realme Buds T310 and realme Pad 2 Lite review – Affordable tablet and earbud entertainment combo

Not everyone can afford the tech equivalent of a sports car which is where realme’s latest offerings come into the picture. The recently launched realme Pad 2 Lite tablet and realme Buds T310 wireless earbuds both aim to offer exceptional value for money while offering the majority of what users desire in both a tablet and earbuds.

We managed to get a set of both for field testing and after taking it for a spin, here’s realme Buds T310 and realme Pad 2 Lite review where we share if this affordable tablet and earbud combo is worth your money.

realme Buds T310 and realme Pad 2 Lite review – Build and Design

The realme Pad 2 Lite is intended as an affordable, entry-level tablet that notably brings 4G LTE connectivity, a large 90Hz display and reasonable performance and battery life for what you pay for. In the case of the realme Buds T310, you get a pair of wireless earbuds with large 12.4mm dynamic bass drivers and hybrid active noise cancellation tech along with exceptionally long battery life if you count the additional juice from the charging case itself.

In terms of build and design, our realme Pad 2 Lite review sample sports a 10.95-inch 2K Eye Comfort display with 1,920 x 2,000 pixels resolution, a 90Hz refresh rate and a quoted 450 nits peak brightness. Intended to be used primarily in landscape mode, the display has a 5MP videocall camera emplaced on the top – assuming you’re holding it in landscape orientation – capable of up to 1080p@30fps video for video calls and selfies. 

Flanking the display are two speakers on the left and right sides to form a quad-speaker array. The left side also features a power button while the right has a USB-C port for charging. The base of the tablet has a SIM card tray that supports microSD cards and a SIM card tray for 4G LTE. Up top, the tablet has a volume rocker.

In Malaysia, the realme Pad 2 Lite can be acquired in either a shade of Space Grey or Nebula Purple with our test unit being the former. Closer inspection reveals a gunmetal grey finish that has fair resistance to smudges and fingerprints with a novel faux leather strip running across its length to offer a modest grip when wielding it. Perched in the corner is a single 8MP camera in a rounded camera housing. 

Overall build quality for the tablet is rather fair with its sturdy polycarbonate build, rounded corners and beveled edges offering a posher look than what its price point would indicate. Arguably the biggest hint that the realme Pad 2 Lite is a budget tablet are its chunky 1cm thick bezels with all sides though this fortunately does not detract from its otherwise decent build quality.

However, the tablet lacks any IP-rated dust or water resistance so some care needs to be taken when using it outdoors or in wet environments like the poolside or outdoors in the rain.

Our realme Buds T310 review unit also follows the same design philosophy as the realme Pad 2 Lite in attempting to cram as much value as possible in its price point with a few concessions to cost. 

In essence, the realme Buds T310 are a pair of wireless earbuds that feature large 12.4mm drivers with up to 46dB of hybrid noise cancelling performance combined with up to 40 hours of playback time if you disable active noise cancelling. This combination of features makes it one of the few wireless earbuds with drivers this large and with this level of noise cancellation at a sub-RM200 price.

Our realme Buds T310 review sample comes in a shade of Monet Purple for both the case, the buds and the silicone ear tips. While the design is solid without any of the creakiness associated with heavy use of polycarbonate, the charging case itself does look rather plasticky. That quibble aside, the charging case itself is designed for easy one-handed opening and has a USB-C port at the base for changing duties but lacks wireless charging support which is acceptable at this price range.

In terms of build quality, the realme Buds T310 features a plastic charging case with stem-shaped earbuds that each feature a control surface that responds to finger taps.

The earbuds themselves have an IP55 dust and splash resistance rating and have swappable ear tips to offer a better fit. The charging case itself does not have any dust or water resistance. The earbuds offer the essentials with the packaging itself, with the box packing a single USB charging cable as well as a set of small and large ear tips.

realme Buds T310 and realme Pad 2 Lite review – Performance

The realme Pad 2 Lite is intended as a cost effective tablet for content consumption and web browsing with a modest set of specifications that fit its RM899 price point.

Powering the tablet is a power-efficient Mediatek Helio G99 octacore processor that is built on a 6nm process by TSMC and which first saw service in mid-2022. Paired with the MediaTek Helio G99 is 8GB RAM augmented by up to 8GB of virtual Dynamic RAM assigned off the onboard 128GB of expandable storage which can be augmented via a microSD card. 

Price	RM899
Display	10.95-inch FHD+ Eye Comfort IPS LCD display 1,920 x 2,000 pixels, 90Hz refresh rate, 450 nits peak brightness, 83.6% screen-to-body ratio
Processor	Mediatek Helio G99
OS	Android 14 w/ realme UI 5.0 for Pad
Memory	8GB RAM w/ Up to 8GB Dynamic RAM / 128GB storage +microSD card
Camera	8MP F/2.0 [rear] / 5MP F/2.2 [front]
Battery	8,300mAh w/15W wired charging
Size/Weight	268.2 x 168.5 x 7.2mm / 518g

Under the hood, our realme Pad 2 Lite review sample runs Android 14 with realme UI 5.0 for Pad and while there’s official confirmation at the time of writing, it will most likely enjoy the usual two realme policy of years of OS and security updates which will see it updated to Android 16. When subjected to benchmarks, our realme Pad 2 Lite review sample scored the following:

