LG Electronics is set to take on arch rival Samsung in the tablet market with the launch later this month of a new 10.1″ Android G Pad that will kick start a war for market share between the two Companies.
Last week Samsung launched two new variants of its Tab series of tablets. The new Galaxy Tab S tablets feature 8.4 inches and 10.5 inches display. The new LG G Pad 10.1 the big brother to the 8.0″ G Pad currently being sold at mass retailers.
A move by JB Hi Fi to range LG PC products is set to help LG grow market share for their tablets in Australia despite the tablet market softening.
The new LG tablet has a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, 1GB RAM and True IPS 1,280 by 800 HD display.
The new 10.1″ model will have 16GB memory, MicroSD slot, 5-megapixel rear camera, 1.3-megapixel front camera and 8,000 mAh battery.
It will be available in black or red.
Also built in is LG’s proprietary QPair 2.0 and Knock Code UI features. The updated Qpair uses Bluetooth to connect the tablets to an Android smartphone, turning the tablets into an extension of a user’s phone.
The tablets receive notifications of a smartphone’s calls and texts and enable users to respond to texts and answer calls from the tablet.
A QPair 2.0 SDK enables software developers to create apps that let user’s stream online media and change settings on the G Pad remotely from any Android smartphone.
Knock Code lets users power on and unlock the tablet by tapping the screen using one of more than 80,000 possible “knock” combinations.
A knock pattern using from two to eight taps can be entered on any area of the screen, even if the display is off. Up to four users can register a knock pattern.
The tablets also feature a minimal GUI design consistent with that of the new flagship G3 smartphone which goes on sale shortly in Australia.
“Tablets are increasingly being used as companion devices,” spurring LG to connect the LG G Pad 10.1 to the G3 and include in it “the best core technologies of our G series smartphones,” said Jong-seok Park, president/CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications.
Other key features of the tablets include dual window, which splits the screen so that two apps can run simultaneously. The feature also lets users drag and drop content from one window to another. Smart keyboard technology is said to reduce typing errors by up to 75 percent by analysing typing habits and choosing the word that the user intended to type. The touch-and-shoot feature lets users tap anywhere on the screen to focus and activate the shutter to save time, and gesture shot for selfies lets users clench a fist within the shot to begin a three-second countdown.
Samsung’s new tablet, the Galaxy Tab S, which SmartHouse saw last week takes direct aim at Apple’s iPad line with 10.5-inch and 8.4-inch screens but with the support of both JB Hi Fi and Harvey Norman Samsung could be facing a battle with LG as well.
Analysts at IDC slashed their growth projection for the tablet market in 2014 to 19.4 percent from 23 percent. Meanwhile, the market for high-power, highly portable devices is about to get even tighter, according to a new Gartner report that says the PC market is set to grow this year, thanks in part to super-portable computers such as the MacBook Air, Dell Ultrabooks or the Microsoft Surface.
That leaves the Galaxy Tab S in a tricky spot despite it being the best tablet we have ever seen. There are few flaws with this device, which has the same dimpled polycarbonate back as the Galaxy S5.
The most impressive feature is its screen, which delivers crisp clear images and even sharper text which makes reading content easier. The other big benefit is the improved battery life despite the brighter screen.
Shortly we will bring you a full review of both the Samsung and LG tablets.
