LG G-Slate review: 3-D gimmicks won't beat iPad

[Zuthus]

Rejoice, for the age of the tablet is upon us. If the competition heating up this spring is any indication, we really are transcending the PC, and the battleground is wide open. The iPad may be the reigning dragonlord, but the upstarts are amassing, and plotting their revolts.

 

Chief among them is Google's Android Honeycomb tablet OS, now officially a platform, with not one but soon half a dozen competing products on the market. LG, partnering in the U.S. with T-Mobile, is second to the Honeycomb space with the reasonably slim, sturdily built wide-screen G-Slate. It'll hit stores on April 20 — this Wednesday. The question is, would you buy it?

 

As you can see in the video review above, it's a well-built, good looking product with a lot of fun to offer up. But truth be told, the teeter-totter of pros and cons tends to lean towards the con side:

 

What's good about it

 

* Game and 3-D modeling graphics smooth, jitter-free

* 8.9-inch cinema-style wide screen ideal for movie watching

* Good reception … if you live in strong T-Mobile market

* 3-D cameras could lead to interesting development

* T-Mobile pricing is competitive — for existing customers

* Free 3-D glasses!

 

What's disappointing

 

* Not enough differentiating 3-D apps and content

* Wide screen is awkward for reading e-books

* DVDs ripped in industry-standard video format looked bad

* Battery life and standby time not on par with iPad 2

* Still heavier and thicker than iPad 2

* T-Mobile 4G never going to outperform Verizon 4G

* Android doesn't have enough made-for-tablet apps yet

 

Pricing

Traditionally, T-Mobile is a competitively priced carrier, though with the G-Slate the prices aren't remarkably low. The tablet itself costs $530 — after a mail-in rebate (so $630 out of pocket, then you wait for $100 of it to come back). That's if you sign a 2-year service agreement. If you don't, it's $750, compared to the iPad 2, which starts at $630, and comes contract-free on both AT&T and Verizon.

 

The service also follows the market pricing — but with certain key perks. If you just get the G-Slate by itself, it's $85 for a 10GB-per-month plan. Fairly steep. But if you already have a T-Mobile voice plan, you can get the same 10GB for $68 per month, well below the competition. Also, T-Mobile tablet plans come with Wi-Fi sharing at no extra charge. Basically, if you're running around with your tablet and your laptop, you'll be able to tether them, sharing the tablet's connection to the Internet.

 

Also, T-Mobile likes to remind people that if you go over your limit, they don't charge you extra — but they do throttle your connection, so that everything slows to a crawl.

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Conclusion

This device can really only appeal to existing T-Mobile users, people who have already had good luck with the carrier's network. The T-Mo 4G does deliver high speeds in certain markets — I've seen outstanding T-Mobile 4G performance here in the Seattle area. But Sprint and Verizon have it beat in many (or most) areas, and that dynamic is shifting further in Verizon's favor every minute.

 

For everyone else, the notion of jumping to T-Mobile is not appealing enough to spend big money on this tablet. It's hard enough to justify paying a premium or committing to two years of cellular data service for a tablet, especially when most iPads in the wild are Wi-Fi only, and their owners seem happy.

 

Besides, the G-Slate may be solid but it doesn't stand out: The 3-D schtick is not enough of a differentiator — they could have at least let you take 3-D still photography, which looks better than 3-D video. At most, they could have bundled it with friggin' "Avatar" or something, and some 3-D games while they were at it. As it stands, you forget about the tablet's 3-D powers within 15 minutes of playing with it, and it becomes just another black-on-black tablet. I can't see people lining up for it.

 

Even though the mighty fire-breathing iPad will likely be brought down by Android wolves, the day remains a long way off. Before anyone else gets nearly as good — both in hardware and in the unparalleled app lineup — we're going to see a lot of high-priced ho-hum contenders, followed by challengers who are more aggressively priced ... but still pretty much ho-hum.

 

More on the hot new tablets from msnbc.com:

 

* Motorola Xoom review: iPad finally has competition

* iPad 2 vs. iPad: The real performance difference

* BlackBerry PlayBook review: Too little, too soon

 

Source: http://gadgetbox.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/04/19/6492964-lg-g-slate-review-3-d-gimmicks-wont-beat-ipad