A Snapdragon 680 CPU and 4GB of RAM are now the baseline for a budget tablet. Stick to one task at a time and you’ll be happy with the amount of grunt on tap. Oppo’s take on Android 12 makes multitasking easy, and it can play a Youtube video and keep a few browser tabs open side by side.

■ Elsewhere Coloros remains faithful to stock Android, with a scattering of custom icons. You get plenty of Google apps, with just a few of Oppo’s own thrown in for good measure, and little in the way of bloatware.