Initial impression? Well it’s another 8-inch tablet, a scale the industry seems to be having a renewed love affair with in recent months. I can’t fathom why – there’s barely a difference between 7-inch and 8-inch displays, or even 8.3-inch for that matter. But I digress. As with my LG G2hands-on, I was pleasantly surprised by LG’s build quality, the company really seems to have upped its game in the face of the competition and this can only be good news for the consumer.

The LG G Pad 8.3 is made from a combination aluminium of the same high-grade polycarbonate encasing the LG G2 smartphone – a good chunk of the back panel is metal, while the rest is plastic but with a reassuringly premium feel.

As with the smartphone, things are nicely balanced and relatively lightweight, though just likeSamsung’s Galaxy Note 8.0, it does feel quite large in the hand. It is thin though at only 8.3mm. Also just like the phone, the bezel is narrow and overall proportions create a very attractive and modern-looking device at  a glance.

The display is a decent offering, it is, of course, an 8.3-inch panel and packs a 1920x1200 resolution at 273 pixels-per-inch. Visuals are suitably bright, sharp and colourful, although if you’re into your viewing angles you’d be better off looking elsewhere – they’re not great.

LG uses the same Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and custom UI combo as found on the LG G2 smartphone, which means there are a few little extras such as multitasking gestures, allowing you to swipe away fullscreen apps and store a handful of them just off screen. Another gesture brings up a carousel-like setup to restore any of the minimised apps you wish. LG has also added its own set of quick settings to the drop-down notifications bar.

While the LG G Pad 8.3 doesn't have the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chip, it’s still no slouch with the fearsome Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core chipset (clocked at 1.7GHz) complete with 2GB of RAM and an Adreno GPU. The device handled all of LG’s added features deftly enough, happily multitasking away and swiping through homescreens with not so much as a stumble.

A neat trick is that you’ll be able to pair the LG G Pad 8.3 with compatible handsets, such as the LG G2, which will mean content can be accessed from either device and you can pick up incoming calls and messages on the slate if you like.

The LG G Pad 8.3 features stereo speakers, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, a 4,600mAh battery and 16GB of onboard storage with microSD capability for another 64GB on top.

It’s a nice bit of kit, but it’ll be interesting to see how LG prices it and how the battery life stacks up. For the right amount of money this could prove an appealing prospect for plenty of users looking for a well-made Android slate. But in a world where Google's Nexus 7 (2013) is now available, LG is going to have to be very careful with how it prices this thing. 

LG G2: Key Specifications