The LG G Pad 8.3 is a tiny, rather low-cost tablet. It presents a pretty convincing different alternative to the iPad mini Retina, whilst costing about £120 less.
There are a few indications that this is not a top-tier tablet, however not sufficient to prevent it from being a valid bargain.
Design
The LG G Pad 8.3 is a reasonably affordable tablet; however its build quality is excellent. The top layer is hardened glass and the back is a mix of plastic and aluminium. Since the area your hands come into contact with is metal, it boasts a similar cool and firm feel like an iPad mini.
Stylish-wise, the LG G Pad is not rather on the same level. The twin speakers on the back spoil the ease of the look a little, and the blend of silver and white look a bit cheap. The black version though looks better.
The volume and power buttons on the side are plastic instead of metal too. However once you think about the iPad mini and Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 cost, you cannot actually complain.
Screen
Its screen feels current as well. Like the LG G Pad 8.3 name hints, it is an 8.3-inch display.
This is a 16:10 widescreen pane, 1,920 x 1,200 in resolution. Even though lower-res than the Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 and less pixel-dense than the Nexus 7, it is rather sharp. Look close and you can detect single pixels, however it is not a key issue in a low-cost tablet.
Basic picture quality is quite good because of the use of an IPS panel, which offers firm viewing angles.
Software and Performance
Hardware-wise the LG G Pad 8.3 is a hit. It is in the software that you find a few of the tablet’s weaker parts.
It presently runs the somewhat outdated Android 4.2 Jelly Bean software, with LG’s normal custom interface cover on top. Whereas it does make a few compromises for the fairly big screen, fitting in additional content than a phone would, LG’s is one of the fustier-appearing custom Android skins.
Camera
One part where the LG G Pad 8.3 loses out to the major tablets is its camera collection. The main loss is a back flash; however you do in any case acquire dual cameras – one on the rear, one on the front.
The back camera boasts a 5-megapixel sensor and an f/2.4 lens. Color reproduction is very much one-note every so often, and the partial camera resolution implies that even in the finest states you are not going to create seemingly detailed pictures. Nevertheless, in the impounds of the sensor, sharpness is really rather good – implying the lens itself is pretty sharp.
LG G Pad 8.3 review