LG goes big with Android, intros tablet
updated 07:50 am EDT, Mon July 5, 2010
LG Android tablet to ship worldwide
LG pledged itself to Android in major fashion today by unveiling several Android devices at once. It started by teasing the development of an Android-based tablet. What features it would have weren't mentioned, but it would ship sometime in the fall.
The Android phone lineup is also expanding soon with a trio of new Android phones. Leading the group is the Optimus Z, its touch-only flagship; it would have the same TI OMAP3630 processor that gives the Motorola Droid X its speed and should support HD video recording with HDMI video output and DLNA media sharing. Not much else is known, but it will run a mildly customized Android 2.2 and should ship in the fall.
Other additions have few details but include the Optimus One, a just-launched entry-level model, and the Optimus Chic, a youth-oriented model. Android 2.2 should be present on these and the earlier Optimus Q (Ally on Verizon) by the end of the year.
The introductions reflect a sharp turnaround for LG, which in 2008 struck a deal with Microsoft to push Windows Mobile but from 2009 on has been pushing away from its partner. It tried to mollify Microsoft today by stressing that it would have a Windows Phone 7 device outside of Korea this year, but LG said at the start of the year that most 2010 phones would use Android just over a year after negotiating the partnership.
Tablet plans also mirror an increasingly reactionary stance on the part of Korea to the launch of the iPad, which caught the country off-guard. Samsung is due soon to release its own Android tablet, the Galaxy Tab, and is hoping that the sheer number of features will draw customers away from Apple. LG hasn't said how it plans to differentiate itself either from its American competitor or Samsung.
Optimus Z
Optimus One
Optimus Chic
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: May 2001
Sounds bad...
Looks like the train has already left the station for Microsoft. And the problem with these Asian brands is that they don't have the mojo that Apple does. They don't have the ecosystem that Apple does (open/closed only the nerds care). Apple is certainly not invincible, not by any means. But Apple does have a tremendous lead and it will take a lot to catch up.