this past week we saw a couple new
releases in the google play store in the
form of Google Play editions now while
these particular versions of these
devices are basically made for
developers so they can provide better
software for those devices they are
available in the Play Store for a price
and the consumer can benefit from them
should they hey it's Josh Flagg are from
android authority what's going on
everybody and this is your quick review
of the LG G pad google play edition now
as was the case with the samsung galaxy
s4 and the HTC one before it the LG G
pad n also the Sony Xperia Z ultra all
come with stock Android built in and
that is what we're going to focus on but
in terms of the design we do want to
just mention a couple of things about
these google play editions they are
literally the same as their original
counterparts especially in the case of
the LG G pad in which it has the mix of
plastic with an aluminum slab on the
back one thing i do like however is that
the google play edition comes in black
standard there is a black version of the
original LG G pad but when I opened up
the box and I found this black edition
how this thing just looks really
attractive after that you have the eight
point three inch screen that brings 1920
x 1200 resolution and makes all of the
elements look really great if you want
to know more about the design and the
display of the LG G pad then we have the
full review that I did on the original
here at the android authority channel
underneath the surface we still have the
Snapdragon 800 that powers a stock
Android build and provides really good
performance especially with the
optimizations in android 4.4 point2
after that in the hardware expandable
storage is available with a small slot
that is found at the top of the device
and then a 4600 milliamp hour battery
Union provides very good longevity for
battery life and now we get to the
software in the camera where the
differences start to show the google
play edition of the LG G pad comes with
stock Android which is what makes it
pretty unique and after all the stock
android build Android KitKat 4.4 point2
in this case shows that it has the same
minimalistic build and just performs its
very few tasks very well mainly
different search functions this is
compared to the LG G pad or Ridge
which came with the Optimus UI that came
with a lot of features so while this is
basically not really a negative at all
unless you really want all of those
features we can look at the LG G pad the
google play edition in terms of what it
is lacking compared to the original it's
pretty obvious what things are different
between the two once you bring down the
notification shades of course the stock
Android built has just the original
shade and then the flip over for the
different power widgets however in the
LG G pad you find that it has a lot of
space taken up by its own version of the
power widget and this includes not only
all of the different topicals but also
the Q apps yes the Q apps the qslide
apps rather are what are missing here
and while they did bring a lot of extra
functionality in terms of multitasking
with small overlays over what you're
already doing it's definitely not
available in the Google Play edition
speaking of multitasking you are not
going to have the slide aside which was
an innovation brought in via the g2 and
then brought over to the G pad in which
you can put aside whole applications in
order to create a stacked list of
applications that you can easily bring
over with a three-finger swipe no in the
stock Android bill to the Google Play
edition of the LG G pad your
multitasking will be relegated to just
using the recent apps button and
actually in that regard it doesn't
perform very badly at all it is about as
fast as it should be and allows you to
multitask between apps pretty easily
actually the only thing that I would
view as a bit of a loss is the lack of
the knock-knock when it comes to a
tablet like the LG G pad it is nice to
just have the device on your table and
then be able to double tap the screen in
order to turn it on that is not
available in the Google Play edition as
I've tried to tap over and over again to
see if it would turn on and it
definitely did not in the camera
situation it is pretty much the same
situation after all the stock Android
build does have a much more minimalistic
camera and compared to the camera found
in the original Optimus UI it loses a
lot of the features that were included
there however when it comes to the
picture quality is about the same after
all you have the same 5 megapixel
shooter on the back on this tablet and
that means that the picture quality is
really only decent and we still wouldn't
recommend you go out to shoot with a
tablet especially one
at eight point three inches like this of
course aside from just the features that
are included or not included in these
versions of Android you can just look at
the aesthetics the Optimus UI is pretty
in-your-face when it comes to all that
it can do and it might take on a pretty
utilitarian look and on the other hand
stock Android is a very elegant-looking
a version of Android it is of course the
quintessential Android experience that
is available and that might sway you
even more so depending on which one you
think looks better or depending on which
one has more features might be what's
way you here in terms of the two
versions of the LG G pad but compare
this to the Nexus 7 now we're going to
have a full comparison between the LG G
pad and the Nexus 7 coming pretty soon
but what I can tell you right now is at
about a hundred dollars more for the g
pad what you're going to get is not only
a larger screen though with the same
resolution you're also going to get
expandable storage which is something
that the Nexus line often doesn't come
with and in that regard I do think that
this is still a pretty valid value
especially for those two editions on
those two enhancements that you could
pay an extra one hundred dollars for and
so there you have it for this quick
review of the LG G pad google play
edition essentially it is the original G
pad except it comes with stock Android
as its software so if that is the only
difference then that is what will sway
you luckily both calm at the exact same
price as always thank you guys very much
for watching and keep it tuned to
android authority for all of the best
coverage from our reviews to our event
coverage as CES is right around the
corner but until then happy holidays to
all of you out there no matter what
holiday you celebrate and keep it into
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