LG still hasn’t officially released their LG G Pad II 10.1″ FHD tablet in the United States. At the time of this writing it is available for pre-order at bhphotovideo.com.
Currently available for pre-order at 300 USD, the LG G Pad II is certainly not a budget tablet but looks to enter the mid-range market.
Processor: 2.26 GHz Qualcomm Quad-Core
Display: 10.1″ Full HD (bhphotovideo.com has it listed as an “IPS Multi-Touch Display”)
Internal storage: 16GB eMMc
External storage: microSDXC card support up to 2TB (According to bhphotovideo.com, LG does not disclose any microSDXC feature)
Battery: 7400 mAh
RAM: 2GB RAM
Camera: 2MP front facing and an 8MP (5MP) AF Rear facing
Platform: Android Lollipop
Release date: September 2015 (Korea) Supposedly slated to also be released in the USA the same month, but LG links only to a pre-order page. However, it can currently be found on amazon by a third party seller.
Everything sounds pretty awesome, but it’s pretty glaring that LG doesn’t seem to be disclosing the real tech specs.
How many fingers does it support? What is the screen made from? Gorilla glass? Plastic? Does it actually have external storage? LG, why do you not have these answers on your tech page?
Perhaps most importantly, is everything on bhphotovideo.com’s pre-order page correct? Why do they have more information on your tablet than you?
Is the LG G Pad II worth it?
Well, let’s find out!
Currently on amazon.com the old stalwart tablet the Nexus 7 (2013 edition) is a mere 147.99 USD and has comparable specs.
However, that’s not the most fair of comparisons. This is a 7″ tablet vs a 10.1″ tablet. It’s safe to assume someone looking for a 10″ tablet may find that extra cost reasonable.
Tablet technological advances, at least on the Android side of things, has been rather embarrassing lately. A mid-range tablet that was released in September of 2015 should have decidedly better specs than one which was released in July of 2013.
What’s worse is that it is actually possible that the Nexus 7 could beat the LG G Pad II in performance. Especially judging from the sketchy specs that have been officially released.
Not only performance, but the Nexus 7 also has access to Android Marshmallow 6.0.1, while the LG G Pad II will be shipped with the aging Lollipop.
How long till LG releases Marshmallow for their new device? Who knows? Maybe never.
Even so, the 10″ Android market has mostly been terrible, at least spec wise, ever since it started. Perhaps LG actually has something to bring to the table if we choose to ignore the comperable 7″ and 9″ tablets out there.
Only time will tell.