14 DAY TRIAL // With all the smartphones, handsets and tablets on show at MWC 2011, it would have been abnormal if LG didn't bring anything and, sure enough, one of its more interesting devices is the Optimus Pad.
Tablets may have started out with decent display capabilities and more or less impressive multimedia, but hardware evolved quite fast last year.
Now, slates have screens with fairly high resolutions and can play, or even record (provided suitable webcams exist) video in up to 1,080p Full HD quality, even 3D.
LG has had a tablet of this sort for quite a while, only it has only been available in the US and went under the name of the T-Mobile G-Slate.
Now, the company has released it outside of the US, bearing the name of Optimus Pad.
For those that want an update on the specifications, the product is based on the NVIDIA Tegra 2 SoC (system on chip), which has two 1 GHz ARM cores.
This SoC is responsible for the slate's ability to play high-quality multimedia files and, to that end, is paired with an 8.9-inch display whose native resolution is 1,280 x 768 pixels.
Of course, such a small screen won't do videos justice, so LG threw in an HDMI port, so that films can be streamed over to 3D HDTVs.
Speaking of 3D, there is a 3D camera array on the back, which can record 3D videos. Other specifications include WiFi, 3G, Bluetooth, GPS and Google's Android 3.0 OS (Honeycomb).
“With a flood of tablets hitting the market, we felt strongly that the LG Optimus Pad needed to set a new standard for what a tablet should be,” said Dr. Jong-seok Park, President and CEO of LG Mobile Communications Company.
“We think the LG Optimus Pad achieves the right blend of portability and viewability with no performance compromises.”
March is the month when sales will start, but no information on the price was given yet.
Note: Fellow editors Cosmin Vasile and Alex Vochin are on the floor at the 2011 Mobile World Congress and are keeping us posted with pictures and live reports on the latest product previews and launches.