LG G PAD 8.3 REVIEW

With this price tag which is $350, the LG G Pad 8.3 is the second most expensive tablet in its class, trailing only the $400 iPad Mini with Retina display. The Samsung Galaxy 3 8.0, which is smaller than the LG but also runs Android, costs $300. And Amazon's Kindle Fire HDX has comparable screen size with greater pixel density at roughly a third of the cost of the G Pad. 

Performance 

The G Pad runs on the Android 4.2.2 OS, and therefore comes with all the perks that the ecosystem affords. One of the coolest proprietary features of LG's newest tablet is the QPair, which allows Android smartphone users to connect with the G Pad 8.3 for phone calls, texting, and recently opened apps. I was able to receive and send texts directly from the G Pad, but when phone-call notifications popped up, I could answer them only from my Galaxy S III. 



With the Slide Aside function, apps can be opened and then swept off-screen for perusal later. Save up to three apps at once by swiping left with three fingers. Swiping back to the right shows the apps you have open for quick switching between them. 

The similar QSlide function allows for more than one app onscreen. While watching a movie, for instance, I was surfing the web and crunching numbers on the calculator app. QSlide even lets you adjust the transparency and size of each app window. 

The KnockOn feature bypasses the small inconvenience of having to reach for the screen lock button on the side. Two taps in the center of the screen turn it on, and another two turn it off. 

Hardware and Design 

The 8.3 in the G Pad's name comes from the size of the screen, which makes it large enough be a legitimate mini tablet but small enough to fit comfortably inside a pants pocket without looking (too) goofy. It's also the biggest screen among its competitors, with the next biggest being the 8.1-inch Lenovo Miix 2. Despite the big screen, the G Pad fits easily in one hand, although two are needed to operate it effectively. And since it weighs about a pound, you won't feel like you're doing biceps curls while lifting it. 

With a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core 1600 MHz processor, speed is not an issue for the G Pad. Videos run seamlessly, whether via YouTube or the Archos Video app. The CGI of Transformers Prime Beast Hunters didn't cause any lag or drop in performance. 

The 1920 x 1200, 273-ppi touchscreen features sharp clarity, but it's still on the low end compared to competitors such as the Nexus 7 (not to mention that the 32 GB, Wi-Fi equipped Nexus 7 model is almost 100 bucks cheaper). The 5-megapixel camera on back takes decent photos as well as 1080p HD video. 

With a 4600 mAh battery, the G Pad gets about 10 hours of solid usage, but streaming video and watching hi-res movies will cut that nearly in half. It boasts 16 GB of built-in storage, but only about 10 GB are usable at first. To make up for this, LG provides a microSD port that lets you expand the memory up to 64 GB. 

The Bottom Line 

The G Pad 8.3 is no game changer, but it's sleek, fun, and has some neat tricks up its sleeve. But it might be worth it to wait for a price drop from $350