Yep it’s that time of the year again where manufacturers are
announcing new products left and right. Samsung has already announced its
latest affordable tablet last month, the new Galaxy
Tab S2, so LG (just like last year) is surely to follow with its own tablet
announcement.
And lo and behold, the G Pad II 8.0 was announced this week
in South Korea. Meant as a following to last year’s G
Pad 8.0, this new model boasts similar specs with a few upgrades. For
starters, it’s packing the same 8-inch 1280 x 800 pixel display, a Snapdragon
400 chip with a 1.2GHz quad-core CPU and Adreno 305 GPU as its predecessor.
What’s new is that it’s now packing more RAM at 1.5GB and
more storage at 32GB with an option for expansion using a microSD card. The
tablet also comes with a 5MP+2MP camera combo, a 4200mAh battery, LTE
connectivity, a capacitive stylus and Android Lollipop.
Another interesting new feature is the addition of a
full-sized USB 2.0 port at the top that supports external keyboards, mice and
flash drives. Having said this, we think LG is trying to capture the student
market by offering the slate as a laptop alternative especially given the fact
that the company is promising Microsoft Office integration into the tablet.
There’s no word yet on pricing and international
availability, but we do expect it to be priced around the same as the first
generation G Pad 8.0.
