What LG's Mystery Tablet Has To Have

One Reporter's Thoughts.

Aug 21 2010, 10:39am CDT | by Robert Evans

By now, you've probably heard that LG is already bragging that their unreleased slate will be better than the iPad. Those are bold words, and they may seem a little silly coming from a company that has provided no evidence of their ability to back them up. LG continues to lag behind all of their competitors in the smartphone arena, an area Apple proved themselves in before attempting the iPad.

What you can't deny is that LG's loaded statement was a brilliant piece of marketing copy. They've got the whole damn Internet talking about a tablet that has yet to leak in any way. We don't have so much as a screenshot to make any judgments on.

In the lack of hard evidence, we're left with only one option; speculate on what LG could do to make their tablet a worthy iPad competitor. We know the slate will pack the Android OS and be focused on content creation, so let's start with that.

First off, we're looking at a solid processor. Odds are good it'll have a Tegra II chip, which probably means dual-cores clocked at around 1 GHz each. At least 1 GB of RAM is a sure thing, and I think they'll need to go for 2 GB if they want to have a prayer. Android's big strength over iOS is in multitasking, which also happens to be one of the most crucial features for any sort of content creation.

The display size is pretty obvious; 9.7-10.2" inches. Something equivalent to the iPad. I highly doubt LG will go for a 7" screen on this baby. If beating the iPad is their goal, they'd be crazy to give it a clear edge in any aspect.

Now we're up to storage space. The obvious answer is 16 GB, 32 GB & 64 GB storage capacities, with a possibility of something like 96 GB at the top end. It's also feasible that LG might mix things up and have an SSD (16 GB or 32 GB) alongside a larger HDD. That's definitely a long shot though.

Battery life will be crucial. LG absolutely cannot beat the iPad if they can't at least equal it in longevity. One of the Apple tablet's most enticing features is the fact that it can hold up to multiple days of regular use without needing a charge. Again, if LG wants this thing to be more productive than the iPad, it'll need to have at least a similar battery life.

The quest for extra juice may lead LG to try a Pixel Qi screen. That would give them something Apple can't come close to matching and extend the efficiency of that battery to boot.

I think the one area we are likely to see LG cede to the iPad is size. People are used to non-Apple products being more functional but less pretty. While I don't doubt this thing will have a slick look, it may end up a little chubbier than Apple's anorexic supermodel of a slate.

Everything I've written is just speculation at this point. The fact is that just because LG promises their tablet will beat the iPad, doesn't mean it'll actually come close. Marketers make statements without consulting engineering all the damn time. What these dream specs are is a list of attributes any hopeful iPad competitor will have to meet or exceed if they want to have a solid shot and taking down the kingpin.

We'll see what the next few months bring.

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Robert Evans
The excitement about new smartphones, tablets and anything mobile drive Robert to unearth the latest rumors and developments in this fast moving space. He adopted 4G as soon as it become available and knows where the mobile market is going.
Robert can be contacted directly at robert@i4u.com.