LG Optimus LTE II Released in South Korea as LG’s Latest Flagship Smartphone

By Tech Wire Asia | 17 May, 2012

LG is struggling for relevance in today’s smartphone market, given the meteoric rise of both Apple and Samsung as top smartphone makers. In time for the recent launch of Samsung’s latest flagship Galaxy S III, LG has also launched its latest flagship phone, the LG Optimus LTE 2.

As the name suggests, the LTE II will come with built in 4G LTE capability. It’s also the first smartphone ever with a 2 GB RAM. LG has also upped the ante, with a faster processor chip and a higher-capacity battery for faster and longer smartphone fun (or work time).

The LG Optimus LTE II — or LTE 2 — comes with the following features and specs.

Qualcomm S4 MSM8960 quad-core processor running at 1.5 GHz
4.7-inch IPS display at 720 x 1280 resolution
2GB RAM
2,150 mAh battery
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

Early reviews of the Optimus LTE 2 consider the smartphone at par with its main competitor, the Samsung Galaxy S3. There are a few highlights, though, including LG’s release of its Optimus UI 3.0, which runs on top of Android 4.0 ICS. The new UI is claimed to be simpler than previous iterations, although it comes with a few bells and whistles that smartphone owners are likely to love.

This includes pattern-unlock commands that run different apps or commands depending on the unlock swiping pattern used. The Optimus LTE 2 also has a voice-controlled camera app that will take photos at command. The camera app actually saves four snapshots from the second before the shutter button is pressed, and gives the user a choice of which photo to save.

LG says all three South Korean operators will release the LTE 2 this week, and is banking on the launch of faster LTE networks in the country to support the smartphone’s capabilities. LG has not indicated when the LTE II will be released outside of South Korea, but a company rep has said “if carriers overseas want to sell them, we’ll give it to them.”