The onn 12.1″ Tablet Pro is brand new to the onn tablet lineup at Walmart. In fact I only noticed it being listed for sale in the past week. It doesn’t even seem to have any non-sponsored / incentivized reviews yet!
So this will be interesting.
First I should point out the obvious, this is a budget tablet. It does not have a lot of memory or a fast processor. You should buy this tablet only if you have reasonable expectations.
I’m just going to list off everything you need to know about the tablet.
To start off with let’s review the specifications for the 12.1″ version of the Tablet Pro lineup. The tablet includes a 2.2GHz octa-core processor, 6GB of memory, and 128GB of storage of which something like 110GB is useable. Its storage is expandable by micro sd card. There are four speakers, 5mp front camera, 8mp rear camera, and up to 15 hours battery life.
The octa-core processor is probably powerful enough for everyday use but is not going to serve you well for high end compute. The MTK Helio G99 processor isn’t bad, it’s just not the best. Which makes perfect sense when you remember this is a budget laptop. You can look at a comparison of the G99 and a Snapdragon 695 by clicking here.
The tablet is somewhat underpowered with only 6GB of memory and will get bogged down quickly if you’re doing anything memory intensive. However if you’re only using a browser and communication apps you won’t have much of a problem.
The tablet is actually thin enough that it feels a little fragile, like you’re going to bend it a little too far and crack the screen. It’s nice that it’s so thin while at the same time being concerning. I have yet to see a case for this tablet so that’s not currently an option to offer a little protection. You just have to be careful until somebody releases a case I guess!
The red power block and red cable are a nice touch. The USB C to USB C cable is approximately 3 feet long and the charger uses a USB C port. The charger is apparently a fast charger and will top off your battery in no time. That wasn’t really mentioned on the webpage for the tablet. Using a different charger may cause the tablet to charge slowly.
If you didn’t know onn is a Walmart brand. They offer a variety of cases and electronic products at Walmart stores, including TVs. Onn tablets are pretty popular because they’re basically the most reliable budget option around. It’s much nicer to buy an onn tablet from Walmart than it is to buy a random tablet from a random Chinese company that is obviously lying about the specifications of their tablets off Amazon.
The tablet runs Android 14 so setup is a breeze. Basically log into your Google account and play with settings until you have the tablet how you like it. That’s pretty much it.
At $180 it’s actually a great value. You get a fair price on a fairly good tablet. Similar tablets like Samsung’s A9 cost a bit more than onn’s and ultimately seem to have higher quality builds but that’s okay. We’re in the budget category after all.
The size is fantastic though and the screen is crisp and clear. However it is not really meant to be handheld in my opinion, unless you have large hands. It really does need a stand.
Battery life is acceptable. Just acceptable. It will not last 15 hours as claimed and that’s kind of just how marketing works. In our modern society, is any product as good as it claims to be? Battery life will depend heavily on how you’re using the tablet. Surfing the internet or even playing an audiobook shouldn’t be a huge drain but a mobile game probably will be a larger drain.
You will need to update everything of course. You’ll have a bout 30 app updates to do. You’ll also have multiple system updates to get through, probably two inside the day you first turn your tablet on…
As a gift I’d say this tablet is way too fragile for kids, probably just a little too big for the elderly, but perfect for everyone else. At $180 or maybe even less during Black Friday you are getting a good deal. It’s a better deal than onn’s previous generation tablets, which feature less memory and slower processors.
Ultimately this tablet is a strong value option. It offers acceptable performance for a great price. It will never be fantastic but absolutely would make the perfect gift for someone during the holiday season. And if you pair a tablet stand with the tablet, even better!
Update – Video Problems
There are reported problems with videos including YouTube. I have experienced my screen turning off and back on multiple times as a video ad on a news website played. I think something is wrong with onn’s software regarding the screen size and video sizing. Just a wild guess.
Update – Video Problems Continued
I was able to replicate the video problems. You’ll encounter a resolution issue with watching YouTube through the app and auto play video advertisements will cause the screen to shut off and back on. There is something wrong with the onn 12.1″ tablet’s video processing… or a display problem… whatever it is something is wrong.
More info!
When using an up to date Android 14 OS and up to date Google Chrome browser as of 11/1/2024, the screen of the onn tablet will turn off and back on if there are animations, slider graphics, and auto play videos on the page. I’ve made guesses about what the problem is but I keep randomly finding another instance of the tablet screen turning off when there’s some kind of motion on the webpage. So I really have no clue. I would guess again that since this is a brand new product onn is having some early trouble and will release an update. God only knows when that will be though.
Please comment below if you’re also experiencing screen issues!
Update – Finger Smudges
The tablet is a magnet for finger smudges! Everytime you clean it, it’ll be dirty again in five seconds flat.
You can see the smudges all over the back!
I am not affiliated with Walmart or the onn brand in any way nor am I compensated.