LG has unveilled the Optimus LTE II in Korea. Successor to the Optimus LTE and other Optimus variants, the handset claims to be the world's first smartphone to be released with 2GB of RAM, shortly before the Samsung Galaxy S III reaches Japan in its own RAM-boosted state.
Two companies, LG and AU Optronics, have been certified to supply LCD panels for Apple's rumored 7/7.85-inch iPad, says the Taiwanese publication Liberty Times. The firms are claimed to be aiming toward a product launch sometime in the second half of 2012, and an initial run of 6 million iPads. Liberty adds that TPK is expected to produce 4 million backlight modules, while Chimei Innolux will build 2 million; Nissha Printing will allegedly produce the touch film sensor.
Sources for Reuters are supporting Wall Street Journal claims that Apple is using 4-inch displays for the next iPhone, and has already begun to place orders for the new parts. As with the earlier report, Reuters says that LG Display, Sharp, and Japan Display are handling production, which is allegedly in early stages; full production orders could begin in June. iPhone assembly could start as soon as August, if Apple follows normal patterns. One source comments that it's still uncertain what share of display production each supplier will have.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple has placed orders for iPhone displays measuring ‘at least 4-inches diagonally’ for its sixth generation iPhone expected in October. Citing ‘people familiar with the situation’ production on the new displays is set to begin next month. Apple is said to be working with LG, Sharp and Japan Display (a newly formed partnership between Sony, Hitachi and Toshiba) on the new screens, which can be expected to be Retina Display-class.
LG is showing off its new line of G2 Google TV models in New York this week. The smart TVs feature redesigned user interfaces and beefed-up internals to make for a smoother Web-browsing and television experience. The new sets feature LG's new L9 dual-core chipset, which is based on ARM architecture, and a quad-core GPU.
An LG smartphone with the designation LS970 has been leaked courtesy of an anonymous Brief Mobile source. The ‘Eclipse 4G LTE’ is notable for its horsepower, which could make it most powerful smartphone on the market when it lands. Under the hood, the device packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 ‘Krait’ quad-core chip clocked at 1.5GHz and paired with a generous 2GB of RAM.
In line with an earlier rumor, LG has announced its plan to start shipping TVs to the US pre-installed with the latest iteration of Google TV running on its in-house L9 ARM-based processors. It’s next-generation of smart TVs are expected to arrive the week beginning May 21 and carry with them the South Korean company’s hopes of grabbing increased market share from Samsung, Sony and Vizio. First previewed at CES 2012, the company has not yet specified details about which models it will ship or pricing details at this juncture.
LG has announced that its Optimus L7 handset is now available in the United Kingdom. The budget smartphone, unveiled at Mobile World Congress earlier this year, arrives running Android 4.0.
Rumors of the demise of LG's Windows Phone 7 line of handsets appear to have been greatly exaggerated. Today, the Korean handset maker, in an interview with Pocket-lint, reaffirmed its commitment to Microsoft's current phone platform, walking back on some statements that appeared in the press yesterday.
The US Department of Justice stated Monday that a Hitachi-LG Data Storage executive had admitted to price fixing charges. Senior Sales Manager Woo Jin Yang agreed to face reduced prison time of six months, as well as pay a $25,000 fine, for artificially raising the bidding prices of CD and DVD drives sold for HP PCs. Between August 2006 and February 2009, Yang, three others, and an unnamed company had swapped information on prices, market share, and sales data at HP contractor shows to establish higher prices rather than compete for HP's business.
Regional wireless providers US Cellular and Alltel have teamed up with Walmart on an upcoming launch of a new no-contract service. Called U Prepaid, it will be available in nearly 500 Walmart stores in 18 states. The service will focus on offering simple and easy-to-understand service plans.
South Korea is about to take further steps that could open up not just overall mobile competition but a possible retail presence for Apple, local publication Maeil said Monday. As of May 1, the country will reverse its whitelist policy for which phones can be sold into a blacklist. Rather than only allowing phones registered through carriers and thus letting them restrict where the devices can be sold, the Korea Communications Commission will now allow any phone and any store, as long as the device wasn't reported lost or stolen. The move will likewise let stores sell phones independently of subscriptions rather than forcing customers to sign up as soon as they get the device.
