LG G Pad 8.3 review

Even though it has a slightly larger screen, the price of the LG G Pad makes the excellent Google Nexus 7 its closest competitor. Although the G Pad 8.3’s screen has the same 1,920×1,200 resolution as the Nexus 7, the G Pad 8.3 has a lower pixel density of 273 pixels per inch (PPI) because those pixels are stretched across an 8.3in panel rather than a 7in panel.

In practice, the 50ppi gap between the two tablets doesn’t make a lot of difference; images still look sharp and detailed, while text appears crisp and easy to read. The IPS panel has fantastic viewing angles and produces vivid yet accurate colours. The screen size difference is notable however, those 1.3in diagonally may not sound like much, but the G Pad’s screen is actually 40% larger by area.

LG G Pad 8.3 Features

The tablet is comfortable to hold in one hand. There are no physical buttons to take up space above or below it either, as LG has opted for onscreen buttons instead. You can’t use it with one hand, but it’s much less of a stretch on your fingers than an iPad Mini, which uses a 4:3 aspect ratio rather than the 16:9 one seen here.

With a slim body that’s just 8.3mm thick and made from a combination of plastic and brushed metal, the G Pad 8.3 is a beautifully built tablet. Whether the brushed aluminium rear is superior to the Nexus 7’s rubberised plastic will likely fall to personal preference; the G Pad looks fantastic but the Nexus has slightly more grip.

There’s not much in the way of connectivity, with just a Micro USB charging port at the bottom and 3.5mm audio jack on the top, although the G Pad does include a microSD card slot. With it, you’ll be able to add an additional 64GB to the 16GB of integrated storage. That will be great news to anyone with lots of apps, music or films, as well as anyone that has avoided buying a Nexus 7 because of its limited storage capacity.

We also like the G Pad 8.3’s stereo rear-facing speakers, which sound loud and clear. The speakers mean you can enjoy iPlayer or Netflix without reaching for a pair of headphones.

LG G Pad 8.3 Camera

A 5-megapixel camera also appears on the rear of the tablet. The sensor isn’t paired with a flash, so the G Pad 8.3 won’t rival a modern smartphone camera for low-light photography, but the camera manages to capture a reasonable amount of detail in brightly lit outdoor scenes. The G Pad 8.3 consistently overexposed the sky, but otherwise the camera captured colours accurately using auto white balance.