LG G-Slate has 8.9 inches screen and it’s smaller than both the 10.1 inches Xoom and 9.8 inches iPad 2. LG G-Slate is only a tad heavier than Apple iPad 2 but like Xoom, it feels heavier because the weight is distributed oddly. The thickness of this device is 0.49 inch and it is a bit thicker than Apple iPad 2’s 0.34 inch profile. In landscape mode, this screen is as big as that of the iPad 2 but the height is an inch shorter. This device feels quite comfortable in the hand for typing in both the portrait and the landscape mode. The tablet won’t slip from your hand easily due to the materials used.The bottom side has miniHDMI and miniUSB port but there’s no microHDMI port that you’d find on the Xoom. The microphone pinhole and the volume rocker are located on the top. There are two speakers, one on either side. Left side also has lock or power button, power adapter slot input, and headphones jack.
When LG G-Slate was first released in the market, it was only the second tablet after Motorola Xoom. We were wondering about the things LG would do for differentiating their product from that of Motorolas. This tablet hasn’t been released in India yet, my friend got it for me from US. This device has a smaller form factor as compared to the Motorola Xoom. There is also 3D camera and back in the US, there is support for zippy 4G speeds. Other than this, the G-Slate is quite similar to the smaller Xoom. Let’s see what the G-Slate is all about in detail –
LG G-Slate comes with Google Android 3.0.1 OS or Honeycomb and it was the second tablet ever to have this OS. Before this, tablet makers used the Android smartphone OSes on their products which felt that the tablets were just enlarged version of smartphones. The apps and the developer tools were all made for the smaller screen.Things have now changed with the Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS and Google is showing good commitment to tablet world. The Honeycomb OS is a big departure from the smartphone version. Even people who are familiar with Android OS will need some time to get used to the Honeycomb. You don’t have the familiar looking four button navigation on the screen’s bottom. The contextual options and menus are now accessed from the screen’s top and the notifications pop up from lower right side of the screen.
The first thing that I noticed about the new OS is the amount of information that you get on home screen. Using the widgets, you get to glance on the widgets, Facebook news, Twitter stream, and YouTube channels in just one view. It feels like a deck of cards instead of an app grid that we first saw on the iOS. The home screen isn’t as messy as a conventional computer desktop and it isn’t as rigid as the mobile OS either. It is a compromise between the two and feels good.
The sophistication of Honeycomb Android 3.0 might be a double edged sword to many. This OS has blurred the lines between a traditional desktop and mobile OS but some might find it secretive sometimes. Tasks like unlocking the homescreen might seem complicated. The customization of the home screen is broken down in to different categories for app shortcuts, widgets, and the app-specific shortcuts like Gmail labels and browser bookmarkts. Some will rejoice at the flexibility of the Honeycomb but some might complain about the complexity.
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