Artist Review: Honor Pad 10 with Honor Choice Pen

Not a sponsored review

Honor Pad 10 is a 12.1-inch tablet released in May 2025 that's equipped with Snapdragon 7 Gen 3, 8GB RAM, 256GB storage, and runs on Android 15 with Google Play Store.

This tablet has pen support and my review is from the perspective of an artist. I have tested the tablet with the Honor Choice Pencil, the official stylus which is also used by Honor Pad 9. Here in Singapore, Honor Pad 10 is commonly bundled together with the Honor Magic Pen (I don't have that pen and can't test that pen).

Official retail price of this tablet is SGD 479 (~USD 374), but many sellers are selling it cheaper on Shopee SG. Brand new units on Carousell are around SGD 350. Pen is sold separately. The 5G model cost SGD 90 more than the Wifi model.

Bottom line

The Honor Pad 10 is a well made tablet that feels premium. The big 12.1-inch 120Hz LCD is bright, vibrant and sharp. Snapdragon 7 gen 3 provides responsive and smooth performance.

8GB RAM is sufficient for intense multi-tasking and most workflows. The 15-hour battery life is incredible, and usually it's even longer.

Downsides. There's no microSD card slot, no fingerprint scanner but at least that's face unlock. Honor Spatial Audio is enabled by default and that sounds distant so it's best to use simple stereo mode which sounds better.

Pen has issues with diagonal line wobble and pressure inconsistency. I don't recommend this for drawing unless it's for causal sketching, but for writing it's still alright.

There are mixed messages regarding Android OS updates. Honor Malaysia mentions 1 year of OS and 3 years of security updates in the comments section. Honor UK mentions 6 years of OS and security updates in the Q&A. I do not consider replies in the Q&A to be official confirmation of OS and security updates.

Alldocube tablet on the right

One alternative to this tablet at this price point is the USD 299 Alldocube Ultra Pad, but Honor's MagicOS looks and feels more refined.

Specifications

• Display: 12.1" IPS LCD, 2560×1600 resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, HDR, 1.07 billion colors
• Operating System: Android 15 with MagicOS 9.0
• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 (4nm), Octa-core (1×2.63 GHz Cortex-A715 + 3×2.4 GHz Cortex-A715 + 4×1.8 GHz Cortex-A510)
• GPU: Adreno 720
• RAM: 8GB
• Storage: 256GB (other variants: 128GB, 512GB)
• Rear Camera: 8MP, f/2.0, autofocus
• Front Camera: 8MP, f/2.2, fixed focus
• Battery: 10100mAh Li-Po, 35W wired charging
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, USB Type-C
• Speakers: Stereo setup with 6 speakers
• Dimensions: 277.1 × 179.3 × 6.3 mm
• Weight: 525g
• Colors: Cyan, Gray
• Other Features: Stylus support, no 3.5mm headphone jack

Things included

• Tablet
• Battery (included)
• Charger
• Type-C Cable
• Quick Start Guide
• Warranty Card

There's an official flip cover which is sold separately. You may save more by getting your case on AliExpress, and there are some keyboard cases on AliExpress for the Honor Pad 10 for less than USD 25.

Design

Honor Pad 10 is a beautiful well made tablet with solid build quality. The tablet looks and feels as premium as the expensive Apple iPad Pros.

Bezels are quite thin. Corners for the body and LCD are rounded off. There's an 8MP landscape camera that supports face unlock, but it's not the secure type. Auto-brightness works well. There's no fingerprint unlock.

Honor mentions six speakers with support for Honor Spatial Audio which is enabled by default. Honor Spatial Audio sounds distant and the stereo mode sounds much better.

USB-C port supports 35W charging and USB 2 transfer speed, so obviously this cannot output video.

The back is matte textured metal and there's one 8MP camera but unfortunately no flash.

Weight of the tablet is 525g and for a 12.1-inch tablet that's considered lightweight. Dimensions are 277.1 x 179.3 x 6.3 mm. This is quite a compact portable tablet. Just make sure you get some case for protection since there's none included.

Interestingly the power button is located below the volume buttons when in portrait orientation, unlike other Android tablets that have the power button nearer to the corner.

