Affordable 9.7-inch Honor tablet launches with 8,000mAh battery and microSD slot

Honor has quietly launched a new affordable tablet, the Pad X7b. It has a compact form factor, thanks to the 9.7-inch display, but it doesn't really feature performance-focused hardware.

Specifically, this new affordable tablet is powered by the Snapdragon 685, an entry-level SoC from 2020. While it's a dated processor, per benchmarks, it should be good enough for media needs and lightweight tasks. Honor has paired it with 4GB of RAM and up to 128GB of storage.

The company doesn't explicitly mention that the tablet has a microSD slot, but Honor highlights that the storage is expandable by up to 2TB, meaning that there's a memory card slot (PNY 256GB Premier-X C10 curr. $49.99 on Amazon). Users can also add 4GB of virtual RAM from internal storage to better handle resource-heavy apps.

There are multiple kid-focused features, including a dedicated entertainment space and four-layer parental controls. For comfortable viewing sessions, there's an eBook mode, software-level low blue light, and "dynamic dimming."

On that note, the 9.7-inch display on the front of this affordable tablet has a resolution of 2,052x1,152 pixels, a 90Hz refresh rate, and a peak brightness rating of 500 nits. Honor also claims that the screen has a 100% sRGB coverage, but the 81% screen-to-body ratio means that it has thick bezels.

This affordable tablet has an 8,000mAh battery, which is said to deliver up to 16 hours of movie viewing, 21 hours of eBook reading, and 82 days of standby time. The design of the Honor Pad X7b is another highlight. It has a metal unibody, and per the company, the device measures 8.48mm thin and weighs 447 grams (around 0.98lb).

Availability-wise, the Honor Pad X7b is listed on the global website, but it's currently only available in Saudi Arabia. The starting price is SAR 499, which is around $133, while the LTE variant with 128GB of internal storage goes for SAR 699, about $186. This affordable tablet could officially launch in more regions soon.