LG Electronics announced an Android 2.2-powered handset claimed to be the world's first dual-core smartphone, due for a release in Korea next month. The Optimus 2X is built around a 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, and offers a four-inch WVGA display, an eight-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 1.3-megapixel webcam facing front, says the company.

LG Electronics just one-upped its Android smartphone competition by introducing the Optimus 2X, touted as the world's first smartphone with a dual-core processor. The phone, which was tipped several weeks ago with the code name LG Star, will debut first in Korea next month, followed by releases in Europe and elsewhere in Asia, says the company.

The Optimus 2X uses the Nvidia Tegra 2 system-on-system chip, with dual Cortex-A9 cores running at 1GHz. LG boasts that the Tegra 2 enables the phone to offer "instantaneous touch response," as well as faster web browsing and smoother game playing than single-core processors running at the same speed.

LG Optimus 2X
(Click to enlarge)

The latest in LG's Optimus line of smartphones, the Optimus 2X will ship running Android 2.2 (or "Froyo"), but be upgradeable to Android 2.3 ("Gingerbread"), says LG. The phone features a four-inch WVGA display, 8GB of memory, a microSD slot for adding 32GB of storage, and a 1,500mAh battery, says the company.

There's also said to be an eight-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 1.3-megapixel model on the front, for video calling. Other features are said to include aGPS, Bluetooth, 802.11n, USB 2.0, and HDMI connectivity.

A DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) device, the Optiumus 2X is compatible with devices such as HDTVs for what LG describes as a "console-like gaming experience taking full advantage of the phone's HDMI mirroring, accelerometer and gyro sensor." It also offers HD video playback and recording at 1080p, says the company.

LG aims for comeback

Earlier this year, LG announced its intentions to overtake Samsung or Nokia for a top-two position in the global mobile phone market by 2012. With the Optimus 2X it may have put itself back on the right road, after a few quarters of being lost in the weeds.

Two views of the Optimus 2X

During the third quarter, in third position worldwide, LG shipped 28.4 million units, down from 31.6 percent a year earlier. This resulted in a 10 percent shipment decrease, putting it far from its growth targets.

"LG has yet to make a significant impact in the smartphone category, unlike its competitors," research firm IDC wrote in an Oct. 28 report. "Although operating margin returned to the same levels as a year ago, sales and profitability both fell significantly."

The report added that smartphones continued to account for an increasing portion of the overall phone market, encouraged by the adoption of Android by handset makers such as LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola. And indeed, mobile phone makers delivering popular smartphones were the fastest-growing vendors, IDC confirmed.

Stated Jong-seok Park, CEO and president of LG Electronics Mobile Communications, "Dual-core technology is the next leap forward in mobile technology, so this is no small achievement to be the first to offer a smartphone utilizing this technology. The LG Optimus 2X is proof of LG's commitment to high-end smartphones in 2011."

Availability

The LG Optimus 2X will debut in South Korea in January at an unstated price, followed by parts of Asia and Europe, says LG. The release offered no mention of a North America release. More information may be found at LG's Korean-language Optimus 2X page.

Meanwhile, PhoneArena has posted full specs for the Optimus 2X.

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