Honor Pad V9

How time flies. Just over a year since we reviewed the Honor Pad 9, the company has returned with a followup that fixes many of the issues we had with that affordable tablet.

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Shifting focus to mid-range has worked wonders here, and the Honor Pad V9 is a worthy successor in just about every way to the lower-priced Honor Pad 9. It has improved performance, a sharper display, and the whole thing just hummed along with anything we threw at it. While we do acknowledge there are fewer Android tablet apps than there are on the iPadOS side of the fence, this sub-£400 model feels like a genuine challenger to Apple's dominance.

DESIGN

At quick glance, you might be shocked to find out that the Honor Pad V9 isn't made by the Cupertino giant. The 11.5 inch display has a narrow, curved bezel, and even the speaker grilles look plenty familiar to anyone that’s spent time with an iPad.

In the box, it’s just the tablet, with Honor's Magic Pencil sold separately (although bundles are available), and build quality is impressive throughout - there's no way the tablet itself is bending if you slip it in a bag.

There's a volume rocker on the top-right edge, and a sleep/wake button on top, while the base has a USB-C port for charging and data. If you do have the Magic Pencil, it attaches magnetically on the right-hand side.

On the back, the Honor Pad V9 proudly proclaims it’s “IMAX Enhanced”, which we'll come to shortly, and there are two camera modules. One is the Al camera, while the other is a more traditional snapper, but the latter's more bulbous shape means it’s not quite as easy to type on the tablet while it’s laid flat.

There’s no headphone jack, either, but coming from an M2 iPad Pro, I was pleased with how comfortable the Pad V9 is to hold with one hand for a long period of time.

DISPLAY