LG Optimus G comes to U.S. in November

Computerworld - LG said Tuesday its Optimus G smartphone with a fast quad-core processor and LTE service will go on sale in the U.S. in November.

LG's Optimus G smartphone

The phone, which features a 4.7-in. display and 1280 x 768 resolution, was announced in late August, but Tuesday some formal launch plans were set, including the start of sales in South Korea next week.

LG has committed to using Android as the mobile operating system for its smartphones, and will run Android 4.0 in the Optimus G. LG and Qualcomm are also holding an event in New York City on Wednesday where observers expect more details about the Optimus G, possibly pricing and carriers.

LG is fifth in market share among cell phone makers globally, according to IDC, after Samsung, Nokia, Apple and ZTE. LG has struggled with mobile devices and posted losses of $895 million over the last two years combined.

The Seoul-based manufacturer is using the Optimus G to find a way out of its smartphone doldrums, analysts said. LG officials emphasized it will be a flagship device with a unique user experience dubbed "UX" that is enhanced by high-level hardware performance.

The Optimus G will be the first quad-core smartphone with LTE, and its Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor is rated at 1.5 GHz.

The user experience enhancements include the ability to dim video in a translucent layer so that users can send text messages or create emails while watching the video. Video zooming is allowed with a two-finger pinch.

It has a 13 megapixel rear-facing camera, at the top end of cameras shipping in phones, while the front camera is 1.3 megapixels. The battery is also at the top end, with 2100 mAh of power, or about 15 hours of talk time.

The phone also had 2GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage. It weighs 5.1 ounces and is 5.1-in x 2.7-in. x 0.33 in. in size.

Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at @matthamblen or subscribe to Matt's RSS feed. His email address is mhamblen@computerworld.com.

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