LG G PAD 8.3 GOOGLE PLAY EDITION

The good news about the new LG G Pad tablet: It’s an upgrade to an already above-average device thanks to the tie-in and co-branding with Google, which allows for continual updates to the Android operating system (as of this writing in December 2013, the LG G Pad 8.3 Google Play Edition is loaded with version 4.4).

The better news: The folks at LG did not employ that favored tactic by industry-leading Apple, i.e. release a barely tweaked tablet as a new model altogether along with an increase in price – A smart move, since the LG G Pad 8.3 Google Play Edition is already notably pricey at a suggested retail price of $349.

For this high-end price, the G Pad Google Edition brings a frankly Spartan design featuring a nicely spacious 8.3” display at 1,920 x 1,200-pixel resolution. After the ho-hum 16 GB in internal storage space available, the remainder of the specs are mostly high-end indeed: Included are a micro SD card slot that can help boost that memory to 64 GB; front and rear cameras of 1.3 MP and 5 MP, respectively; and an infrared blaster. RAM size is a nice 2 GB and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 CPU is quick enough to run even demanding apps smoothly.

Also of note are the apps included, headlined by the QPair function. This allows connection between the G Pad and smartphone. The tablet can then receive messages from the phone, and the two devices can share internet browsing history, among the handy possibilities.

On the bottom line, the LG G Pad 8.3 Google Play Edition is a nice device even worth the price – unless you happen to notice that other competitive small tablet bearing the Google brand name. For now, the Nexus 7 still bests the LG G Pad, despite the smaller screen.