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LG's 10.1-inch G Pad tablet goes on sale, starting in the US

LG's push into the larger tablet category begins today with the global launch of its 10.1-inch G Pad.
Written by Liam Tung, Contributing Writer
2014-07-07-12-00-42-pm-v1
Image: LG

LG has officially launched its 10.1-inch display G Pad, the largest tablet in its new family of four slates, and successor to the original and well-received 8.3-inch G Pad.

The rollout of the curved edge 10.1-inch G Pad will start with the US first this time; last month's launch of the seven-inch model kicked off in Europe.

LG announced plans to add three new G Pad tablets to its lineup in May, breaking away from its former single-tablet strategy, based on the 8.3-inch G Pad.

Tablet buyers may be disappointed by the fact LG appears to have traded in the higher specs of its original G Pad in favour of greater choice in its newer devices.

The 8.3-inch G Pad, which was only available in black or white, offered a 1.7GHz Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of onboard storage, with a 1920x1200 pixel (273ppi) display.

The standard set-up for the three newer tablets includes a 1.2GHz quad core processor, 1GB of RAM and IPS HD display at 1280x800 megapixels. On the other hand, depending on the device size, LG has began offering a far wider range of colours, including black, white, red, orange, and blue. The new 10.1-inch G Pad, for example, comes in black or red.

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Supporting the larger screen, the tablet ships with a 8,000 mAh battery and comes with 16GB onboard storage, a microSD slot, a five-megapixel rear camera and 1.3-megapixel front camera. At 523g in weight, LG's big tablet sits between the iPad Air's 478g and the Retina display iPad's 662g.

Other features LG is highlighting to differentiate its G Pad devices include the Knock Code homescreen lock feature, and QPair, which is meant to handle notifications across multiple Android devices.

LG's also developed its own smart keyboard and offers the ability to split the tablet's screen to run two applications side by side and move content between them.

LG hasn't released pricing yet, saying it will release details when the device launches in each market. Following its US launch today, it will be released in Europe, Asia, and Latin America later this month.

The timing of LG's bigger punt on tablets is somewhat unfortunate for the company, with signs emerging recently that growth in tablet consumption is slowing. Some analysts also note that there's a glut of undifferentiated tablets out there

On the other hand, with just one tablet so far, LG has remained in the shadows of a market that continues to be dominated by Apple and Samsung. And despite the new device offering lower specs than its original G Pad, its efforts to differentiate its tablets and carry across the look and feel of its popular G3 smartphone may help make it stand out to consumers.

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