Display

The display is IPS LCD with 2560 x 1600 resolution, 16:10 aspect ratio. Refresh rate is 120Hz, adaptive between 60Hz, 90Hz and 120Hz. Brightness is 500 nits and contrast ratio of 1500:1.

Colour support is 1.07 billion, but according to Honor it is "8bit hardware specification, 2bit is software algorithm extension". So it's likely 8-bit with FRC. Anyway, colours look good out of the box.

This is a quality display that's bright, vibrant and sharp. Viewing angle is wide with minimal colour shift and brightness drop.

The display is glossy, and too reflective for my personal preference as someone who prefers anti-reflective or matte displays. The surface is quite smooth and the pen can glide too smoothly on it, making it more difficult to control the pen while drawing.

Display is laminated, so there's almost no gap between the pen tip and line when writing or drawing.

Performance

Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 processor is a midrange processor that's reasonably powerful. Together with 120Hz refresh rate, the tablet feels responsive and fast. Apps are able to launch fast. Multi-tasking is smooth with 8GB RAM.

Wifi 6's download speed is really fast at around 1Gbps, which is the limit of my internet plan.

The tablet can be used for light gaming, but gaming performance will not match the Snapdragon 8 series processor obviously. With Genshin Impact, I could only get Low graphics settings, the 4th of 5 graphics settings available. Visuals still look alright though, and there's no lag with gameplay.

OS and software

The tablet is running on Honor MagicOS v9 on top of Android 15 with support for Google Play Store. There's no official mention on how many OS and security updates this tablet will get which is quite disappointing considering Honor is also a popular brand.

This is my first time using MagicOS and it took me some time to check out all the many features.

There are many beautiful free themes available.

There are many multi-tasking features, such as the common split screen and floating windows.

There's tap on the bottom bar to circle and search.

You can swipe and hold on either sides to reveal a sidebar that shows more shortcuts to apps.

If you use Honor phones, there are collaboration features for seamless interaction. I wasn't able to test that as I do not use Honor phones.

Swiping down the control panel also allows for volume adjustment.

You can use a knuckle knocks to take various types of screenshots, e.g. full, partial, scrolling.

There's swipe up from bottom to the sides to switch apps.

For some reason, a quick swipe from bottom up may not call up the app drawer, so a more deliberate swipe has to be used.

Backup is possible to an external storage. I did not test the backup system so I can't say if the backup will be 100% including data inside the unaccessible Android Data folders, e.g. Infinite Painter saves files in that folder.

Krita does not work well because the UI scaling has some dialogue boxes shown too big. E.g. The brush settings dialogue box is so big that the close button cannot be seem.

In addition to Google Play Store, there's the Honor app store too that provides more apps for you to choose from.

Pen

The Honor Choice Pencil supports tilt, 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity and palm rejection. The pen weighs only 10g and is considered lightweight.

The pen is powered by battery and has to be charged using the USB-C port on the pen. The pen does not attach to the side of the tablet magnetically, and hence does not support magnetic charging.

Battery capacity for the pen is small (unknown to me) so the battery can be damanged easily if left in a discharged state for long periods of time. If you do not use the pen often, I will recommend you set an alarm to charge the pen at least once a month.

The pen has to be powered on by pressing the side button, waiting for the Bluetooth connection, before it can be used.

There's one side button which is may be customisable depending on the app used. I've not found that button to be customisable for the drawing apps that I use.

There's one pen tip replacement in the box, and pen tip replacements are availble for purchase, not from Honor directly though.

Line tests

Line tests below were created with Medibang Paint Pro.

1. Black lines were drawn freehand, red lines were drawn with a straight edge. There's slight wobble and jitter with slow diagonal lines. For some reason, when drawing with a straight edge, the diagonal lines are more wobbly so there could be interference affecting the line.

Initial activation force is low enough, but it's difficult to maintain consistent line width when maintaining minimal consistent pressure.

2. For lines to taper smooth and sharply, I have to draw really fast. There are issues with line taper with other apps.

3. Line transition from thin to thick and back is smooth. This is also a diagonal line and there's slight diagonal line wobble and jitter.

