We've seen it leaked quite a few times leading up to this official announcement, but today LG did something a bit out of the ordinary by flying us out to Seoul South Korea to launch their first smartphone with Qualcomm's quad core Krait APQ8064 SoC and a host of other features. It's the LG Optimus G, and is based around a 4.7-inch 1280x768 IPS display with in-cell touch from LG Display, and includes either an 8 MP camera with no back bulge or 13 MP camera with a slight bulge. I've put together a table with the LG Optimus G specifications, which are about as beefy as they come these days. The only thing that's missing is a microSD card slot and user replaceable battery. I'm told that LG's emphasis for this design was getting the G as thin as possible, at 8.45mm. 

LG Optimus G Specifications
Device LG Optimus G
SoC 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro
(APQ8064: 4 x Krait + Adreno 320)
RAM/NAND/Expansion 2 GB LPDDR2, 32 GB NAND, no microSD
Display 4.7" WXGA TrueHD IPS Plus (1280x768) with In-Cell Touch
Network 2G / 3G / 4G LTE (Qualcomm MDM9615 UE Category 3 LTE)
Dimensions 131.9mm x 68.9mm x 8.45mm, 145 grams
Camera 13.0 MP or 8.0 MP Rear Facing, 1.3 MP Front Facing
Battery 2100 mAh 3.8V (7.98 Whr)
OS Android 4.0.x
Connectivity 802.11b/g/n + BT 4.0, USB2.0, GPS/GNSS, MHL, DLNA, NFC

I've been talking for a while now about a host of smartphones coming up based on Qualcomm's Fusion 3 platform, which is to say specifically the combination of APQ8064 AP and MDM9615 baseband. LG's Optimus G looks to be one of the first which will appear sporting that combo, and will be available in Korea this week, followed by the US in October on an aggressive release schedule. There are a couple others, but it's starting to look like the Optimus G might end up being the first in appreciable volume.

LG has talked a lot about how the Optimus G includes some firsts from its own teams, including LG Innotek and LG Display into the 4.7-inch IPS display with in-cell touch, and LG Chem with their new Li-Ion polymer cells that support more cycles and sport the 3.8V nominal chemistry. This is also LG's thinnest smartphone to date, apparently.

We're going to go hands on with the LG Optimus G shortly, but initial suspicions are a design which closely mirrors the LG Optimus LTE2 and previous Prada phones, but in an even thinner form factor and with speedier SoC.

Press Release
Comments Locked

24 Comments

View All Comments

  • fishman - Tuesday, September 18, 2012 - link

    No removable battery = no deal. Since I keep phones for more than 2 years, the ability to be able tor replace the battery is critical.
  • Rits - Wednesday, October 10, 2012 - link

    You do realise that the battery CAN be replaced, its just not readily accessible. I really do not understand the bone people have with sealed batteries. It helps build quality. If you're so concerned, get a compact power bank and toss it in your bag or car or desk drawer or wherever .. I travel a lot and never had one instance where I had to replace my battery, from Nexus One to Galaxy S to GNex to One X, not once. I don't need to continually use my phone non-stop for 8 hours! I can get through the journey/day and put the phone on charge easily as long as I'm still within civilization. If not, a portable power bank can keep you going for a couple days at least.
    If removable batteries were such a huge need, the iPhone would've been a total failure!
  • abrahavt - Tuesday, September 18, 2012 - link

    This is a killer phone and I would have considered it but for the fact that it has no micro-sd card and no removable battery and the fact that it is being released with ICS instead of Jelly Bean. Looks like they are making the same mistakes as HTC.
  • A_Smith - Thursday, April 25, 2013 - link

    Hardware specs are quite appealing, but the design of this smartphone is just dumb not at all upto the standard marks of such high end phones. And yeah, one thing to ask is that does this phone support Intel WiDi sharing technology?

    Overall, a smartphone worth investing in. In addition, new phone seekers can check LG's latest campaign on its India Facebook page, that allows the winner to get this beast for free! So visit LG India FB page to participate and play with your luck.

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now