LG G-Slate: Walt Mossberg Still Prefers iPad 2

"I’ve been testing the (LG produced) G-Slate, and in my view, it performs pretty well overall—about as well as the first Honeycomb tablet, the Xoom. But it isn’t nearly as good a choice as the iPad 2," says technology reviewer Walt Mossberg.

"Of its three big differentiators, the only clear winner is the 4G cellular capability, which is much speedier than cellular data on the iPad, or on any other Honeycomb tablet I know of," says Mossberg.

"The 3-D feature, which requires the use of 1950s-style colored glasses, seems like a parlor trick to me," Mossberg adds. "And the in-between size, while potentially attractive for one-handed use, is undercut by the fact that, somehow, despite being smaller, the G-Slate is actually a bit heavier than the iPad 2, and a third thicker."

As has been the case recently for other tablet devices, the Apple iPad in its Wi-Fi-only, 16-gigabyte version costs just $499. If you buy the G-Slate without a phone contract, it costs $750. The comparable iPad 2, with the same 32 gigabytes of memory offered by the G-Slate, both Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity, plus its bigger screen, is $729.

Aside from price, the relatively undeveloped state of the apps available for Android devices is an issue, though that is a problem that corrects itself over time, as was the case for the Android Market for smart phones.

Honeycomb Tablet Has 4G and 3-D But Is No iPad