LG Optimus G2 joins Android phablet big beasts

Shipping with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 processor and sporting a large 5.2-inch full HD display (16:9 aspect ratio, with 400 pixels-per-inch resolution ), the LG Optimus G2 announced its arrival yesterday at an event in New York. Another point of note is that it has buttons on the back, not the side…. Engadget has got its hands on the device, and Brad Molen writes:

What about those unique design traits? As you may have already seen in the leaked images (or if you happened to look at the press image above), the backside of the phone is much busier than on most other handsets. LG opted to put the volume rocker and power button just below the rear camera rather than the edge of the phone. The idea for this, we’re told, is to make the handheld experience a little less awkward on such a large phone. Since the device is wider than smartphones of olden times, LG wanted to put more controls in a place that your fingers naturally rest. LG is also boasting thinner bezels — 0.1-inch thick, to be precise — thanks to a new dual-routing method in which the touch sensor uses two connectors.

Features highlighted by LG (many centering on the camera and screen, as you could expect with a phablet) include:

• 13 MP camera with optical image stabilization (“OIS technology stabilizes your focus while you hold the camera so you get less blur in photos and less shaking in videos.”)
• Multi-points focus / Shot & Clear (pictured middle, “This innovative feature captures the background before a moving person or object enters your shot, and blends it with the picture you’ll take seconds later, eliminating any unwanted moving objects.”)
• 2.26GHz Quad-Core Processor featuring the Qualcomm Snapdragon Chipset.
• Dual recording / dual camera (“Dual Recording/Dual Camera lets you activate the front and rear cameras simultaneously, so you can record yourself and your subject at the same time.”)
• Zoom to Track (“Makes watching videos on your G2 more interactive and fun by letting you selectively zoom in on a subject during playback.”)
• Details have been restricted to the spec (see below)) – release dates and pricing have not yet been announced.
• Text Link (“Transferring information from a text into another app can be difficult. Text Link makes it easy to save events to your calendar, search the web, or pull up a map, directly from information sent in your text messages, all from an accessible link. Now, convenience truly is just a tap away.”)
• Knock on (“Just knock twice on G2 to gently wake your phone’s display without picking it up or pressing the power key.”)
• Audio Zoom (pictured bottom, “Lets you zero in on a specific audio source by zooming in on your subject while recording video. Afterwards, you can hear it more clearly during playback.”)
• Sound (“G2 delivers high quality audio—in both recording and listening—without distortion for Studio Master files, supporting 24-bit, 192 kHz Hi-Fi playback for FLAC and WAV files.”)

Specification

Color

Black / White

CPU Speed

2.26GHz Quad core

CPU Type

Snapdragon 800

Display

1920×1080 Full HD IPS Display, 5.2″

RAM

2GB LPDDR3 800MHz

ROM

32GB

Network*

CDMA (1x / EVDO Rev.A)

2G (GSM / EDGE)

3G (HSPA+42Mbps / HSPA+21Mbps)

LTE (SVLTE, CSFB, CA, VoLTE, RCS, MIMO)

Dimensions**

138.5 (L) x 70.9 (W) x 8.9 (D)

Battery**

3,000mAh / Embedded Li-Polymer

Audio

24bit x 192kHz Hi-Fi Sound

Camera

13MP OIS (Optical Image Stabilizer)8x Digital zoomSapphire Crystal Glass Lens Multi-point AF (9 Points) Full HD 60fps Recording/Playback

* All listed frequency is network/carrier specificwhen roaming, network specfic frequency support may not availableCheck with your network provider to see if and to what extent they offer support for this device.
** Dimensions and battery capacity may vary by carriers