The folks from PocketNow have pitted the IE-based browser of Windows Phone 7 against the current crown jewels – Safari on the iPhone 4, and the Android 2.2 browser on the Nexus One. The WP7 browser seems to have come a long way from the slow buggy experience observed in the early prototypes.

Still running on the LG GW910 (aka Panther) developer’s phone, the browser exhibits page loading, kinetic scrolling and touch gesture speeds comparable to the competition. The mobile Internet Explorer even has some unique features like simultaneous tabs loading. Rotating the view in landscape mode seemed a bit slower than on the other two handsets, maybe due to the transitional animations present in Windows Phone 7. This is still not a final build of the WP7 mobile OS, so the competition should be officially worried – Microsoft seems to have gotten one of the major selling points in any smartphone about right.

Look at the ten minute video below to check out the WP7 browser behavior on the 3.5” screen of the LG GW910.
source: PocketNow

NVIDIA Tegra 250 (Tegra 2) tablet

What are the third largest manufacturer of cell phones and an underdog in the mobile chipset business to do, so they can both stand out from the crowd? Well, make something contemporary together, of course. That’s especially if you are 3rd largest mainly due to the constant churn of feature phones, or if you have been trying hard to spark interest in someone in your system-on-a-chip (SoC) for smartphones and tablets. LG announced that it will have Nvidia’s Tegra 2 chipset powering its high-end spectrum of the Optimus line.

The LG Optimus GT540 we reviewed some months ago was a decent Android smartphone, but nowhere near high-end. LG, however, is planning no less than 10 other smart touchscreen devices in the line by year’s end, and one of those will be an Android-running Optimus tablet. For the tablet, LG said yesterday that it will be focusing on productivity like multimedia and document editing, even coding, rather than only on content consumption.

As for the phones, five of them will apparently be running Windows Phone 7, which leaves four for Android, if we count the tablet. Two of those we already heard will be called Optimus One and Chic, and another one should be a Snapdragon-powered Optimus Q with a slide-out keyboard. So this kind of leaves a total of one unannounced high-end handset to be powered by the Nvidia Tegra 2 chipset, if we don’t count the tablet, which will almost certainly be Tegra-based, since Nvidia already demoed a tablet with the SoC.

Looks like our predictions that Nvidia is the best positioned underdog to enter the smartphone chipset battle, and fight with the dual-core Snapdragon and OMAP4 or Hummingbird, is holding water for now. No wonder – the Tegra 2 chipset has a dual-core CPU based on the latest Cortex-A9 ARM architecture and, of course, the powerful GPU should come standard considering who is behind Tegra 2. The only concern with the SoC on last read was battery life not up to par with the dual-core Snapdragons and TI’s OMAP4, but that remains to be confirmed in real life. The Tegra 2 chipset has its potential also recognized by Motorola, which will be having its own tablet with the platform by the end of the year running Gingerbread, so exciting tablety times ahead.
source: WSJ via Engadget

LG Optimus One with Froyo LG Optimus Chic with Froyo

LG Optimus Q

The world’s number three handset maker isn’t looking to sit pretty as their closest rival, Samsung, announced that they would be getting into the tablet game with their beefed up version of the Samsung Galaxy S – the Android tablet Samsung Tab. As we get closer to the end of the year, it’ll be interesting to see what kind of tablet offering LG will have in store for all of us. Although there is very little specifics regarding their Android tablet, it’s rumored to be slightly ahead of the curve versus some of the current available offerings on the market right now. At the same time, the Korean based company is also planning on presenting a new version of the Optimus Z, the SU950, which will be packing Android 2.2. Since current owners of the handset might feel somewhat blindsided by this, they will probably be ecstatic knowing that an upgrade for Froyo are in the pipelines for the fourth quarter. Things are looking quite peppy already for LG as we near the holiday season – now more than ever seeing that they’re intent on joining all the Android tablet fun.
source: LG Korea (translated)

There are definitely some good reasons why LG is the world’s third largest mobile phone maker, but there is clearly one aspect where they fall short in when compared to the competition – smartphones. In just about every smartphone platform, LG has lagged behind in offering decent handsets, but they do so well when it comes to feature phones. For example, AT&T has offered devices such as the LG Incite and eXpo for the Windows Mobile front while they’re just embarking on a relationship with T-Mobile. Additionally, Verizon just received the LG Fathom and Ally – both of which aren’t the true high-end smartphone competitors that can match some of the offerings seen by HTC. During the first quarter of 2010, we’ve witnessed at how LG Mobile’s operating profit sales plunge down to 0.9 percent which can be attributed to the lack of impressive smartphone hardware. With that in mind, the Korean based company is prepping to launch 20 Android handsets before the year is over – which proves to look impressive now that we’re nearing the halfway point of the year. Even though the focus may be placed on the surging amount of love being garnered by Android, we’ve already seen how LG is also intent on releasing a Windows Phone 7 handset to the market. Needless to say that LG already has a lot of work ahead of itself if they are adamant on bringing out 20 Android sets to the market this year.
source: Korea Times via Unwired View

