Xiaomi Redmi Pad SE 8.7 tablet review – As compact as an iPad mini but significantly cheaper

For under $100, you get a lot with the Xiaomi Redmi Pad SE 8.7: a 90 Hz display or an infrared blaster so that you can use the tablet as a TV remote control. There is also very long battery life and even a 4G module if that's in your sights.

Of course, with high-class devices like the iPad Mini, the Xiaomi Redmi Pad SE 8.7 is unable to keep up in terms of performance or case quality. But if you don't wish to part with so much money, Xiaomi has a lot to offer.

At the time of our review, some retailers are offering the Xiaomi Redmi Pad SE 8.7 for around £119 - even the manufacturer itself (current UK price), for example. 

We have already reviewed the larger Xiaomi Redmi Pad SE and now it's the turn of the more portable 8.7-inch variant. At that time, we were able to confirm that the bigger brother had a great price-performance ratio but Pad SE 8.7 is significantly cheaper.

Xiaomi has never offered such a handy tablet up to now, but the success of the Apple iPad Mini has already inspired several manufacturers to bring smaller models back onto the market. On request, the compact Xiaomi tablet is also available with 4G, making it an exciting device, especially for those on a tight budget.

The Xiaomi Redmi Pad SE 8.7's chassis is made largely of plastic and is available from the manufacturer in Europe in two colors, namely gray and light blue. Internationally, it is also available in light green.

The tablet is cleanly manufactured, and material transitions are barely noticeable. However, the case is not completely pressure-resistant with even moderate touches leading to distortions in the screen's liquid crystals.

At 373 grams, the tablet is averagely heavy for its size. If an even lighter device is your thing, you'll get your money's worth with the Samsung Galaxy Tab A9. The screen bezels on the front are not too thick and give the tablet a modern look. However, you can still hold it comfortably in your hand without accidentally operating the touchscreen.

Customers can get the Redmi Pad SE 8.7 in two storage variants:

4 GB RAM / 64 GB of mass storage: $150

4 GB RAM / 128 GB of mass storage: $170

However, the price has already dropped significantly both on the internet and from the manufacturer itself, and you can sometimes even get the device for around $100. Because of the small additional cost, we would definitely recommend the larger storage variant: the 64 GB version can get filled very quickly after installing a few apps and recording some videos.

There is also an option with a 4G modem and dual SIM, but the SoC remains the same. The price increase from the manufacturer is $30. Our review model is the Wi-Fi variant.

NFC for mobile payment transactions is not on board, but there is an infrared transmitter so that you can operate a television with the device.

The USB-C port is only connected internally at USB 2.0 speed, which means data transfers take a while and image output via the USB-C port is not possible. However, you can transfer images wirelessly to a Wi-Fi-enabled screen.

The microSD reader is a separate item, so the 4G version of the Redmi Pad SE 8.7 also allows for dual SIM operation with a memory card inserted at the same time.

In terms of speed, the reader does a decent job compared to other cheap and compact tablets. However, if you look at our reference micro SD card's (the Angelbird V60) maximum possible transfer speeds, it becomes clear that the card reader does not even come close to making use of them.

A basic update supply for the next few years is therefore guaranteed.

There is no information regarding the materials used for the product, and Xiaomi does not seem to pay much attention to sustainability when it comes to packaging: it is neither plastic-free nor has petroleum-free printing ink been used. There is no analysis of CO2 consumption over the life cycle of the product, and the information concerning sustainability in Xiaomi's latest ESG report is of a more general nature.

The power consumption is comparatively low. However, Xiaomi's efforts to protect the environment, at least with this product, are not very credible overall.

The fastest Wi-Fi standard is WiFi 5. We tested the data transfer speeds with our reference router, the Asus ROG Rapture AXE 11000.

We were able to determine speeds of around 369 Mbit/s in the receiving direction, and this is roughly on par with comparable tablets. The transmission is also quite stable in terms of data speeds. In the send direction, however, there are occasional drops to under 200 Mbit/s.

