Hands-on with the AT&T LG G Pad X 10.1: A nearly perfect Android tablet for just $350
Tablets are companion devices and for many people, including me, they are often used for enjoying video content. They also serve as good tabletop family computers to use while sitting around watching TV in the house. The LG G Pad X 10.1 is perfect for these experiences and is an Android tablet you should consider.
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Hardware
The AT&T LG G Pad X 10.1 is available in bronze with a black glass front. The bronze is a brushed aluminum material that looks great on the back and extends half way around the sides.
The LG G Pad X 10.1 is optimized for landscape orientation with the LG logo located at the bottom, left side in portrait orientation. The LG tablet also has a widescreen display resolution, optimized for watching videos.
Specifications of the LG G Pad X 10.1 include:
- 10.1 inch 1920 x 1200 pixels resolution IPS LCD screen
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 2.26 GHz quad-core processor
- 2GB of RAM
- 32GB of internal storage with microSD expansion card slot
- Android 5.1.1 Lollipop operating system
- 7400 mAh battery
- 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS
- Rear 8 megapixel camera and 2 megapixel front facing camera
- Dimensions of 254.25 x 161 x 7.6 mm and 489 grams
LG advertises 10 hours of use and I was easily able to watch a couple of movies on a cross country flight while still having enough battery to go into the next day.
Software
The LG G Pad X 10.1 runs the latest version of Android Lollipop with a light LG skin and a few AT&T apps. There is only one page of apps loaded on the device, consisting of those provided by Google, LG, and AT&T.
LG apps and utilities include Gallery, QuickMemo+, QuickRemote, QPair, and Calendar. Unlike the Galaxy Tab S2, the IR blaster is present on the LG tablet and the QuickRemote software is perfect for using the tablet in the living room.
Dual screen app support is also provided, but the apps that you can use this for are limited. The apps do look good in landscape orientation though and some folks may find this support useful.
Pricing
You can purchase the LG G Pad X 10.1 from AT&T for only $349.99 with no contract or $249.99 with a 2-year contract. You can also choose to pay $17.50 per month for 20 months. This makes the LG tablet almost half the price of the recent Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 I looked at.You can add the LG tablet to your existing DataShare plan for $10 per month or subscribe to a dedicated DataConnect plan for $14.99 to $50 for 250MB to 5GB of data, respectively.
Daily experiences and closing thoughts
I was immediately impressed by the look and feel of the LG G Pad X 10.1 as soon as I took it out of the box and was really blown away when I found out that the full retail price was only $350. Even if you never used it with AT&T data service, it's a fantastic media-focused tablet for this price.
While this tablet is excellent for watching video content and working in landscape, it also includes Reader Mode. When you switch to this mode while reading ebooks, LG reduces the blue light of the display backlight. Studies have shown that this light may cause eye fatigue and blurred vision so LG is working to make reading on a tablet display better.
The display looks great, performance has been very good, the stereo speakers sound fantastic, and I couldn't find anything I didn't like about the tablet. If I was giving it a review rating, then I would give this tablet a 9.8 or maybe even a perfect 10!
I'm seriously considering it for myself even though I am more focused on flagship smartphones, it's that good.