LG today unveiled a new series of three G Pad tablets, with 7.0- 8.0- and 10.1-inch sizes, due to be unveiled at the MedPi European tradeshow from May 13-16.
The new tablets are a result of customer feedback – LG says their customers have told them they want a wider range of devices with “sizeable screens” that don’t compromise on portability. Sounds like a series of lightweight tablets with high quality screens to us, so let’s see if they can deliver.
Details are scarce at the moment. Short of the two pictures attached to this post, we can only glean that LG’s pushing a new look (well overdue) user experience. The software will feature a new version of Q Pair (the software that pairs phone and tablet, so you can action phone items like SMS’s from the tablet), and Knock On / Knock Code will return. Those were some of the best features of the company’s previous tablet offering – the G Pad 8.3, so we’re happy to see them make a return.
The tablets are being pitched to prospective purchasers by calling out the activities that each scree size lends itself to, with the G Pad 7.0 able to be held in one hand, the G Pad 8.0 providing better immersive multimedia experiences and the G Pad 10.1 packing a huge screen battery and “endless hours” of fun.
Big Nexus
Looking at the pictures, it seems obvious that LG has taken some design cues from some of its other devices that are produced in partnership with Google.
These new G Pad tablets look to continue the design language of the Nexus 5, blowing up that design to tablet size with a similar coloured back-and-sides arrangement on the blue 7.0 model as seen on the red Nexus 5, the dotted speaker grille and overall end curvature of the devices. That doesn’t look like a bad thing at all – and while that blue G Pad 7.0 is pretty hot, I’m itching to see if there might be some other colours coming.
This might also bode well for a Google Play Edition of one or more of these new G Pad devices – not that we’re expecting to see those devices launched here any time soon. If that happens, it could also explain what happened to the Nexus 10 that failed to get its expected hardware refresh at the end of the last year.
LG advises that the full specs and availalbility of the new tablets will be announced locally in the coming weeks. We’ve put in an enquiry with LG Australia and will let you know what we find out.
