LG G Pad 8.3 – Review
The new LG G Pad 8.3 tries to oust the Nexus 7 on the price range of $250-$350 with original features. The tablet market in recent years, it has become extremely competitive. After the undisputed advantage of the iPad in the world of mobile devices, ” large “, the other operating systems are slowly able to have their say, innovating first from the point of view of size.
Curious is the Android tablet market, still not very developed, and he sees more and more like the protagonist Google Nexus 7, seven-inch tablet Google with excellent technical features and affordable price.
Hard to beat such a product, especially when it can run a fluid system, good-looking and customizable. But not all manufacturers have surrendered before a challenge like that. LG is one of them.
LG G Pad 8.3 – Design and Ergonomics
Opening the simple pack of LG G Pad, as well as the product itself, there is not much important: a MicroUSB cable, a USB wall charger and manuals. But the device is to capture all the attention, because in this LG G Pad finally seems to have wanted to express their love in accomplishing things: the tablet, barely bigger than a Mini iPad (but only 7 grams heavier in comparison) looks simple, robust, professional, with a choice of materials that left little room for plastic and far more valuable, cold aluminum, which occupies most of the back, and quality glass Gorilla Glass 2 on the front. We are genuinely pleased with this aesthetic choice, which gives the product the premium feel that the Nexus 7 Android tablet between the sample of small size, has not been able to offer this year.
The protagonists of this tablet are many and varied. A pair of stereo speakers interrupt the continuity of the metal, and it is interesting the choice to move vertically (basically, multimedia usage is almost always with the tablet in landscape!). Very welcome also the presence of a MicroSD slot easily accessible. In addition to the classic kit from a mini-tablet (headphone jack, MicroUSB port, power button and volume of metal, microphone, camera), the device is distinguished by the presence – LG now we’re getting used to it – an infrared transmitter, with which you can use LG G Pad 8.3 as a universal remote. No trace of physical buttons for navigation on the tablet, Android supplanted by virtual buttons.
Perfect ergonomics? Almost. The product has a weight of just one extremely thin (about 8.3 mm) and materials incredibly good, and you can see a mile away that LG has worked very carefully to achieve this result. The presence of thin edges on the sides of the display, together with the absence of any system that detects accidental touches cause occasional problems in controlling the G Pad with one hand, while the other, in maintaining the product, could make minor contacts with causing the touchscreen input is not provided.
Another problem stems from the innovative function KnockOn tested on LG G2 and also reported here. The large size of the product require it to hold the tablet with your fingers on the screen when you carry with you in your hand. The contact is often interpreted by the software of LG as a start request. Fortunately, you can disable KnockOn settings and take advantage of the classic power button located on the right side.
LG G Pad 8.3 – Display
Hard to find any problem in display of LG G Pad 8.3. The panel of 8.3 inches provides sharpness incredible thanks to the resolution of 1920 * 1200 pixels, with a density of around 270 ppi. It is an IPS LCD, which means a black point is not absolute and natural colors, and the explanation is never truer than this: the panel of this G Pad features a color temperature almost perfect, which is rare in this price tablet.
As if that were not enough, the other ace in the hole of the display of the LG G Pad 8.3 resides in brightness, so awfully high to permit easy reading of texts also under the direct blinding sunlight at noon. Finally, a product that is not afraid to be brought out of the house, the real field test of a tablet. No fault? A little here, but very subjective. The panel – I have noticed the most attentive – has an aspect ratio of 16:10. This means that the content of movies and YouTube videos, usually 720p or 1080p will not be displayed perfectly, presenting thin black bars on the sides to compensate for the absence of the 16:9 ratio.
LG G Pad 8.3 – Battery
LG G Pad 8.3 is defended quite well from the point of view of autonomy. In an hour passed between Chrome, Tapatalk, Spotify and Twitch, the product showed a decline of 10% of the battery, which enables it to perform tasks also a certain weight for about ten hours. The built-in battery 4600 mAh, then, does his duty. The Android tablet generally tended until recently not to show the same range of the most reliable Apple’s iPad, but with products like this, we can say we have approached a lot of the same longevity.