LG isn't looking to produce another Windows Phone in the near future, a spokesman said Monday. While there would still be development, the representative wanted to minimize expectations of anything imminent when asked by the Korea Herald. The Microsoft platform's low market share was put at fault as likely making it difficult to justify going beyond Android.
LG has formally launched into the cloud space on Monday with a beta of LG Cloud. The service is intended as a non-exclusive way to quickly shuttle music, photos, and videos between the various devices in LG"s ecosystem, including PCs, smartphones, and TVs. By including the TV, it carries the uncommon advantage of exporting 3D content: a 3D video recorded on an Optimus 3D Max can be remotely shared to a TV that can play it back.
LG on Friday introduced its new IPS4 lineup of monitors. Their displays are focused on budget viewers but still get In-Plane Switching (IPS) technology rather than cheaper Twisted Nematic (TN) panels. This results in better color reproduction, consistency, and quality.
IHS iSuppli posted an estimate that suggested Apple may have kept its frontrunner position in smartphones in the earliest quarter of 2012. Although Samsung hasn't officially published smartphone shipments, researchers believed that it had shipped 32 million devices, putting it behind Apple's 35.1 million iPhones. If true, the gap would be wider than in the fall, when Samsung's reported 35 million to 36 million was close to Apple's 37 million.
LG on Friday grew the reach of the Optimus True HD LTE to more countries than just Germany. The 4G phone is now launching in Portugal and Sweden in a slightly larger European release as well as the headlining Asian cities of Hong Kong and Singapore. The device is an international edition of the Optimus LTE already on sale in Canada as the Optimus 4G LTE at Bell and the US as the Nitro HD at AT&T.
Samsung officials in Korea have purportedly hinted that the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S III will get different chips for different markets. The comments were made by an unnamed exec after Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs admitted that the 28nm MSM chips were facing a supply shortage, The Korea Times reported. Qualcomm chips will only be used in the US, the Samsung exec said, not explaining why.
LG has announced that an Optimus LTE variant, the P936, will arrive in Germany as the Optimus True HD LTE. The handset manufacturer outed the name today on its official German blog.
LG saw itself return to health Wednesday with early 2012 results that showed it back in form. It swung from an equivalent to a $13.9 million loss in winter a year ago to $213.3 million in profit based on a much stronger position in smartphones and better 3D TV sales in is native South Korea. Its mobile division made the equivalent of $34.2 million in profit, almost all of that from cellphones, after having lost $88.7 million at the start of 2011.
Sprint on Wednesday reported steep losses for its winter quarter but had relatively strong iPhone results. The company's losses nearly doubled, from $439 million a year earlier to $863 million, owing largely to a $543 million depreciation from the Nextel iDEN network ramp-down. At 1.5 million iPhone sales, however, it saw only a slight drop from the fall in what's widely believed to be its primary smartphone platform.
LG has promised to offer a white version of its Optimus Vu smartphone at SK Telecom in its home market of South Korea. The large, five-inch display of the Optimus Vu nearly rivals the 5.3-inch screen of the Samsung Galaxy Note, but sports a 4:3 aspect ratio instead of the Note's 16:10. LG expects the white Vu to appeal to younger users and women.
LG has rolled out its second-generation 3D smartphone, the Optimus 3D Max in Europe. First revealed at Mobile World Congress, the revised 3D smartphone runs a mildly faster 1.2GHz TI OMAP dual-core processor and now includes support for 3D movie editing. The Optimus 3D Max will also convert 2D games into 3D, as well as Google Earth and other mapping apps.
A white version of the LG Optimus 4X HD has been spotted. A preview by ePrice shows a white housing on the latest Optimus handset, which we tried at Mobile World Congress with the standard black scheme.
(Update: no?) Talk of Windows Phone 8, or Apollo, dropping backwards compatibility with existing phones may be false. A video interview (below) with Microsoft Evangelist Nuno Silva posted by Portugese site Zwame suggested that "all" Windows Phone devices, even from the first generation, would get the next version of the mobile OS. He was explicit in mentioning early models, such as the LG Optimus 7 and Samsung Omnia 7, as qualifying.