LG’s camp may have been quiet on the high-end Android front, but they’re not sitting around any longer and let the competition get the best of them. After hearing about the peppy specs with the LG LU2300 not too long ago, LG has gone out and officially announced it and another premier Android offering with the LG KU9500/SU950 in the hopes of capturing some interest. Both devices are packing some serious heat under the hood as they feature a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 3.5” WVGA AMOLED touchscreen, Dolby mobile surround sound, Wi-Fi, GPS, and a 5-megapixel camera. On the software side of things, “LG Air Sync” will enable uses to share content with a PC or web server wirelessly while “Scan Search” is an augmented reality app that’ll be preloaded on the handsets. Now the major difference between the two is that the LG SU2300 will offer a QWERTY keyboard, built-on trackpad, and will be running Android 1.6 at first – but it’s expected to receive an update to Android 2.1 some time between July and August. Conversely, the LG SU950/KU9500 will simply be your traditional looking candybar looking handset with Android 2.1 from the onset. Aside from be initially available through KT and SK Telecom in Korea, it’s unknown if LG plans to make the handsets available elsewhere.
source: LG Korea via Unwired View

LG GT540 is going to be the manufacturer’s second Android-powered handset, which we’ve been well aware of since January, when the phone was presented at CES 2010 and we got the chance to share our first impressions of it. Now, LG has revealed that the actual name of the phone is going to be Optimus (without Prime – sorry, Transformers fans!), and published its detailed specifications.

According to the manufacturer, the Optimus will be extremely suitable for first-time smartphone users, and ladies are obviously referred to as well, as the phone is going to be available in pink and white to make it more appealing to them. Operating the device will be easy due to the customized UI, which resembles the one used in some LG feature phones. We have witnessed the same with LG GW620, although images reveal some (slight) changes. The SNS app will allow access to various social networks, and all this is running over Android 1.6. Yes, yes, we know… Let’s hope an update to a more recent version will be available… some day.

The hardware characteristics are slightly disappointing. The display, for example, is a 3-inch one with HVGA resolution and implements the resistive technology. You will also get a 3MP camera with autofocus and built-in memory of 2 or 4GB. What we like about this phone is the DivX и Xvid support. Standard features, such as microSD HC, Bluetooth 2.1, 3.5 mm jack, Wi-Fi and 3G are of course present.

LG Optimus GT540 is going to be offered in four color variants

LG Optimus GT540 is first going to launch on the European market in May, and pricing will differ in each country. We expect the price to be budget-friendly – after all, the device is aiming at users, who have no experience with smartphones.
source: LG

It’s the first time we’ve caught wind of LG’s P-Series, but it appears the founding father of the new range will be a high-tech Android-based device. An XML file has surfaced on the Web and reveals the existence of a mysterious handset, named the P950, that no one seems to know much about.

Broadly speaking, the useful information about the handset includes two major facts – the cell phone will be equipped with WVGA display and Android WebKit browser. All other details available in the XML file and standard – supported multimedia formats, installed language packs etc. We guess we will have to wait a bit longer until we find out more about the device, but we suppose it will be a high-end phone, since only the highest-ranking droids today support such a high screen resolution.

The LG P950 is probably intended for the European and US markets, since most devices hitting the shelves across Korea have special designation, usually SU/LU followed by four digits. We hope we get to see more details about the mysterious cell phone trickle on the Internet soon.
source: LG (XML file) via LG Central

As the LG LU2300 started to appear early last week, it soon became apparent that it would be a high-end offering out of LG’s camp – something that could ride on the heels of other recent top of the line Android models. Now we find that it is the big brother of the LG GW620 InTouch Max and that its specs are now made known – it features a 3.5” AMOLED touchscreen, Android 2.1, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, DivX support, 4 line landscape slide QWERTY keyboard, 5-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, and a DMB Tuner. In addition, there will be a focus surrounding augment reality as it’ll be packing a few AR apps from the start. US consumers will have to wait for a while before they get a taste of any high-end Android offerings from LG as the LU2300 is expected to be released for the Korean market either this month or May. This will undoubtedly be only the beginning for LG as they continue to hopefully place an aggressive stance on their Android development.
source: LG via pocket-lint

The Android powered LG LU2300 smartphone recently showed itself today and looks to solidify itself as a top tiered Android device from the Korean manufacturer. Despite it sporting some high-end specs, it feels as though it pales in comparison to other recently announced Android phones that take it to the extreme level. The Lg LU2300 features 3.5” AMOLED display with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, Android 2.1, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 5-megapixel camera, 720p HD DivX compatible playback, Wi-Fi, GPS, DMB tuner, and a 4-row landscape sliding QWERTY keyboard. It’s difficult to say if the device will offer a customized interface to make it stand out among the other Android 2.1 devices out there. Even though this device truly places itself in the upper echelon of LG’s Android offerings, it looks like it’ll strictly be available only in South Korea – which is a bummer to almost everyone else excited about a high-end LG Android phone. It’s expected to become available later this month or in May – which is quite surprising in itself.
via Android Guys

Aloha! One of those User Agent Profiles has surfaced again, this time revealing what would probably be LG’s third Android phone, after the GW620 and the GT540. Unlike these two devices however, the LG Aloha C710 seems to be a bit more beefed-up, sporting Android 2.1, WVGA screen, QWERTY keyboard and Wi-Fi 802.11n skills. Apart from that, nothing else is known about the C710 at the moment, except for the word that there has indeed been a certificate issued by the Wi-Fi Alliance recently for the Aloha, although it doesn’t seem to be accessible right now. We don’t have to tell you that there’s no price or release date available yet, do we?

Now, who said this may be the first Android clamshell?
source: Tweakers.net (translated)