LG’s new G Pad II wants to join the slender tablet soiree

Marathon mid-ranger

In terms of hardware, the new G Pad isn’t going to set your world aflame. Still, packing a quad-core 2.2GHz Snapdragon 800 processor and 2GB of RAM, the II should have enough power to punch through tasks on the Android 5.1.1 Lollipop OS with sufficient ease.

The screen, too, isn’t a world-beater: the II packs a 1920 x 1200 pixel display, which, despite being a respectable 224ppi, can’t hold a candle to the year-old Samsung Galaxy TabPro 10.1 and its 2560 x 1600 Super LCD screen.

That said, the lower resolution paired with a 7,400mAh beast of a battery should mean it can more than manage a movie marathon on a long commute – and with a fabled microSD card slot (now lesser-spotted on many Samsung devices) you should have plenty of space for your flicks.

Lightweight media machine

Despite being a distinctly mid-range device, the G Pad II is still wrapped in a sleek, metallic shell and, at 489g, is plenty waif enough for extended use.

And you might just be using it for more than blockbusters and browsing: the new Pad also features an imaginatively-named Reader Mode, which reduces the blue light of the display backlight to make reading more comfortable, potentially taking the fight to Kindles worldwide as it does so.

Without any word (yet) on pricing, its hard to know what competition LG’s new piece of glass will be up against – that said, with a similarly slender iPad Mini 4 on the horizon, and Samsung having teased a new tablet ahead of the Note 5 and S6 Edge+ launch, the G Pad II might be in for a stiff fight.

With LG set to release further details of pricing and availability for both the Wi-Fi and LTE versions at IFA, where we’ll be able to get hands on with the G Pad II for ourselves, be sure to check back for updates.