Sprint on Tuesday confirmed some rumors and unveiled the LG Optimus Elite. The carrier's version of the Optimus Net, which will also have a Virgin Mobile equivalent, will be the most affordable US smartphone ever to support Google Wallet, costing just $30 on Sprint after a contract and rebate. Its support for the needed NFC is an exception to entry level specs, such as a 3.5-inch, 320x480 display, an 800MHz processor, and a five-megapixel back camera with none at the front.
LG Electronics on Monday launched 3D World, a content service for owners of the company's Cinema 3D Smart TVs, in 70 countries. The service replaces the original 3D Zone Smart TV app that came out in 2011, and lets users access what is billed as high-quality 3D content through a dedicated shortcut icon on the connected TVs' Home Dashboard. Owners of 2011 Cinema 3D Smart TVs will be able to get access to the service using an app, while 2012 TVs will have it built into the Home Dashboard as part of a streamlined card system.
LG is reportedly preparing to launch its next round of Google TV devices in the US market. The company has yet to officially confirm release details, however analysts with the Korean financial firm Shinhan Investment claim the first devices are expected to arrive as early as this week.
A newly-leaked internal memo shared by Engadget has revealed that the LTE-enabled LG Viper 4G will arrive in Sprint stores on April 22. The $100 handset will also be available on the store shelves of Best Buy and Radio Shack as well on the same time. The eco-friendly handset will not be capable of accessing Sprint's 4G network just yet, however, as its launch hasn't been detailed yet.
Korean newspaper DDaily is reporting that LG was not completely happy with the reception to its smartphone launches at Mobile World Congress. Not wanting to sit idly while watching Samsung and HTC getting a jump on it with the introduction of their next-generation halo phones, LG is said to be prepping a 4.7-inch, 720p smartphone known internally as the D1L. As with AT&T's HTC One X, the device will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor clocked a 1.5GHz.
LG's mobile Managing Director Kwon Bong-suk in a Korean interview on Friday suggested that his company was about to make a sharp break from its past and its peers in smartphones. Arguing that the next innovation "doesn't necessarily have to come from Apple," he explained to INews 24 that LG was moving away from putting in more features solely to say it had them and to focus instead on a "thinking" phone that reacted to real conditions. In a rough example, he raised the idea of a phone waking up its owner at 5:30AM instead of 6AM if it knew that traffic would be unusually bad on the route.
Samsung's AMOLED display technology might now be in the hands of competitors after reports of a leak. Police were said by South Korea's Yonhap to have arrested 11 people, including a former researcher at Samsung Mobile Display, for leaking out the "small mask scanning" behind taking AMOLED to large TV sets. He reportedly took a kickback equivalent to $168,544 in November from a "local rival" in return for the information.
Samsung hoped to quash rumors with a statement denying any plans for 3D smartphones. The Korean firm explained to Engadget that it was "constantly exploring new technologies," but that there was "no immediate plan" to use 3D screens or cameras for its future phones. The remarks leave the GT-i9300 and other hardware using conventional technology for now.
At CES in January, LG previewed its 2012 line of Smart TVs. At the time, the company promised that some time during the year, it would be integrating voice control into its smart sets. LG is now ready to commit to the feature and plans to remotely activate it as of Thursday.
Sprint officially crowned its first LTE smartphone on Tuesday, giving the distinction to the LG Viper 4G LTE. The Android 2.3 hardware will get pre-orders on April 12 at one of the lower prices for LTE, at $100 on a contract. Smartphone plans cost the same and, at a starting $80, is both one of the less expensive LTE offerings and the only one with with unlimited (if on-device) data.
Android now makes up more than half of all smartphones sold in the US, comScore found on Tuesday. As of February, Google's platform had climbed to 50.1 percent, giving it an absolute majority of the country's smartphone share. The iPhone was still gaining share, however, and was now up to 30.2 percent.
The LG Miracle may be bound for two North American carriers at once, based on separate tips. The Windows Phone hardware has shown in an FCC filing as the LS831 intended for Sprint. Details are short as to how it would differ beyond the needed CDMA and EVDO 3G, but it would have a five-megapixel back camera and the expected front VGA camera.
Sprint appears to be restarting a second round of Android 2.3 updates for LG's Optimus S handset. The carrier last summer released a Gingerbread update for the Optimus S, however the first over-the-air rollout was halted amid widespread reports of serious bugs.
