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LG Optimus Star is first dual-core Tegra 2-powered Android super phone

LG promised us smart phones with two processors and that's exactly what we're getting, with an Android device packing a Tegra 2 chip ready for an early 2011 release.

Asavin Wattanajantra
2 min read

Oh my. LG promised us Android Optimus phones powered by monstrous-sounding dual-core Tegra chips, and one has now shown its face to the world.

The mobile pictured above is set to arrive early next year. It's a 4-inch Android super phone carrying a dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 chip and an 8-megapixel camera, capable of 1080p video recording. The phone is codenamed Star and the Android OS will be nearly untouched, Engadget reports.

From the front, its rectangular shape is similar to the iPhone 4, apart from those four Android buttons. You can also spot a front-facing camera on the top left, which obviously suggests video-calling. There's no word on what version of Google's smart-phone OS it'll run on, but if it's earmarked for an early 2011 release, it'll likely be Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

LG and Nvidia's pair-up is very, very interesting. Nvidia is known for its graphics cards, but has been getting ready to make a splash in smart phones with its Tegra chips. So far Qualcomm has been the king here, with its Snapdragon chips powering the most successful devices. But we're desperate to see what sort of performance these Tegra 2 chips can post.

This isn't the only Tegra device we're expecting to make us dampen our undergarments next year. We're also expecting the LG Optimus Pad, a Tegra 2 tablet carrying an 8.9-inch screen, neatly between the 9.7-inch iPad and 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab. It could be running on Honeycomb, the update expected after Gingerbread.

This year, Samsung has been the Korean firm taking all the plaudits, releasing the very well received Galaxy S and Tab, as well as laying down the hardware for the first Gingerbread device, the Google Nexus S. Can LG fight back with this impressive looking hardware? We wait with bated breath.

Image credit: Engadget