HP OmniPad 12 review: A tablet that tries to do everything, but does it stand out?

The tablet market in India is going through something of a renaissance. During the COVID-19 pandemic, tablets witnessed a significant surge in demand, largely driven by students attending online classes and families looking for affordable alternatives to laptops. However, as schools and offices reopened, tablets gradually returned to what they have traditionally been for most consumers: devices primarily meant for content consumption. In such a market, I believe three things become particularly important. A good display, a speaker setup that complements the viewing experience, and enough utilitarian features to make the device useful beyond watching movies or browsing the internet.

HP has attempted to address all three with the OmniPad 12, its first tablet designed specifically for the Indian market. However, this is also a segment that has become increasingly crowded, with established players such as Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi already offering compelling products across different price points. HP is not even the first traditional PC manufacturer to explore this space. ASUS recently introduced its own tablet offering, making it clear that laptop manufacturers are also looking at the category more seriously.

Price and availability

The HP OmniPad 12 starts at ₹48,999 in India and is available in two colours, Denim Blue and Meteor Silver. The tablet is available through the HP Online Store, Amazon, Flipkart, Reliance Digital, Croma, Vijay Sales and HP World stores.

Design

The OmniPad 12 follows a fairly conventional design, with a recycled aluminium body that measures 7.3mm in thickness and weighs approximately 600 grams. It is reasonably lightweight when used independently, making it convenient to carry around the house, use while travelling or simply hold while watching content.

However, the weight increases considerably once you attach the keyboard. The keyboard itself weighs approximately 590 grams, taking the combined weight to around 1.19kg. This is an interesting trade-off. While HP is positioning the OmniPad 12 as an alternative to a laptop, the complete setup weighs almost as much as some ultraportable laptops.

That said, I do appreciate the flexibility of the design. You can detach the keyboard when you simply want to consume content and attach it whenever you need to get some work done. In terms of connectivity, the tablet comes with a USB Type-C port, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a pogo-pin connector for the keyboard.

One area where HP could have done better is the USB port. The tablet uses USB 2.0, which feels dated for a device at this price. Faster file transfers would have been useful, especially considering that HP is promoting the OmniPad 12 as a productivity-oriented device. The keyboard, however, is genuinely useful. It adds considerably more functionality to the tablet and makes it easier to work on longer documents or articles. In fact, this particular review was also written on the OmniPad 12 itself, which should give you an idea of how practical the keyboard can be for everyday writing.

Display

The OmniPad 12 features a 12-inch 2K display with a 16:10 aspect ratio, a 90Hz refresh rate and up to 400 nits of brightness. Overall, I found the display to be quite good. The larger screen makes watching videos, browsing websites, reading documents and attending online classes a comfortable experience.

The 90Hz refresh rate also helps make navigation feel smoother, particularly when scrolling through websites or switching between applications. However, when you compare the OmniPad 12 with competing tablets such as Xiaomi's Pad series, the differences become more apparent.

The Xiaomi Pad offers a more compelling experience in terms of display quality, and the audio experience is also stronger. This matters because, as I mentioned earlier, content consumption remains one of the biggest reasons people purchase tablets. The OmniPad 12 comes with a quad-speaker setup tuned with DTS, and while it is good enough for watching movies, YouTube videos and attending online meetings, it does not particularly stand out against some of its competitors.

Brightness is another consideration. With a claimed maximum brightness of 400 nits, the display is comfortable to use indoors, but it is not the strongest option for outdoor usage or particularly bright environments. There is also the question of how you interact with the screen. While the tablet supports touch input, writing or drawing directly on the display is most comfortable when the device is laid flat on a surface. It is not the most convenient arrangement when you have it propped up with the keyboard attached.

This is where the keyboard becomes particularly useful. If your primary requirement involves typing articles, working on documents or responding to emails, it makes the OmniPad 12 significantly more practical. Overall, this is a good display and audio combination for everyday usage. However, if your primary consideration is getting the best possible entertainment experience for the money, there are stronger options available.

Software

Software is one area where I feel HP has done a particularly good job with the OmniPad 12. The tablet runs Android 16, and the experience is refreshingly clean. Rather than introducing a heavily customised interface with unnecessary applications and visual elements, HP has largely retained a stock Android experience.

