Xiaomi’s strategy when it comes to phones, tablets, and included accessories seems to be very simple. That means making it as similar to Apple as possible while still using the best of it. android The ecosystem has to provide.

The company’s new Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro is Mobile World Congress in Barcelonathat doesn’t change either. It’s a powerful 11.2-inch tablet with slim black bezels, a metal unibody frame, and a set of accessories that can turn it into a compact portable computer, including a pen and two different keyboards.

Inside, you’ll find a Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, 9,200mAh battery, 8/12GB RAM, 128/256/512GB storage, and quad speakers with support for Hi-Res audio and Dolby Atmos. The combination of a 50-megapixel main camera and a 32-megapixel selfie camera on the back seems like overkill for a tablet, but why not?

All tablets look the same. But after using this device for a while, you can see that the Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro really inherits its influence. Its dimensions are similar to the 11-inch iPad Pro in terms of thinness and weight (Xiaomi: 485 grams at 5.75mm, iPad Pro: 444 grams at 5.3mm), making Xiaomi’s Magic Keyboard Pro Focus comparable to Apple’s Magic Keyboard (Xiaomi also offers a more portable version called Xiaomi Magic Keyboard Pro). Heck, even the Xiaomi Focus Pen Pro looks almost identical to the Apple Pencil.

The good news is that all Xiaomi tablets and accessories are made to high quality, so if you don’t mind the similarities; appleyou don’t have to worry about it not being good. In other words, it’s not just a cheap copy.

In fact, Xiaomi’s tablets outperform the competition in several ways. Both cameras are very good for a tablet. 67W fast charging is possible. The 3.2K display is as clear as ever. The battery seems to last forever whether you’re browsing, reading, or using it as a secondary display (yes, you can do that even if you have a Mac). True, the Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro is not an absolutely powerful model like the iPad Pro, since it is equipped with a smartphone chip, but I think that the majority of users do not need a tablet to be more powerful. Indeed, we found Xiaomi’s Pad 8 Pro to be quite nimble for common everyday tasks.

However, Xiaomi’s HyperOS software could use some work. It’s also very similar Apple’s iPadOSright down to the icon design. But in some cases, it turns out to be an adaptation of the smartphone OS. For example, I found it frustrating that even the simplest widgets could be set up the way I wanted them on the screen because they took up a lot of free space for no reason. Of course, AI is included in the form of Google Gemini. You can call the assistant by long pressing the power button.

Depending on the keyboard you choose, you’ll get either a slightly larger tablet that’s more like a small laptop, or a truly portable tablet with a decent keyboard. I would probably go for the bulkier Magic Keyboard Pro Focus just because it has a touchpad.

Despite the fancy keyboard, this isn’t a great replacement for a laptop, but neither is an iPad. Instead, the Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro is a professional Android tablet that’s great for tablet uses like browsing, reading, gaming, and light work.