LG G Pad 8.3 – Camera and Video
Already. As always, there is not much to expect from the fund photo / video of a tablet, and LG has done well not to lose your head on this component. In any case, the sensor is equipped in the LG G Pad 8.3 is kind of lit and comes with auto focus, just enough to make some shots on the fly in good lighting conditions.
Among other things, the native application for taking photos and recording video is really good: You can change a number of parameters such as white balance, ISO, exposure and so on, as well as set the resolution and set continuous shooting, HDR, panoramic and moving fast. The same care he gets the part dedicated to video, with special effects and customization options of the recovery. Most of the shots produced is grainy and lacking in detail, and 1080p video are no different. There is good: as the product can be handy, it’s not a camera, and invest in components that would be underutilized is definitely counterproductive.
LG G Pad 8.3 – Hardware and Software
When we took a look under the ” hood ” of this little gem, we noticed something very unusual: LG G Pad 8.3 is equipped with a vibration motor, what we thought was now nowhere to be found on a tablet. The choice we especially liked, because it is always a pleasure to have a tactile feedback when pressing the touchscreen. The hardware takes care of running Android version 4.2.2 of this LG G Pad 8.3 is respectful: Snapdragon CPU 600 (it’s a quad-core 1.7 GHz), assisted by an Adreno 320 GPU.
The performance of this hardware would be good if it were not for some slowdowns and freezes the device in the presence of many open applications. Initially, it was thought to a problem related to the lack of RAM (so as to be convinced, in the first draft of this review, that the 1 GB of RAM was instead of 2), but it really looks more like a problem related to the optimization of the software. A pity, the hardware is very good and gives the impression that with a stock version of Android, can stand safely even very heavy on loads.
The software LG, it is full of customizations, certainly does not help. Many are pleasing, such as animations unlocked, custom icons and all that he had already seen on the LG G2, but we would have liked far more agile in a multitasking device rather than a multitude of services.
It must be said, that many of the services offered by LG are not all bad: there QuickRemote to handle the G Pad as a universal remote control, there is an excellent application to write notes, there is QPair, with which you can view notifications and other information from a smartphone LG compatible; Miracast screen for streaming via Wi-Fi Direct.
Then there are the classic features such as multitasking and Slide Aside QSlide, as well as the excellent translator QuickTranslator, a video editor and a good alarm clock app. The system of LG is well stocked and, except jamming, is responsive, personalized and comfortable enough. We’d like to see in the future but in a graphic a bit less retro. This continues to be the voice assistant from LG only in English.
LG G Pad 8.3 – Conclusions.
At a price that is around $320, LG G Pad 8.3 is a product that makes sense. Totally exceeded expectation’s building, a bit disappointing the hardware sector and sound, flawless display. The LG G Pad 8.3 is an all-round device, also thanks to a good battery life. You can submit without problems as a tablet to take along for every occasion.
But the million-dollar question is: it makes sense to buy this product instead of a more reliable Google Nexus 7? Undoubtedly, the latter is able to provide better performance. Thanks to the presence of Android stock devoid of any tinsel additional hardware and a more convincing. The Google tablet lacks the solid metal construction of this pleasant and LG G Pad, and is far less devoted to multimedia: as both devices to assemble excellent display, the LG G Pad comes out the winner of the contest, with perfect color and brightness incredible.
Not to mention MicroSD expandability and dual speaker, things that make the LG G Pad device far more of the alternative media Google. Too bad only a few path problems where the LG should treasure. Almost very good.
Our Opinion
PROS : Perfect display, Construction unexceptionable, Expandable memory, Attractive price.
CONS : Audio below expectations, Performance is not brilliant.
- Features
- Display
- Battery
- Easy to use
- Value of Money
