LG Optimus Pad tablet was introduced by LG Electronics in 2011. The Japanese became the first buyers of this device. The tablet became the result of the joint cooperation of LG and nVIDIA corporations, and was recognized as a leader in the field of graphics solutions.
Housing
The 8.9-inches tablet (243x149x12 mm) is easy to handle due to its relatively low weight of 630 grams. If desired, it is quite safe to keep even with one hand. The frame around the display is large enough to instill confidence that the fingers will not close the display of the tablet while it is in the hands. The thickness of the tablet, except for its sloping sides, is 12 millimeters. The cover of the device is made of two parts, one smaller is removable. Beneath the cover there is a slot for SIM-card and Reset button.
Display
Unlike the most manufacturers who use in their tablets 7- or 10.1-inches diagonal displays, the LG engineers have chosen IPS-display with 8.9 inches diagonal. The display has 1280х768 pixels resolution (16.7 million colors). However, the difference in size with 10.1-inches diagonal devices is quite small. The capacitive screen supports multi-touch. The image on the screen automatically rotates depending on the tablet’s orientation in space. This feature can be turned off in settings if it impedes for some reason. Outwardly, the colors on the display seem to be very rich. The screen is glossy, so bright light contributes to the emergence of multiple reflections. When the sun shines directly on the screen it is very hard to make out anything. The maximum brightness of the screen is at a very high level – 389 cd/m2. The display has contrast ratio of 778:1. LG Optimus Pad has excellent viewing angles. The image is perfectly visible at various angles of observing, with adequate color rendering and brightness.
Performance
The tablet is based on dual-core APU Nvidia Tegra 2, working at 1 GHz and 1 MB second level cache. The graphics processor is built-in. APU Dual Core supports multitasking, enabling the user to run on the tablet multiple applications simultaneously. The device has 1024 MB (DDR2) RAM installed. Tegra 250 is a so-called System-on-Chip (SoC), that is, the device, in which all the hardware components are integrated into one module: the CPU, graphics core, GSM and UMTS modules, etc. Tegra 250 is currently very popular among the manufacturers of the tablets. Maximum 1000 MHz frequency is used only in cases when it is needed. In daily use, the processor works within the range of 266-606 MHz. This allows the system to save energy and prolong battery life. There is no possibility of expanding internal memory of this tablet.
Operating system
LG Optimus Pad runs on OS Android operating system. The tablet has the third version of this operating system, codenamed Honeycomb. This innovative shell is created by Google and optimized for the tablets. Among the innovations of given OS there are improved and refined multi-tasking, support for 3D mode, the opportunity to use three-dimensional desktop, improved widgets, support of the video chats, which is made with Google Talk program, improved OS communication skills, refined user interface. In addition, this operating system allows the use of Google software applications, specifically designed for the tablets: Google Maps 5 and Google eBooks.
Keyboard
The system control of the tablet is only possible through its 8.9-inches touch-screen display. Besides the key for volume control, there are no additional control elements on the tablet. The fingers of the user are used for data entry, menu navigation, and text typing. Three icons (Back, Menu and Task Manager), standard for Android, appear in the lower left corner of the screen. It depends on the current situation and the running application. The fourth icon is displayed only in those applications, for which the Settings menu is available.
All applications and games start by pressing the appropriate desktop icons. Virtual QWERTZ-keyboard appears only when it’s necessary to enter text. Swipe-input is not supported. If necessary, the keyboard for almost any language and with any layout can be downloaded from the Android Market. If you use the keyboard, it occupies about half of the visible screen area. At the same it has all desktop keyboard characters including digits. When working with e-mail, browser, or write notes, it works perfectly. All the actions are implemented immediately. The tablet can recognize voice input. In case that the word was not recognized accurately, different options appear on the screen.
Communications
LG has equipped its tablet only with the most necessary external controls and interfaces. The device has the USB and HDMI ports located at the bottom end face of it. Additionally, there are connectors for docking station or LG SDT-500 cradle.
On the left end face of the tablet there are headphone output, input for the power adapter and power button. On the opposite end face of the housing there are only a couple of small loudspeakers. Microphone is in the center of the upper end face, and the volume rocker is just to the left of it. The device can be connected to a PC using its USB port. Data cable is used only for data transfer.
Cameras
There are three cameras in LG Optimus Pad. Two of them are from the rear and enable the user to shoot video and take pictures. Another is located on the front side of the tablet and is designed for video calls, etc. An important feature of this LG tablet is that a couple of cameras from the rear allow the user to shoot 3D-video. 3D-video is produced with the use of anaglyph or side-by-side method. The resulting image will not be seen without special 3D-glasses, but they are not included into complete set of the tablet. 3D-video can be viewed in 2 modes, switching between them by pressing a special button. 2D-viewing of 3D-video is not possible in this device.
LG Optimus Pad is a new standard of the tablets. Dimensions of the LG Optimus Pad allow achieving the optimal combination of portability and screen size, without losing performance. It’s also the world’s first tablet featuring 3D-shooting.
