LG Optimus 2X hands on

During LG's CES 2011 keynote presentation we were reminded of the upcoming Optimus 2X Android-powered smartphone. We chased down our friends at LG for a closer look.

As with Motorola's big announcements at CES, the Optimus 2X runs on the Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core chipset, with two 1GHz processors capable of 2GHz of grunt if running at full capacity.

We ran a Neocore benchmark to test the phone's graphics capabilities and were pleased to see it well ahead of the best phones of last year.

The 2X features HDMI mirroring, so that once you plug your phone into a compatible display you will see exactly what is on your phone's display. This means if you're playing a game on the phone then you're also playing it on the big screen.

Videos recorded on the phone can be shot in full 1080p HD. The phone is capable of playing back 1080p content, but of course, the screen will still only display these files at its 800 x 480 pixel resolution.

On the back you'll find an 8-megapixel camera, LED photolight and what looks like a silver belt clip, but is actually just an attractive design trim.

LG's new weather and clock widget expands when touched to show a five-day weather forecast.

Like HTC's Sense UI, the new LG Android interface uses a pinching gesture to display all seven homescreen for quick navigation.

LG has also worked on creating category dividers in the Android app drawer. This is handy for people who would otherwise have a hard time managing their dozens or hundreds of downloaded apps.

Like the contacts app, the app drawer on the 2X can be navigated by jumping directly to the first letter of the app you're looking for. There's also the option to transform the layout from a vertically scrolling menu to horizontal pages, like the iPhone.

When music is playing and the phone is locked you can access music controls on the lock screen by dragging down on the name of the track that is playing.

The contacts listings on the 2X have also seen some enhancements. Now your friend's Facebook status is displayed so you can see what they are up to before you dial.

In your friend's contact listing, the phone automatically pulls down photos and their calendar from Facebook, helping you discover when is the best time to make plans with them.