Yesterday, Realme Philippines unveiled their newest tablet called the Realme Pad Mini. Overall, its a smaller tablet with slightly lower specs to the decently spec’ed Realme Pad. But curiously the pricing doesn’t seem to reflect a more affordable device. Even with early bird prices bringing the prices from PHP 9,990 to PHP 8,490 (3+32GB LTE version) and PHP 11,990 to PHP 9,990 (4+64GB LTE version), the specs just makes it still come off like an underwhelming tablet. For nearly the same amount of money as their own Realme Pad, you get a weaker processor (Unisoc T616 vs. Helio G80), much lower resolution display (1340×800 vs. 2000×1200) and an expected smaller display (8.7″ vs 10.4″) and battery too (6400mAh vs 7100mAh). The only thing we could say the Mini was going for itself was that you get LTE connectivity on even the lowest model while the bigger tablet only has WiFi on its’ lowest model.

Things get worse when you consider that you can get much better phones for the same amount of money. For less than PHP 10k you can get phones with FHD displays, AMOLED displays, high refresh rates, or even up to 64MP Cameras with added ultrawide or telephoto or even macro secondary lenses. In contrast, the Mini just has an 8MP Back Camera and 5MP Front Snapper. It does have a bigger display than phones and just slightly more battery capacity. But some phones even come with more RAM and storage for the same price as the Pad Mini. Even Realme’s own Narzo 50 is priced just the same but packs a much more powerful Helio G96 processor, 1080p 120hz display which significantly trumps the 60hz 800p display of the mini and the Unisoc T616 it comes with.

Take the Poco F3 for an example as well. For the past week the price of the 8+256gb variant has been below PHP 14k. You’re getting a Snapdragon 870, 120hz AMOLED display, great cameras, 5G connectivity, and you can even get the lower storage variant for 1k cheaper. With vouchers you’ll get them for even less. (PHP 1k vouchers are common in the Shopee platform, for example.)

Other phones will sadly also overshadow the mini specs and cost quite less. The Coolpad Cool 20 has a better processor for under PHP 6k. 48MP Camera too. Its not a perfect device, but it has a great processor and the best bang for buck gaming phone for the price. You can check out our review here.

There’s many more examples of devices with better specs for the price like the Tecno Camon 18P, but if we listed them all it’ll take all day. The only advantage of the tablet is the bigger display but if you really wanted a bigger display then why wouldn’t you just buy the original Realme Pad for just about the same price with better specs?

But maybe you needed just that right tablet size. Not too big, not too small. The mini will fit smaller bags compared to the bigger tablet. You can use it as a secondary device to watch shows with its stereo speakers. And if the Unisoc processor and tablet LTE works for you, then the Mini might just be right up your alley. As a content consumption device it’ll work quite nicely, albeit we’d probably still go for the bigger display. Anyway, check it out online at Lazada or offline realme stores. Specs are below!

Realme Pad Mini – PHP 9,990 (3+32GB LTE Variant; Early Bird Price PHP 8,490) or PHP 11,990 (4+64GB Variant; Early Bird Price PHP 9,990)

• Unisoc T616 Processor
• 8.7″ IPS 1340×800 60Hz Display
• 8MP Rear Camera
• 5MP Front Camera
• Android 11 with Realme UI for Pad
• 3 or 4GB RAM, 32 or 64GB ROM, MicroSD Expandable
• Dual SIM LTE with Hybrid SIM Slot
• 6,400 mAh Battery with 18W Fast Charging
• WiFi ac, Bluetooth 5.0, 3.5mm Headphone Jack
• Stereo Speakers, Aluminum Chassis

Buy the Realme Pad Mini here:

3+32GB LTE Variant

4+64GB LTE Variant

Disclaimer: Our opinions stated here are just our opinions. We are making said opinions on the announcement only, not with a product in hand. We are debating whether to buy one to review or not, so do let us know if you want us to review this one! Or should we spend it on another device to review? Let us know!