LG overhauls Android phones from top-end to low-budget
The Optimus line gets new flagship, mid-range, and lower-end models -- and the South Korean electronics giant promises new top-end Optimus G family members soon.
- Shankland covered the tech industry for more than 25 years and was a science writer for five years before that. He has deep expertise in microprocessors, digital photography, computer hardware and software, internet standards, web technology, and more.
BARCELONA, Spain--LG Electronics overhauled its Android product line today, with the flagship Optimus G Pro leading the way.
The company divides its Optimus line into four categories: its G series for deep-pocketed early adopters, the F series with the mission of "4G LTE for everyone," the lower-end L series, and the Vu tablets.
The company announced the Optimus G Pro specifications last week, and now it's showing off the "phablet"-size device with its mammoth 5.5-inch screen. Soon it and its smaller Optimus G sibling will be joined by more in the line.
"It won't be long before the Optimus G and G Pro have further members in this space," said James Marshall, head of product marketing for LG Electronics Mobile in Europe, at a press conference here today.
LG won strong reviews with its Nexus G, the latest model in Google's Nexus line of Android smartphones, but thus far the company hasn't dented the Android dominance of its South Korean rival, Samsung.
The new crop of phones looks technologically promising, though. For CNET's view, check the following First Takes:
- The Optimus G Pro tucks a 1.7GHz Qualcomm quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM behind its 1,920x1,080-pixel, 5.5-inch IPS display. It uses Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean.
- The Optimus F7 and F5 are midrange models with a 4.7-inch and 4.3-inch displays, respectively, and both run Android 4.1.1. The The F7 has a midlevel 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, and the F5 steps down with a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon equivalent.
- The Optimus L3 II, L5 II, and L7 II update the company's lower-end lines, and none of them has LTE networking. The L7 II has a 4.2-inch 800x480-pixel screen, the L5 II a 4-inch 800x480 screen, and the L3 II a 3.2-inch 320x240 screen.
LG publicly committed yesterday to ship phones with Mozilla's Firefox OS, but Marshall declined to comment on the company's plans for it.