Review: Hotwav R9 Pro Max rugged 5G Android tablet

Review unit provided by Hotwav

Hotwav has released a new rugged tablet and it's the Hotwav R9 Pro Max. I've reviewed several Hotwaw rugged tablets over the years and they are all quite well made for people who need the rugged designs. The tablet now runs Android 16.

Specifications

Things included

• Tablet
• Hand strap
• 2x brackets for the hand strap
• 6 extra screws
• SIM ejector
• Flat head screwdriver
• Stylus pen (passive)
• Glass screen protector
• Wet and dry wipes for screen protector
• Stand
• 20W charger with USB-C port
• USB-C to USB-C charging cable
• Female USB-A to USB-C adapter cable

The included pen is a passive pen so there's no support for tilt, pressure or palm rejection. Because the pen is not an active pen, it's not that good for serious writing or drawing.

There's a mesh round tip and disc tip. The disc tip does not work well on a screen protector.

Design

A plastic screen protector is already applied on the display. Make sure you do not peel off the screen protector when removing the protective film for the screen protector. The screen protector is very reflective.

This is a rugged tablet and is made for people who need the extra protection such as corner bumpers, thick sides and back.

The tablet is also dust and water resistant.

Front camera is 16MP with face unlock but no auto-brightness sensor.

The tablet is heavy at 1065g since the case is literally built onto the tablet. This is not a tablet you'll want to hold for long periods of time.

Hotwav has included a hand strap and a stand that can be attached to the back of the tablet.

The hand strap is good if you need to use the tablet in hand often.

The full-metal stand is good if you don't have to hold the tablet often. Hinge is stiff and can deploy the tablet at any angle.

Even vertically.

Back of the tablet has a lot of design. The backing is mostly matte textured except for the triangular areas which have rougher protrusion.

There's a 64MP main camera, a 20MP night vision camera, flash, huge 350 lumen camping light, two speakers.

The 350 lumen camping light has to be access through the Camping Light app, and it's incredibly bright. I could use it as my bicycle light but it would blind people unless I point the light to the ground.

Just for comparison purposes, shown above is the flash light from my phone.

Audio quality from the two speakers is just serviceable. And since the speakers face the back, it sounds like someone's talking to you but not looking at you.

Tablet supports haptic feedback.

The USB-C port supports 20W charging, and has USB 2 transfer speed, and has a cover to prevent water from getting in.

This side nearer to the back cameras has a red power button (no fingerprint scanner), volume control and a SIM tray for both microSD card and nano SIM (5G), or two nano SIMs.

Display

The display is a 11-inch LCD with 1920 x 1200 resolution, adaptive 120Hz refresh rate.

Display looks bright, vibrant and sharp enough. Brightness is 400 nits which is sufficient for indoor or use under shade, but not high enough for bright outdoor environment.

Performance

The UNISOC S713 5G processor is a mid-range 5G system-on-chip (SoC) designed mainly for affordable Android tablets and large-screen devices. There are eight cores: 2× Arm Cortex-A76 @ 2.3GHz + 6× Cortex-A55 @ 2.1GHz.

This processor is supposed to be much better compared to the processors in other Hotwav rugged tablets.

The Mali‑G57 MC2 @ 850MHz is suitable for mid-range gaming.

OS and software

The tablet runs on Android 16 with Hotwav's own UI on top. The overall look and feel is pretty much stock Android.

There aren't many features. No raise to wake, no tap to wake or sleep. You can configure ringtones for each SIM. If you need more features you can always install your own launcher for more customisation.

There's official support for Google Play Store. i don't see much bloatware except for two Hotwav apps Hi Hoti and HT PhotoX apps. Hi Hoti is an AI chatbot and is not free. HT PhotoX is an app that uses AI to edit photos, and is not free too. There are now so many free AI tools online so I doubt many would use these two apps, and if you're willing to pay there are other better alternatives available.

Battery life

The 20080 mAh battery capacity is massive. You can expect multiple days of battery life even if you use the tablet 8 hours a day.

Conclusion

The Hotwav R9 Pro Max is a niche tablet designed for rougher environment and outdoor use. The strengths would be the protection against, dust, water, drops and scratches.

Main downsides would be the weight which you already expect. For a tablet that's meant to be used outdoors, I wished the display is brighter but 400 nits is alright for use under the shade.

If you need a rugged tablet with all the features it provides, this is a good one to consider.

Pros and cons at a glance
+ Extreme rugged design for outdoors
+ Optional hand strap included
+ Optional stand included
+ Vibrant, bright, sharp enough display
+ 1920 x 1200 resolution
+ 350 lumens flash light
+ Laminated display
+ 20-25 hr battery life
+ Supports reverse charging
+ Has microSD and nano 5G SIM support
+ Decent performance for non-processor intensive work
+ Overall smooth performance
+ Has face unlock
- 6 to 9 hours full charge time
- No auto-brightness
- Heavy
- USB-C with USB 2 transfer speed
- Speakers sound hollow
- No 3.5mm audio jack
- Stock Android has limited features
- Performance can be sluggish when too many apps opened

Availability

For US customers, use Amazon promo code below, prices around $320:
Grey: https://amzn.to/4gVdY4q (TEOHTR9PM1)
Orange: https://amzn.to/4yB0otg (TEOHTR9PM2)

For worldwide customers. With the promo code applied,
the price will be around $340:
HotWav product page - (TEOHTR9PM)