LG G Pad 8.3 review: well-designed, but priced too high

LG tries. It tries for US relevance, but the company's product offerings -- usually its smartphones -- consistently lack the je ne sais quoi necessary to succeed. The G Pad, an 8.3-inch Android tablet that recently debuted at IFA 2013, could break that dry spell, becoming the first serious competitor to the iPad mini's styling andthe first high-profile LG tablet. Is it filled with bleeding-edge specs? No, not really. LG opted to imbue the G Pad with a Snapdragon 600 heart -- a trade-off made in the interest of better battery life and less overheating. The tablet also arrives with a 1,920 x 1,200 IPS panel, giving it an immediate leg up: 1080p resolution in an 8-inch form factor.

Specification:

GENERAL	2G Network
	SIM	No
	Announced	2013, September
	Status	Coming soon. Exp. release 2013, Q4

BODY	Dimensions	216.8 x 126.5 x 8.3 mm (8.54 x 4.98 x 0.33 in)
	Weight	338 g (11.92 oz)

DISPLAY	Type	Capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
	Size	1200 x 1920 pixels, 8.3 inches (~273 ppi pixel density)
	Multitouch	Yes

SOUND	Alert types	Vibration, Polyphonic, MP3 ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes, with stereo speakers
	3.5mm jack	Yes

MEMORY	Card slot	microSD, up to 64 GB
	Internal	16 GB, 2 GB RAM

DATA	GPRS	No
	EDGE	No
	Speed	No
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, Wi-Fi hotspot
	Bluetooth	Yes
	Infrared port	Yes
	USB	Yes, microUSB (SlimPort) v2.0

CAMERA	Primary	5 MP, 2592х1944 pixels, check quality
	Features	Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, image stabilization, panorama, HDR
	Video	Yes, 1080p@30fps, check quality
	Secondary	Yes, 1.3 MP

FEATURES	OS	Android OS, v4.2.2 (Jelly Bean)
	Chipset	Qualcomm APQ8064 Pro Snapdragon 600
	CPU	Quad-core 1.7 GHz Krait 300
	GPU	Adreno 320
	Sensors	Accelerometer, proximity
	Messaging	MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
	Browser	HTML5
	Radio	No
	GPS	Yes, with A-GPS support and GLONASS
	Java	Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
	Colors	Black, White
		- SNS integration - MP4/DivX/XviD/H.264/H.263 player - MP3/WAV/eAAC+ player - Document viewer - Photo viewer/editor - Organizer - Voice memo - Predictive text input

BATTERY		Non-removable Li-Ion 4600 mAh battery