As already mentioned, a 4G module is only available in a slightly more expensive version of the Xiaomi Redmi Pad SE 8.7. A GNSS module for satellite positioning has also been installed. With our review device, it is only possible to rely on approximate positioning via known Wi-Fi networks, so navigation while on the go is not possible.

The Redmi Pad SE 8.7 does not come with a charger, just a USB cable and a SIM tool. A special cover with a wrist strap is also available to buy on Xiaomi's website, for which the manufacturer charges $10 at the time of review.

The manufacturer offers a 24-month warranty on its tablets purchased in Europe.

For its SoC, the Xiaomi tablet uses the MediaTek Helio G85. It is a solid choice for a cheap tablet, but doesn't always manage to navigate through menus entirely smoothly. Especially after restarting the system, it takes a few minutes before commands are processed reasonably quickly. 

Playback of 1,440p YouTube videos is anything but smooth. All resolutions below this, including 1080p at 60fps, run smoothly.

In the system and processor benchmarks, the Redmi Pad SE 8.7 is quite powerful for its price bracket and is only beaten by the Samsung Galaxy Tab A9. However, you should not expect high-level performance when it comes to AI calculations. 

The graphics benchmarks highlight that smooth playback using the integrated graphics chip is a struggle when it comes to rendered content - also at 1,080p. Even in the screen's native resolution, the content should not contain too many modern graphic effects to ensure a smooth frame rate.

On large websites, you often have to wait a while until all the content has been loaded. Even after a loading time of 10 seconds, you can still come across images that are loading when scrolling. For such an inexpensive tablet, the browser performance is quite good and it is a bit faster than most comparable devices.

Unfortunately, slow eMMC flash is usually part of the equipment found in cheap tablets, and this is true of the Xiaomi Redmi Pad SE 8.7. This means that data cannot be transferred as quickly, and loading times are noticeably longer. The Samsung Galaxy Tab A9 showed us this doesn't have to be the case.

Regarding the case, the Redmi tablet has no problems with excessive temperatures: even after a long period of use, we measured a maximum of 38.9 °C, which is only slightly noticeable. In summery, ambient temperatures, however, this temperature reading could be a little higher.

The SoC is also unaffected by temperature problems: even after numerous runs of the 3DMark Wild Life or Wild Life Extreme, we still got almost the same results.

The Xiaomi Redmi Pad SE 8.7 has built-in stereo speakers, which can produce a very loud soundscape. Music playback is quite treble-heavy, and the sound would have benefitted from more emphasis on the low mids. However, the speakers are sufficient for listening to music or, if necessary, playing movie sound.

You can get significantly better sound with good headphones or external speakers via Bluetooth or wired via the 3.5mm audio port. Almost all of the current wireless audio codecs are available, so you should have little trouble connecting your Bluetooth headphones with good audio quality.

We determined how much power the Redmi Pad SE 8.7 needs in various scenarios and observed good, low measured values: The consumption is quite low both in idle mode and under load.

Other cheap tablets such as the Amazon Fire HD 8 offer slightly lower consumption in some situations, but you also get significantly lower performance.

The tablet can be charged at a maximum of 18 watts. A charger is not included, but the tablet works well with the chargers we tested. Due to the high battery capacity, it can still take over 2 hours and 30 minutes for the battery to complete a full charging cycle and return to 100%.

Xiaomi has fitted a battery with a fairly high capacity of 6,650 mAh. This means that the Redmi Pad SE 8.7 can run for a very long time: we measured 20 hours and 22 minutes in our Wi-Fi test with fixed screen brightness.

This is significantly longer than the comparison devices; if you watch a downloaded movie with the Wi-Fi module deactivated, you can even run the device for over 21 hours.

Under load, the tablet holds out for around five hours before it needs to be plugged in again.

The Xiaomi Redmi Pad SE 8.7 is portable, durable and, above all, very affordable.

You shouldn't expect miracles when it comes to the image quality of the camera or the screen resolution. But you get solid performance, a large selection of Bluetooth codecs and even a 3-year update promise, which is not common in this price range.