HONOR Pad X8a Review: Your Budget-Friendly Tablet for Everyday Use

Recently launched in the Philippines, the HONOR Pad X8a has quickly gained attention with its exclusive Shopee 10.10 promotion, featuring a FREE Stylus Pen priced at just ₱6,999. This offer was a hit, with the first 100 units selling out in just 10 minutes!

This HONOR Pad X8a offers a blend of style, functionality, and affordability, making it a great option for anyone looking for a reliable tablet. After spending considerable time with this tablet, here's my in-depth review based on my use of this tablet.

HONOR Pad X8a Specs

Android 14, MagicOS 8.0
11-inch TFT LCD, 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution, ~206ppi
90Hz refresh rate, 400-nit peak brightness
2.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 octa-core processor
Adreno 610 GPU
4GB RAM
128GB internal storage, expandable via microSD
5MP rear camera, LED flash
5MP selfie camera
Quad speakers, Hi-Res Audio, Hi-Res Wireless
WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band
Bluetooth 5.1
USB-C
8,300mAh battery
Colors: Space Gray
Weight: 495g

Design and Build Quality
The HONOR Pad X8a features a Slim Metal design, the tablet feels premium in hand. Its slim profile (only 7.26mm thick) makes it easy to carry around, fitting comfortably in my backpack or even my sling bag. 

Whether I’m heading to a café for work or relaxing on the couch, the tablet’s lightweight build (only 495g) ensures that I can use it for extended periods without any discomfort.

On the back, the HONOR Pad X8a features a 5MP rear camera accompanied by an LED flash, all neatly centered with the HONOR branding.

The power button and volume rocker are thoughtfully positioned on the upper left side of the tablet when held in portrait mode, right below which is a micro-SD slot that supports up to 1TB capacity. This layout makes it accessible, and the buttons provide good tactile response for seamless and hassle-free use.

 

The HONOR Pad X8a is equipped with powerful quad speakers on both sides, delivering good sound quality, particularly when the tablet is used in landscape mode for watching videos or playing games. With Hi-Res Audio certified to the Gold Standard, the audio experience is quite nice, ensuring rich and clear sound that enhances every media experience. Additionally, the Type-C port is located at the bottom, nestled between the speakers, further enhancing the tablet's user-friendly layout.

Overall, the HONOR Pad X8a strikes an excellent balance between style and functionality. With a slim profile of just 7.2mm thick, it’s highly portable, making it a good companion for my HONOR 200 during everyday tasks.

Display and Visual Experience
The Pad X8a features an 11-inch display with a 2K resolution, delivering sharp and vibrant visuals that enhance video watching and e-book reading. The rich colors and narrow bezels create an immersive experience, allowing me to enjoy movies effortlessly.

With an 84% screen-to-body ratio, the tablet maximizes the viewing area, making it ideal for streaming and video calls. The 90Hz high refresh rate ensures smooth graphics and responsiveness, while the 400 nits maximum brightness allows for comfortable use, even in bright environments. With 207 PPI, the display delivers crisp text and images, making reading easy.

 
Moreover, the four-fold authoritative eye protection technology, which includes dynamic dimming and e-book mode, effectively minimizes eye strain during extended use. Certified by TÜV Rheinland for low blue light and flicker-free performance, the display prioritizes eye health, making this tablet a good choice for long viewing sessions.

 

Performance
Powered by a MediaTek Helio G99 chipset, the Pad X8a offers decent performance for everyday tasks, making it a reliable companion for casual users. During my time with it, I found it more than capable of handling daily activities like web browsing, doing some work emails, streaming content, and light gaming. Whether I was catching up on social media, replying to emails, or watching videos on YouTube, the tablet delivered a smooth experience.

The Pad X8a comes with 128GB of internal storage, which is fairly standard for a tablet in this price range. However, with the increasing size of apps, media files, and updates, this storage may fill up quickly, especially for users who store a lot of photos, videos, or games. Thankfully, the tablet supports a microSD card, allowing you to expand storage up to 1TB, which is a major plus for those needing extra space for their files and media.

