Did you pick up a bargain LG G Pad 8.3 last week?

[Guest PaulOBrien]

Last week Tesco here in the UK decided that they wanted to clear their stocks of the LG G Pad in white. Previously advertised at £249.99, it suddenly dropped to £119.99 as part of their 'Easter Promotion', with a further £10 off if you happened to be a first time Tesco Direct customer (or using an e-mail address for the first time). An incredible bargain and it's not suprising that they sold out in record time.

The G Pad is actually my favourite Android tablet of all around at the moment. Much as I love the 2013 Nexus 7, I find the screen is just that bit too close to larger phones nowadays and the extra 1.3 inches of the LG really make a difference. Add in the fact it's thin, performs great and includes features we'd normally expect to only see on a phone such as an IR transmitter and vibrate motor and in my opinion, you have a winner.

So you picked one up and now you want to make the most of it... does MoDaCo have any tips? Why yes we do! :)

Pick up a nice cheap case

So the tablet might have been a bargain, but that doesn't mean you can't look after it right? There is an official LG 'QuickPad' case for the G Pad but it's probably best avoided as although it is rather nice, it costs half as much as the tablet itself. And it's impossible to get hold of. Classic LG. ;)

I recommend one of two cases. If you like the flip cases, you could do a lot worse than the ELTD Slim-Book case for only £9.99 from Amazon in black, red, white or blue. I have one on my G Pad and it's decent quality (for the price), auto wakes and sleeps the device as you open and close the front and it also includes card slots, a memory card holder and a hand strap for keeping your device held securely. A bargain case for your bargain tablet.

If you don't generally go in for cases that stay on the tablet, there's a good slip case for the G Pad available courtesy of eBay, priced at $10.99 plus postage. It ships from the far east, but when I ordered mine it arrived quickly, the quality is good and again, it's nice and cheap. You can find it on eBay in black, red and brown.

Make sure you have the KitKat update

Out of the box, the G Pad ships with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. The good news is that the KitKat update for the tablet is available to download now! Visual changes are limited (although the slightly hideous LG menu bar colours are now just white), but it's certainly nice to have.

Root, if only for Xposed

I know what you're thinking, why do you need to root devices nowadays? One good reason is to install the Xposed framework, which is particularly useful on the G Pad. After installing Xposed you can install G2 Xposed from the Play Store, which - although it's designed for the G2 - lets you tweak a bunch of things on the G Pad too, since their software shares much of the same DNA.

My two favourite tweaks are the ability to swap the menu button on the navigation bar for the multi tasking button (hallelujah!) and the ability to hide the volume / brightness sliders in the notification pull down. There are plenty of other features in there too, so it's well worth a download.

Don't leave the charger in the box

Are you still juicing up your G Pad on that charger you've had sitting by your bedside table for years? You might want to check out the mains to USB plug that's included in the G Pad box. It's rated at 1.8A - pretty much as good as it gets - so it will likely charge your tablet quicker than other chargers you have lying around. It's definitely a good idea to double check.

Not down with the LG style? Consider CM11

Although a 'Google Play edition' version of the G Pad is available over the pond (the v510 versus the v500 of the LGified version), there's sadly no flashing route at the moment that lets you convert from one to the other. While this is a bit annoying, the good news is that CyanogenMod 11 - based on the latest AOSP build of Android - works great on the G Pad.

Installation is easy - root, download TWRP, download the ROM, download gapps, flash recovery, reboot to recovery, backup, flash the ROM and Gapps, wipe, reboot and you're done.

When you have CyanogenMod installed check out CyanDelta, which lets you update to nightlies regularly without downloading huge zip files every day.

How are you getting on with your G Pad? Got tips? Share!

If you have some G Pad tips of your own, share them with us! :)

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[Guest stoney1973]

Nice article Paul, regarding CyanogenMod, is it possibly to watch skygo if CM is installed? 

[Guest PaulOBrien]

Hmm, good question. In theory if you don't root perhaps? I'm back on stock now so can't try!

P

[Guest mrshark]

better G2 Xposed or G2 TweaksBox? Many prefer the latter, they are so similar...

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=it.ptoti.g2_tweaksbox

[Guest PaulOBrien]

I will try that one and compare! :)

P

[Guest mrshark]

thanks Paul  :)

eventually, can they coexist or we risk a mess?

[Guest mrshark]

any news? :)

[Guest eLJay]

Damn. Missed it. Oh well, just wait for the next bargain.

[Guest Speculatrix]

I helped my son buy it, and he loves it.

With news breaking of the new model that replaces this

http://www.androidcentral.com/lg-unveils-trio-new-g-pad-tablets

expect more clearance bargains