HMD Slate Tab 5G: Nostalgia-Driven 10.6" Tablet Needs Sub-$250 Price to Compete

HMD is preparing to launch a tablet that looks backward and forward at once. The Slate Tab 5G, which surfaced in fresh design renders this week, wraps a 10.6-inch 2K screen and 5G connectivity in the bold, colorful shell of the Nokia Lumia tablets from 2013—a deliberate nod to a device that many people remember fondly and no one has made since. The tablet comes with a headphone jack, NFC, Wi-Fi 6E, and support for a snap-on keyboard via POGO pins, a collection of features that most budget tablets have quietly abandoned. On paper, it reads like a device designed for people who want their technology to feel like something, not just function like something.

But there's a problem hiding in the spec sheet, and it's a big one. The leaked technical details—the Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 processor, the 9,250mAh battery, the 13MP rear camera, even the storage standard—are not new. They first appeared in a leak from June 2024, more than two years ago. The processor itself dates to 2023. This means HMD is either launching a tablet designed in the middle of 2024, which would make its core components three years old by the time it reaches stores, or the company has quietly updated the internals and simply hasn't told anyone. The new renders show the design is clearly still alive, but whether the silicon inside has moved forward remains unknown. HMD's own Skyline 2 phone has leaked with a newer Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 chip, which would make shipping a tablet with an older processor alongside a newer phone a difficult story to tell.

When you line the Slate Tab 5G up against tablets you can actually buy today, the gap becomes clearer. The Redmi Pad 2 Pro 5G, priced around $269, offers a larger 12.1-inch screen with sharper resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate—compared to the HMD's 90Hz. It has a newer processor, a much larger 12,000mAh battery, and Xiaomi's promise of five years of operating system updates and seven years of security patches. Samsung's Galaxy Tab A11+ 5G, at roughly $280, also outpaces the HMD on screen size and brightness. The Slate Tab does beat both on battery capacity and charging speed—its 9,250mAh battery is larger than Samsung's 7,040mAh, and it charges at 30W versus Samsung's 25W. It's a meaningful step up from HMD's own T21 line, which still relies on older 4G connectivity and an aging Unisoc processor. But one specification stands out as a weakness: the UFS 2.2 storage standard is older and slower than the UFS 3.1 or 4.0 found on competing tablets, which means apps will open and install noticeably more slowly.

The design is genuinely the selling point here. A 3.5mm headphone jack is rare now. NFC, Wi-Fi 6E, and keyboard support are features that have vanished from most budget tablets in the race to cut costs. The colorful polycarbonate back in blue and orange gives the device personality in a category dominated by gray rectangles. For people who remember the Lumia era—when phones and tablets came in jewel tones and felt like objects you wanted to hold—this tablet speaks to something real. But personality alone doesn't win tablet wars. Based on the leaked specifications, the Slate Tab 5G needs to land below $250 to make sense as a purchase. At that price, with a keyboard bundle included, it becomes a reasonable alternative to the Redmi. At $300 or higher, it becomes hard to justify when you could spend similar money and get a tablet with a newer processor, a bigger battery, and a brighter screen.

There's another factor that could matter more than price: software support. HMD's recent phones have offered shorter update windows than Samsung or Xiaomi. The HMD Vibe 2 Pro launched with only two years of security patches. A tablet is not a phone—people keep tablets for four or five years, using them for work, reading, and media consumption. If HMD commits to the same short support window on the Slate Tab, buyers who plan to use this device for years may look elsewhere, no matter how appealing the design. HMD has not announced a price, a launch date, or even confirmed the final specifications. Reports suggest the tablet could arrive alongside the Skyline 2 phone and other devices, likely first in Europe and India, with limited US availability. Until the company makes an official announcement, the Slate Tab remains a promise—a tablet that could be great if the price is right and the software commitment is real, or a missed opportunity if HMD prices it like a premium device or treats it like a phone.