While the typically British weather may have caused you to miss it, we are in fact a good chunk through the summer. Before long, the kids will return to school, the leaves will turn brown and Bublé, Carey et al. will be blaring from every radio station on rotation. It sure comes around fast.
If you've got young ones who are headed back to school soon, a good tablet can be a really useful investment. They're portable enough to carry on the go, really interactive, and offer all the horsepower required for work and play.
Now, the good folks at Xiaomi have unveiled their latest tablet – and it could be the perfect option for you! Launched via the brands' more affordable counterpart, the Redmi Pad SE is an affordable option that has great specs where it counts.
You find an 11-inch display on the front. That features a 1920 x 1200 resolution with 207ppi for crisp picture quality. You'll get 400 nits of peak brightness and an adaptive refresh rate which switches between 30Hz and 90Hz, depending on the image shown.
It's also got dual TÜV Rheinland certification. One is for Low Blue Light, and the other is a Flicker Free certificate. That's really brilliant – it's a mark that signifies a safer visual experience for users.
Inside, a Snapdragon 680 processor powers things, paired with an 8,000mAh battery. Sure, it's not the top-spec you'll find on the market, but it should be more than enough to blast through day-to-day tasks. That battery is rated for 14 hours of video consumption, too, so it should be perfect for getting a full day of work done without breaking a sweat.
That's all packed in an aluminium unibody case, which is both stylish and practical. Users can pick a rather safe Graphite Grey finish, or opt for something a bit more fun with Mint Green and Lavender Purple.
There's also a quad-speaker array which is Dolby Atmos certified. It also supports Hi Res Audio, which should be perfect for consuming content.
You'll find a duo of cameras on board – an 8MP unit on the back, and a 5MP unit on the front. Again, they're not the highest spec sensors you'll find anywhere, but they should do the job. In my experience, the rear camera on a tablet is used about as often as Spiderman's step ladder, so I wouldn't worry too much about that one.
So, what will all of that tech cost you? Well, not a lot. Prices start from £179 in the UK. That nabs you the model with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Options with 6GB and 8GB of RAM are also available, while storage can be boosted up to 1TB.
That's a lot of tablet for the money. Sure, it's not going to replace your iPad Pro anytime soon, but it's also around one fifth of the price. If you're looking for something cheap and cheerful that will get through most day-to-day tasks with ease – whether that's for younger users, or even for yourself – this should definitely be on your radar.