4. Consistent line width can be created more easily by maintaining consistent heavy pressure. It is difficult to do so with minimal pressure. This is also a diagonal line and there's slight diagonal line wobble and jitter.

5. Dots can be drawn easily without issues.

6. I could join the lines without overshooting or leaving gaps.

These are pressure and tilt tests with Infinite Painter. Note the diagonal line wobble. I could not create proper looking tapered strokes. The pen is unable to capture the minimal pressure changes as the pen just lifts off the surface. This also happens with Clip Studio Paint so it can affect other drawing apps too.

Tilt actually works with Infinite Painter. The bad news is tilt doesn't look quite the same as what I can get with Samsung S Pen which is more accurate to me. But at least tilt works.

Tilt sensitivity works with Concepts. Note the diagonal line wobble.

Overall, I find tilt transition to be quite abrupt. It is difficult to get slight tilt. With this pen, you either get no tilt or full tilt.

Tilt sensitivity works well with Sketchbook but the diagonal line wobble is quite obvious.

From the line tests, I can say that this pen behaves just like a USI pen. Other USI pens do not work on this tablet though because it seems like the tablet and pen have been programmed to work together as there's a pop-up that appears when the Honor Choice Pencil is detected.

Drawing experience

There are many things that affect drawing experience.

The display is quite smooth so that will take some time to get used to. The display is large so you can rest your palm on it to get more control over the pen.

Palm rejection works well most of the time, thankfully. There will still be some unintentional undos but it's not as often compared to other tablets I've tested.

You have to remember to power on the pen before it can be used.

This was drawn with Medibang Paint. I found it difficult to join the lines seamlessly, so the thin and thick joins can be quite jarring.

This was drawn with Concepts app. It was difficult to get lines to taper.

Accuracy is definitely affected by the diagonal line wobble, the inability to detect minor changes in pressure when drawing with minimal pressure, and with that the difficulty of drawing tapered strokes that look natural. Because it is difficult to create tapered strokes, drawing things like hair or blades of grass is extremely difficult.

The tablet can be used for casual sketching, but certainly not suitable for serious art creation.

Note taking

Writing performance is alright. I feel like there's something off but I can't quite say what it is. Latency performance is fine for writing so latency is not really an issue. But somehow my handwriting does not look as good on this tablet compared to other tablets.

Latency looks quite similar to other Android tablets that are not marketed to artists.

This was written with Concepts.

This was written with Notein.

This tablet can be used for writing and taking notes.

Battery life

Battery capacity is 10,100 mAh. I measured battery life of 8hr with maximum brightness, and 15 hours with auto-brightness. Battery life is fantastic.

Conclusion

The Honor Pad 10 is a well made mid-range tablet that's great for general purpose use.

The tablet looks good, feels good, sounds good, and performs well. It's provides good value if you can buy this at lower than full retail price. Snapdragon 7 gen 3 should have the longevity to last for many years. One area of concern is there's no official information regarding how many OS and security updates this tablet will get.

The drawing experience is not ideal due to pen accuracy issues. The pen isn't great for drawing but for writing it's still alright. The pen is not the main reason to get this tablet.

Pros and cons at a glance
+ Beautiful design
+ Solid build quality
+ Bright, vibrant, sharp display
+ Laminated display
+ 120Hz refresh rate
+ Good audio quality (use stereo, not the surround)
+ Responsive lagfree performance
+ Easy to find this tablet selling at lower than retail price
+ MagicOS v9 has many useful features, themes
+ Palm rejection for pen works well mostly
+ Android 15 with Google Play Store
+ Cellular option available
+ Amazing battery life
- Pen accuracy not good
- No microSD card slot
- No fingerprint unlock
- No USB-C video output
- Schedule for OS and security updates unknown
- No anti-reflective coating, no matte glass option
- Default file manager has no integration with Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox

Availability

If you're in Singapore, Honor Pad 10 is available for sale through Shopee SG: Wifi model | 5G model

Links above are to the official Honor store on Shopee SG. I recommend you check out other sellers too to compare prices.