Hasta La Gadget!

AT&T and Sprint have already laid claim to LG’s flagship Optimus G handset, but what of the rest of the Big 4 national carriers? Verizon has been keeping awfully quiet on the subject — maybe because it’s still trying to push LG’s curious Intuition phablet — and for now it seems T-Mobile is making do with another, less illustrious Korean handset.

The carrier has just announced that it will launch the LG Optimus L9, but like nearly every other phone announcement made in the past few weeks, there’s nary a hint at pricing to be found. Even its release date is shrouded in secrecy — all T-Mobile will say is that it’s set to launch “later this fall”.

Even though T-Mobile and LG are clearly keeping key details hush-hush at this point, they couldn’t completely keep the news under wraps.

Here’s the skinny on the Ice Cream Sandwich-powered L9: it packs a 4.5-inch, Gorilla Glass 2-coated display running at 960×540, and a dual-core 1GHz processor of unknown make. Meanwhile, a 5-megapixel camera can be found on the 9.1mm-thick device’s rear end, while the device’s 2,150mAh battery should keep things ticking along for quite some time. Alright, fine, it’s not the most exciting spec sheet you’re going to see over these next few months, and the L9 announcement may highlight an even bigger issue for T-Mobile — what’s going to be their big holiday seller?

For a while there it seemed like the natural heavy-hitter would be HTC’s One X+, which appeared on a T-Mobile document under a pseudonym. As it turns out though, the One X+ is an AT&T exclusive, and the perhaps the only top-tier device that the magenta-clad carrier is expected to carry (the Galaxy Note II) is slated to launch on most other carriers as well.

LG’s last big (and I mean big) smartphone release around these parts was the Intuition, a funky phablet that many a critic panned. Thankfully, the company’s straight-laced follow-up — the nicely spec’d Optimus G — was revealed earlier this month, and now both AT&T and Sprint have signed on to sell the thing when it launches later this year.

Of course, just like nearly every phone announcement made this week, neither carrier has revealed when they plan to stock the G on their respective shelves. All LG will say is that the Optimus will see the light of day at some point in Q4, and that could mean a decent wait. Whether or not Verizon Wireless or T-Mobile (or should I say, T-Metro) will carry the thing is still up in the air too, but it wouldn’t be a shock to see the former pick up the G in time for the holidays.

The Optimus G, in case you’ve forgotten, sports a 4.7-inch HD (1280×768, to be specific) IPS display, and pairs a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor with an LTE radio — a combination that’s only starting to pick up steam here in the States. Nestled within the G’s surprisingly sturdy plastic frame is 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage to boot. Sprint actually seems to have gotten the better part of the deal when it comes to snapping photos.

You see, Sprint’s version of Optimus G packs a 13-megapixel camera instead of the 8-megapixel shooter that AT&T’s variant does. Then again, the company’s LTE network still currently covers only a fraction of what AT&T’s does, so in the end both carrier’s consumers have something to get riled up over. To make things even dicier, there could be more Optimus-oriented squabbling in the works very shortly if some recent rumblings hold true — some claim that Google’s next Nexus smartphone will be based on the Optimus G hardware, which could make those holiday purchasing choices even tougher to hash out.

When it comes to LG’s latest flagship, it appears there can be no shortage of official announcements. So, while the news from overseas may not be quite so fresh, there’s certainly nothing stale about the Optimus G. Today the company held a second celebration in honor of its powerhouse — the first to pack Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 Pro: a quad-core SoC clocked at 1.5GHz. Buffered by a heaping 2GB RAM and an Adreno 320 GPU this absolutely beastly device is officially coming to American shores in the fourth quarter of this year. The 4.7-inch phone may ship with some slightly different specs, depending on carrier, but they’ll still find a home for the 1280 x 768 True HD, in-cell, IPS display. There’s no specifics about carriers or pricing as yet, but we’ll let you know when we do.

Update: Hit the break for LG’s Optimus G PR video.

Continue reading LG Optimus G and its quad-core 1.5GHz S4 Pro coming to US shores in Q4 (update: video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

LG Optimus G and its quad-core 1.5GHz S4 Pro coming to US shores in Q4 (update: video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Sep 2012 08:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re in Seoul for the launch of LG’s latest flagship smartphone, the Optimus G, and we finally managed to spend a few minutes with a demo unit. This is a powerhouse — the first handset built around Qualcomm’s 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro. It features LTE, a 4.7-inch 1280×768 True HD IPS PLUS display, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of built-in storage, a 13-megapixel autofocus camera, a sealed 2100mAh battery, and NFC.

We like the simple and elegant design, which is reminiscent of LG’s Chocolate and Prada models — it’s thin (8.45mm / 0.33 inches) and reasonably light for its size (145g / 5.11oz). The front sports a glass surface with three capacitive buttons and the back showcases the company’s Crystal Reflection process — an attractive patterned glass-like finish that’s a bit of a fingerprint magnet. Materials and build quality are excellent (better than the Galaxy S III) and the Optimus G feels pleasant in hand.

You’ll find a volume rocker and micro-SIM slot on the left edge and the power / lock key on the right. There’s a notification light next to the 1.3MP front-facing camera. A standard headphone jack sits on the top side, with the micro-USB / MHL connector on the bottom. The speaker and main camera are in the back, pretty much where you’d expect them. While the display is definitely high quality, it’s not mind blowing (the One X screen still looks better) — we expected better viewing angles from LG’s True HD IPS PLUS and Zerogap Touch technologies.

Sadly, we didn’t spend much time using the software, but the Optimus G runs Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) with a skin similar to what we saw on the Optimus 4X HD and performance is definitely impressive. We’ll get more seat time with LG’s flagship over the next few days, so stay tuned for more impressions. In the meantime, enjoy our gallery below and our hands-on video after the break.

Update: We’ve added pictures of the white model and screenshots to the gallery.

Continue reading LG Optimus G: hands-on with Korea’s latest powerhouse (video) (updated)

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

LG Optimus G: hands-on with Korea’s latest powerhouse (video) (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Sep 2012 22:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After having previously leaked, the LG Splendor is now officially available at US Cellular. A retooled version of the Optimus L7, it combines Android 4.0 with a single-core 1GHz CPU, a 4.3-inch WVGA display and a 5-megapixel camera that’ll capture video at 720p. The phone also sports a front-facing VGA camera, 2GB of internal storage, a 4GB microSD card and a 1,700mAh battery. Unfortunately, its heritage means purchasers must deal with sluggish performance and forego basic amenities such as an ambient light sensor. Given its $80 price tag — after a $100 mail-in rebate, mind you — it’s positioned as a poor alternative to the Galaxy S II, which is also available for $80 from US Cellular. Don’t say we never warned you.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

LG Splendor now available at US Cellular for $80 after rebate, it’s the Optimus L7 all over again originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Sep 2012 07:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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