Back at Mobile World Congress this year, LG showed the world some phones that were designed to impress, but the last few months we haven’t heard much from the company. Now, we’ve got some movement, with LG announcing the Optimus G, what it says is the world’s first LTE smartphone with quad-core processing technology.
At the moment, the quad-core processor is pretty much seen as the holy grail of mobile phone processor technology, with the chips able to do more, run things faster, and deal with apps as they get heavier and more performance-based.
Unfortunately, when you’re talking about the high speed Long Term Evolution technology that is used in 4G, the phones are pretty much based on dual-core chips, with quad-core usually requiring too much battery power.
Not so anymore, with LG announcing the first 4G device to feature a quad-core chip.
The Optimus G features a 1.5GHz quad-core chip from Qualcomm, part of the same Snapdragon processor family we’ve seen on phones for some time, and couples it with a 2100mAh battery, the same size battery as seen on the Samsung Galaxy S3 handset.
With a big chip and equally big battery, you can expect a big screen, and LG has delivered, with a 4.7inch IPS display using a slightly unusual 15:9 ratio with 1280×768 resolution. That makes it an HD display and, once we’ve done the math, offers 318 pixels per inch (ppi), not quite the Retina level Apple declared with its 330ppi iPhone 4 and 4S handsets, but still awesome nonetheless.
The screen also takes advantage a new touchscreen panel technology called “G2 Touch Hybrid” which looks like a neat way of saying the tablet is thinner, stronger, and is designed to offer better visibility even when you’re outdoors.
“Optimus G has brought together some of the world’s best component makers to develop a high performance smartphone, that stands out in a sea of me-too devices – it’s a ground-breaking collaboration,” said LG Australia’s Ben Glimmerveen.
“We are confident that users will have a superior experience in every way with everything that we’re offering in the Optimus G series. It is far more than just a smartphone with the latest hardware technology – it offers so much more as great attention has also been given also to delivering great design aesthetics, a delightful user interface and state of the art feature usability.”
Like many of the phones we’re seeing this year, Android’s version 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich” is the operating system of choice here, and the Australian version will feature 32GB storage, 2GB RAM, GPS, DLNA, Near-Field Communication (NFC), Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi, and an 8 megapixel camera on the back with a 1.3 megapixel on the front.
A few extra features are expected to arrive, with a voice activated “Cheese Shutter”, a built-in handwriting memo app called “QMemo”, and mirroring between the handset and the TV while also being able to play different content on each with the “Dual Screen Dual Play” technology.
There’s no real word as for when Australians will get to see the new mobile, with LG saying that “commercial release of Optimus G in Australia is currently under review,” while other parts of the world will get it in the latter part of this year.
Here’s hoping telcos pick this up pronto.
