A cheap tablet from LG that doesn’t skimp too much on specs

Remember the days when your only choice was between an expensive tablet and a cheaper one that scrimped on everything from memory to the screen quality? Those days are gone. Google’s Nexus tablet has shown it’s possible to make a 7-inch tablet that’s both affordable and high quality. But it has competition – cheaper competition at that. It’s possible to pick up a sub-€200 tablet these days that won’t end up as a very expensive paperweight once frustration with the hardware sets in.

That’s where LG is pitching the G-Pad 7.0. The 7-inch device may not be the sleekest on the market, but it’s far from the chunkiest available, and certainly punches above its weight in the budget tablet category. It comes with only 8GB of internal storage, but 1GB of Ram and 1.2GHz quad core processor. That won’t challenge the Nexus, which starts at double that, but it’s no slouch either. It will handle multitasking and web browsing with ease, and you can even add in a few games – though you may see a little stuttering now and again.

The good . . .

At €180, this tablet is affordable without compromising too much on the specs. One area where it does fall down is its capacity. But despite the low storage – 8GB won’t go too far these days – it’s still flexible. The G-Pad has the ability to add more storage too, with a MicroSD slot in the side that means you can store video, photos and other space-hogging content on removable cards.

The screen comes in at a resolution of 1280 x 800, and is ideal for watching movies on the move, or trading ebooks. It doesn’t seem quite as vivid as some of its more expensive competition, but unless you had the tablets side by side, it’s not something that will be immediately apparent.

Speaking of having things side by side, that’s something that LG has included in this tablet: the ability to multitask. You can have two apps running side by side on the screen, allowing you to actually multitask on an Android tablet. That means you could have your email open while copying information from your web browser. It’s a useful add-on that makes the tablet a little more user-friendly.

The bad . . . There are some compromises, as you would expect. The camera isn’t the best out there: although it’s got a reasonable megapixel count, any sort of low light means your images will be murky and grainy.

Design-wise, it’s more of the same from LG. It’s essentially a shrunken version of the 10-inch G-Pad, so there’s not much to get excited about. It also feels a little chunkier than its competition, the Nexus 7. Holding it in one hand, though, you will probably barely notice it.

. . . and the rest

The LG tablet includes QPair, which is designed to allow your Android phone to connect to the tablet. That means you can take calls and pick up messages to your phone on the tablet, similar to how Samsung’s SideSync works, if your phone has Android 4.1 or later. On the plus side, it means you’ll never miss another call or text again. On the more negative side, it means, well, you’ll never miss another call or text again

. The days of pretending you didn’t see your phone when you’re actually screening calls are rapidly coming to an end.

If you plan on having this tablet hang around your living room, there’s an added bonus: it also has a TV compatible remote function. Your G-Pad could realistically replace all your remote controls in the living room - the ultimate universal remote. The G-Pad also supports Miracast, so you can send content wirelessly to a compatible display.

The verdict

HHH

Cheaper tablets may generally have a bad image, but the LG G-Pad is a rebuttal of that criticism.