In terms of multitasking, the 4GB RAM, combined with HONOR RAM Turbo, adds an additional 4GB of virtual RAM, bringing the total to 8GB. This boost in memory makes managing multiple apps much smoother, preventing significant slowdowns when switching between tasks. Whether I'm juggling emails, streaming content, or using social media apps, the added RAM ensures the tablet runs efficiently, even with several apps open in the background. It’s not the fastest when compared to higher-end tablets, but for everyday use, the extra RAM certainly enhances the overall user experience.

However, the Pad X8a does show some limitations when pushed harder. While it's great for light to moderate use, I noticed occasional stutters when trying to multitask heavily or run more resource-demanding apps. For instance, during testing, more graphic-intensive games or large-scale apps like photo editing apps did cause the tablet to lag, and switching between them became less fluid.

For my daily tasks, the performance was more than satisfactory. Tasks like video calls, checking emails, or streaming worked flawlessly. However, I wouldn’t recommend this tablet for users looking for high-performance capabilities like intensive gaming or graphic design. The Helio G99 chipset does its job well for casual users, but it’s not built to handle the most demanding applications. For someone who primarily uses the tablet for media consumption and productivity, the performance strikes a good balance.

Software Experience
The Pad X8a runs on MagicOS 8.0, based on the latest Android 14, which offers a smooth and user-friendly experience. The interface is intuitive, and I appreciated the customization options available. The tablet comes pre-installed with several useful apps and a complete Google suite for productivity, and while I did encounter some bloatware, it wasn’t overwhelming and can be easily removed.

A feature I particularly enjoyed was the split-screen mode, which allowed me to multitask effectively—watching a video while taking notes or browsing the web. This enhanced my productivity, especially when I needed to reference materials while working on projects. It allowed me to get more done without constantly switching between apps, making the tablet a versatile tool for both work and entertainment.

Another standout feature is the Digital Wellbeing and Parental Control tools, which are incredibly useful if you have children using the tablet. These features help manage screen time, monitor usage, and set limits, ensuring a healthy balance between device usage and other activities. Whether you want to track your own screen time or set up controls for a child, these features add an extra layer of functionality and peace of mind, making the Pad X8a a family-friendly device.

Connectivity
In terms of connectivity, the Pad X8a supports Wi-Fi 5, providing decent internet speeds for streaming, browsing, and everyday online activities. While the tablet lacks cellular capabilities, I found the Wi-Fi connection to be stable and reliable throughout my usage, with no noticeable drop-offs during streaming or web browsing.

The tablet also features Bluetooth 5.0, making it easy to connect to other devices like wireless earbuds or speakers, enhancing the overall media experience. Additionally, it supports USB OTG (On-the-Go), allowing for seamless file transfers between the tablet and a PC, which is a handy feature for productivity and managing larger files. Overall, the connectivity options on the Pad X8a cover most of the essentials for daily use.

Battery Life
The Pad X8a packs a large 8,300 mAh battery. During my time with it, I found the battery life impressive. With moderate to heavy use, including streaming shows for hours, browsing the web, and working on documents, the battery consistently lasted a full day on a single charge. On lighter usage days, I found I could often stretch it to two days without needing to recharge. This extended battery life makes the tablet a good companion for travel or long days when access to a charger might not be convenient.

However, charging the battery takes some patience since the tablet only comes with a standard charger and lacks fast charging capabilities. To speed things up, I used my UGREEN 65W charger which significantly reduced the charging time, making the wait more manageable. While the lack of fast charging is a downside, the overall battery performance more than makes up for it, ensuring you won’t have to worry about running out of juice during the day.

Pros
Sleek and Durable Design
Long Battery Life
Effective Multitasking
Reliable Connectivity
Family-Friendly Features

Cons
Lack of Fast Charging
Limited Internal Storage
Performance Limitations

Verdict
The HONOR Pad X8a is an affordable tablet that effectively balances style, functionality, and performance. With its impressive battery life, sleek metal design, and strong multitasking capabilities, it proves to be a good choice for students, professionals, and families alike. Although it has some limitations, such as the lack of fast charging and limited internal storage, it still offers significant value for money. If you're in the market for a reliable tablet that can handle everyday tasks while delivering good performance without straining your budget, the HONOR Pad X8a is worth considering.

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