3D Mark Steel Nomad Light	140
3D Mark Steel Nomad Light Unlimited	N/A
3D Mark Wild Life Extreme	376
3D Mark Wild Life Extreme Unlimited	365
Geekbench 6 Single Core	719
Geekbench 6 Multi Core	1,927
Geekbench 6 OpenCL	1,401
Geekbench 6 Vulkan	1,385
PC Mark Work 3.0 Performance	10,259
PC Mark Battery Life Test	7 hours 18 minutes

When subjected to synthetic benchmarks, the realme Pad 2 Lite performed within the performance envelope expected of a budget tablet. In practical field tests, our realme Pad 2 Lite review sample handled web browsing, watching Netflix and gaming on default settings for popular games like PUBG and Call of Duty Mobile in a smooth fashion.

The quad speakers also make it great for watching movies and for enjoying your Spotify playlist. Unfortunately, the tablet lacks a 3.5mm audio jack for private listening and gaming though the Buds T310 earbuds solves that conundrum nicely which we’ll get into shortly.

Unfortunately, the tablet does not ship with a casing nor a keyboard so you’ll have to get a third party one if you’re looking to use it for productivity related tasks.

That quibble aside, the display with its 90Hz refresh rate is sufficient for indoor use and casual movie watching though it isn’t colour calibrated which precludes its use for content creators who require a colour accurate display though colours are vibrant and pleasant to the naked eye.

The provided 8,300mAh battery offered decent endurance, with PC Mark’s battery life test rating it for a good 7 hours and 18 minutes while practical tests involving WiFi, web browsing, video watching, light gaming and social media use yielded similar results at about 7 hours and 45 minutes before it ran dry. The provided 15W SuperVOOC charger isn’t the fastest on test and from dead zero requires close to five and a half hours of charging which is something best done overnight.

The realme Buds T310 makes for an interesting example of maximising performance for cost. While it does have the aforementioned plasticky charging case, it more than makes up for it with respectable hardware and endurance spanning close to 40 hours of battery life if you opt to use it without active noise cancellation on.

Like many more premium earbuds the realme Buds T310 has an accompanying app that allows for a measure of modification – in this case dubbed as realme Link. Pairing up and recognition of the Buds T310 occurred in seconds and the app itself allows for several customisation options that were once the exclusive province of premium earbuds. Here’s how the earbuds stack up on paper:

Price	RM189
Driver size	12.4mm dynamic bass drive
Frequency response range	20Hz-20kHz
Supported codecs	SBC/AAC
Bluetooth version	5.4
Battery	58mAh / 6 hours (earbuds only/ANC on) + 480mAh / 20 hours (charging case/ANC on) (quoted)
Size/Weight	30.7 x 20.2 x 23.6mm (earbuds) / 62 x 46 x 23mm (charging case) / 41.23g (complete unit)

Not only do you get multipoint connect where you can swap the connection between two paired devices – in this case our primary phone and our realme Pad 2 Lite review unit, you also get more premium options like the ability to assign your own equaliser sound settings and even assign the strength of noise cancelling from low to moderate to maximum.

The Buds T310 also supports Spatial Audio content though this is highly dependent on compatible content. The earbuds also support a unique MindFlow mode that plays relaxing white noise like waves crashing on a shore for a short mental health break session.

Bearing in mind the younger nature of its audience, the realme Buds T310 has more emphasis on bass and manages to offer a fair measure of it for EDM tracks like the late Avicii’s Levels along with reasonable detail and highs for casual listening.

While it is otherwise a sound choice for most users, it is unfortunately hobbled by its middling codec support which is limited to AAC and SBC codecs only and lacks support for any Hi-Res audio codecs which may deter ardent audiophiles. 

On the bright side, the provided active noise cancellation worked a treat and it was able to mute out a good deal of ambient background noise on the train from the daily work commute and the usual background noise around Bukit Bintang during rush hour when dialled to maximum volume. Battery life for the earbuds with ANC runs to just shy of six hours with the provided case offering an additional 20 hours of endurance.

Should you buy the realme Buds T310 and realme Buds 2 Lite tablet?

Where the realme Buds T310 and the realme Buds 2 Lite tablet come into their own are when they are used in conjunction with each other, with their affordable price points and features complementing each other’s strengths. 

When the earbuds are paired with the tablet, you get an affordable, compact and effective tablet platform to enjoy light gaming, listen to music and catch up on your Netflix backlog with the earbuds allowing you to game and listen to your own content with a better measure of quality and privacy on the go with the whole lot costing just RM1088.

In a pinch, it’s also useful for taking video calls in tandem with the Buds T310 and the tablet’s front-facing camera. It’s also viable for light productivity tasks as well if you have a wireless keyboard lying around.

While there are higher performing options in the market, this hard-hitting combo offers an otherwise excellent price to performance ratio that’s hard to beat. 

realme Buds T310 and realme Pad 2 Lite review samples courtesy of realme Malaysia. For more details please visit https://www.realme.com/my/more-products/realme-buds-t310 and https://www.realme.com/my/more-products/realme-pad-2-lite