Leaks have put Sprint's version of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus coming within one week in mid-April. Electronista has heard from credible sources that the target date is April 15. While unconfirmed, it corroborates both different tips to S4GRU and fits in with Sprint's habit of launching phones on Sundays.
One of LG's entry-level Android phones should reach Sprint and Virgin Mobile with a small twist based on leaks late Thursday. Photos of the Optimus Elite, Sprint's adaptation of the Optimus Net, showed PocketNow the 3.2-inch phone adopting a more conventional but very compact look. Both versions would stand out by being some of the least expensive Android phones yet to have NFC and, through Sprint's involvement, official Google Wallet support.
Streaming TV show and movie provider Hulu on Thursday announced it has made its Hulu Plus service on seven new Android tablets. This includes the Acer Iconia Tab line, ASUS Transformer Prime and Eee Pad Transformer, LG G-Slate, Motorola Xoom, Motorola Xyboard 10.1, and Toshiba Thrive. The app (free, Google Play) will become available for more Android tablets in the future as well, Hulu added.
The flagship 55-inch OLED TV from LG we checked out at CES will cost 9 million Korean Won (about $7,900) when it launches sometime this summer, the Maeil Economic Daily learned. The 55EM9600 should be shown off one more time at the Cannes Film Festival in May, and this would also likely coincide with the TV's commercial release date. It should come before Samsung's similar 55-inch set, and is due for release sometime near the London Olympics.
Verizon confirmed one device rumor on Tuesday and launched the LG Lucid. The smartphone is one of the few mid-sized LTE devices and pairs a four-inch LCD with the much faster download speeds, instead of needing a large design. It helps establish the new mid-range with a dual-core, 1.2GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, and both five-megapixel back (with 1080p video) and lower-resolution front cameras.
Nokia gave Windows Phone owners a rare experiment Friday. Play To should give at least Nokia's own phones, like the Lumia 800, the ability to share their photos and videos through DLNA. The option allows sharing to Blu-ray players, desktop apps, and some TVs.
A quick leak has validated many of the rumored specs of the LG Lucid 4G. Verizon's phone as seen in marketing material given to Droid-Life would be a comparatively low-cost LTE phone, carrying a four-inch, 480x800 LCD and a dual-core 1.2GHz processor. Some of the key trimming would come from using a five-megapixel (though still 1080p-capable) camera and 8GB of storage.
LG is reportedly working on yet another Optimus LTE handset, known as the P936. Leaked images posted on GSM Done show a mystery device that resembles the company's other LTE offerings, such as the Nitro HD and Spectrum.
AT&T has published a list of several devices that are confirmed to be upgraded to Android 4.0. The carrier has already released an Ice Cream Sandwich update for HTC's Vivid, ahead of updates for LG's Nitro; Motorola's Atrix 2 and Atrix 4G; Pantech's Burst and Element; and Samsung's Captivate Glide, Galaxy Note, Galaxy S II, Galaxy S II Skyrocket, and Galaxy Tab 8.9.
NVIDIA has paired up the GeForce GTX 680 launched Thursday with its first notebook graphics sharing the same Kepler architecture. The GeForce GT 640M LE, GT 640M, GT 650M, and GTX 660M all use the new 28-nanometer building process both to be smaller and cooler than their ancestors as well as up the core count and clock speeds. They peak at 384 cores on the 640M, 650M and 660M and up to either 735MHz or 850MHz on the 660M, depending on whether or not it's using GDDR5 or DDR3 memory.
MetroPCS is said to be preparing to launch LG's Optimus M+ handset, which serves as a successor to the original Optimus M. The device is claimed to offer a number of improvements, including a larger 3.5-inch display with a wider color range, Bluetooth 3.0 and a 5.0-megapixel camera sensor with flash, unnamed sources have told Pocketnow.
LG's mobile division lead Jong-seok Park in commentary Tuesday was hopeful of much stronger smartphone performance in 2012. He saw LG shipping 35 million smartphones this year, a 50 percent hike over 2011. Much of the push outlined to the Korea Times would come from eight million LTE-ready smartphones like the Optimus Vu.