This is something I appreciate because it makes the tablet straightforward to use, particularly for people who may be purchasing their first Android tablet or transitioning from a smartphone. The interface is familiar, navigation is simple, and there is very little that gets in the way of the overall experience.


HP has also included applications such as iPrep, Lexillion and Brands.live, which are aimed at education, learning and small businesses. The inclusion of these applications makes sense considering the audience HP is targeting. Students can use the device for learning, while small business owners and professionals have access to tools that could help with everyday tasks. However, Android itself continues to have certain limitations when it comes to productivity.

While the keyboard makes typing considerably easier, it does not automatically transform the OmniPad 12 into a laptop. Some applications are still primarily designed for smartphones, and their experience on a larger display is not always as polished as what you would find on a desktop operating system. Nevertheless, for users who primarily rely on web-based applications, documents, emails and everyday Android applications, the software experience is one of the stronger aspects of this tablet.

Performance and battery

The OmniPad 12 is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 processor, paired with 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 128GB of UFS storage. There is also support for expandable storage of up to 1TB through a microSD card. The Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 is a mid-range chipset, and that is reflected in the overall performance.

For generic workloads, the tablet performs quite well. Browsing the internet, watching videos, working on documents, attending video calls and switching between everyday applications are all relatively easy tasks for the OmniPad 12. I did not find the hardware to be a major limitation for the kind of routine productivity work that HP is targeting.

Gaming is also possible on the device, but I would not recommend purchasing it specifically for that purpose. The tablet can handle games, although you should not expect the highest levels of performance. It also starts heating up during more demanding gaming sessions, which makes it clear that sustained gaming is not the strongest aspect of this chipset. However, there is another side to this hardware choice.

The Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 is relatively efficient, and HP appears to have prioritised battery endurance over outright performance. HP claims up to 18 hours of battery life, and battery endurance was one of the more impressive aspects of my experience with the tablet.

For regular usage involving browsing, documents, streaming and other everyday applications, the OmniPad 12 can comfortably last up to two days, depending on how intensively you use it. This makes it a particularly useful device to carry while travelling. If you are going on a short trip and primarily need something for watching content, replying to emails or working on documents, you may not have to worry about charging it constantly.

That said, there is another important consideration when evaluating a tablet's performance. Unlike a smartphone, a tablet's appeal is not limited to how smoothly it can run applications. It is also about what you can create with it and the software features that enable those experiences. This is where the OmniPad 12 is not particularly strong.

While it handles conventional productivity tasks comfortably, it does not offer the same depth of creative applications and tablet-specific workflows that you would associate with an iPad.

For someone interested in illustration, advanced creative work, video editing or taking advantage of a mature tablet application ecosystem, Apple's iPad continues to have a significant advantage. The OmniPad 12 is therefore better suited to everyday productivity and entertainment rather than more demanding creative workloads.

Camera

The OmniPad 12 comes with a 13MP rear camera and an 8MP front-facing camera. Cameras are rarely the deciding factor when purchasing a tablet, and that remains true here. The front-facing camera is particularly relevant for HP's intended audience, considering that students and professionals may frequently use the device for online classes and video conferences.

The rear camera, meanwhile, is useful for scanning documents, capturing notes and occasional photographs. For audio, HP has included four speakers tuned with DTS, along with dual microphones. The speaker setup is adequate for everyday entertainment and video calls, although, as mentioned earlier, it does not quite match the richer audio experience available on some competing tablets. For the audience HP is targeting, however, the overall camera and microphone arrangement should be sufficient for most routine requirements.

Verdict

The HP OmniPad 12 is an interesting product because it attempts to offer a little bit of everything. You get a large display, a decent speaker setup, clean Android software, good battery life and, perhaps most importantly, a detachable keyboard included in the box. For someone who wants the convenience of a tablet without losing out on the ability to type documents, work on articles or handle everyday productivity tasks, this is a fairly complete package.

I also appreciate that HP has not unnecessarily complicated the software experience. The clean interface, coupled with the keyboard and impressive battery endurance, makes the OmniPad 12 a practical device to use. However, the biggest challenge for the OmniPad 12 is that it does not particularly dominate any one category.