The Best Android Tablet You’re Not Buying...

Honor MagicPad 2 Unboxing & Experience after 2 weeks. Best Android Tablet of 2024? At $600, you get an IMAX-enhanced 12.3-inch display and speakers, Snapdragon 8S Gen 3, AI features, Honor Pencil 3, 66W fast charging, & more.

You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to own a flagship tablet. A new iPad killer has arrived—introducing the Honor Magic Pad 2. It’s priced at half of what you’d pay for an iPad Pro or a Samsung Galaxy Tab Ultra, while still offering IMAX-enhanced cinema-quality display and audio at a stunning 144Hz refresh rate. Powered by flagship performance, this tablet can handle console-level games, PC-level AI efficiency, productivity tasks, and boasts incredible battery life. I’ve been using this impressive device for two weeks and have plenty to share, but first, let’s dive into the unboxing.

If you’re based in the UK or EU, Honor is currently offering an amazing deal—you can buy this tablet for just £449 and get a smart Bluetooth keyboard, the new Honor Pencil 3, and a 66W fast charger with USB-C cable, all included for free.

Now, let’s focus on the most important feature of a tablet—its display. The Honor Magic Pad 2 comes with a 12.3-inch OLED display, IMAX-enhanced for cinema-quality visuals, with a 144Hz refresh rate and 1600 nits of peak brightness. This screen provides an incredible media experience, perfect for watching movies and shows with stunning colors and deep blacks. Adding to this experience are the eight IMAX-enhanced speakers with loud and immersive spatial audio—ideal for watching your favorite shows or movies. The display got me hooked on tablet gaming again. I connected my PlayStation 5 controller and played Call of Duty Warzone on ultra graphics, and it looked fantastic!

Inside, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, paired with 12GB of RAM, can handle anything you throw at it. Whether it’s modern games or emulating PlayStation Portable titles like God of War: Chains of Olympus and Smackdown vs. Raw 2006, the performance is nothing short of spectacular. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip truly makes this tablet an affordable flagship, giving you console-level gaming performance at a fraction of the cost.

On top of its raw power, this tablet is built with your eye health in mind. It features 4320Hz PWM dimming, drastically reducing eye strain, especially when used for long periods. It also includes Honor’s AI Defocus Eye Protection, which helps minimize temporary eye blurriness after extended screen use. This attention to display health makes the Honor Magic Pad 2 one of the most eye-friendly tablets on the market.

As for design, Honor has one-upped Apple with a lighter tablet—weighing 555g, compared to the iPad’s 579g. It’s also sleek and thin, at 5.8mm, and comes in two color options—white and black—with a stylish matte finish. The build quality is superb, with a metal body and a boxy design that even allows it to stand on its own. For photography and video calls, the 13MP rear camera and 9MP front camera perform adequately, especially in good lighting.

Moving on to software, MagicOS 8.0.1 (based on Android 15) is loaded with useful features. The UI is clean, responsive, and perfect for multitasking. You can run five apps simultaneously in split-screen and floating windows, making full use of the large display. Honor’s collaboration with Google also brings cloud-based AI features to boost productivity. Whether you’re using Magic Text to extract and drop text from an image or webpage or Magic Portal to drag and drop images across apps, the user experience is incredibly smooth.

The Honor ecosystem connects seamlessly with other devices via Magic Ring. You can transfer files effortlessly between devices, control your tablet with your phone (or vice versa), and enjoy a highly integrated experience. For those needing a PC-level setup, the Honor Smart Keyboard Case is an excellent addition, perfect for heavy typing or even gaming with a controller. It feels great to type on, with satisfying key clicks and shortcut buttons for launching apps or activating AI features. The keyboard also doubles as a protective case and a dock for your tablet.

The Honor Pencil 3 is a fantastic tool for students or creative professionals who enjoy drawing or taking handwritten notes. The built-in Honor Notes app takes full advantage of the Pencil 3’s features, making note-taking or sketching an enjoyable experience. It attaches magnetically to the top of the tablet, where it charges wirelessly.

Lastly, the battery life is another standout feature. With a 10,000mAh battery and 66W fast charging, the Honor Magic Pad 2 easily lasts over a day on regular use. Even with heavy gaming or binge-watching, the tablet doesn’t break a sweat, thanks to the energy-efficient Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip.

At just $600, this tablet offers IMAX-enhanced display quality, incredible performance, and a highly polished software experience—all at a fraction of the cost of high-end competitors. For those in the UK or EU, the added bonus of free accessories like the smart keyboard, Pencil 3, and fast charger makes this deal even sweeter. With four years of major OS updates, this tablet is set to deliver a great experience for years to come.

Let me know what you think in the comments, and if you’re new here, be sure to subscribe! See you in the next review—peace out!