South Korean manufacturer LG this morning finally released its premium Optimus G smartphone onto the Australian market making it available through Telstra from today.
At a launch held at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art, LG Australia’s general manager marketing Lambro Skropidis invoked the name of US fantasy character Jack The Giant Slayer to signify LG’s position in the market.
“We acknowledge the competition will be fierce but we’re no stranger to that. History and folklore is littered with examples of the large and mighty defeated by those with purpose, those with passion and those with capability and those who are excited with the possibilities, and not blinded by fear.”
LG, he said, was a company that was “resetting” itself as a market leader in smart device technology, rather than as a ”fast follower” as it had presumably been.
“No longer will LG be content to be a fast follower in mobile phones,” he told journalists at the launch. “From today, LG becomes a leader.”
“From today, LG begins to step up its commitment to enriching the lives of consumers through meaningful innovation.”
LG is not the first company to say it was altering its ways to get back to the technology cutting edge. Sony chief executive Kazuo Hirai made a similar pledge at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January where he admitted Sony’s past efforts may have lacked a “wow factor”.
It has taken a long time for LG to bring the Optimus G to Australia. It debuted in Korea in September last year, and in other parts of Asia and the US after that. A delay in getting the device approved for use with Australia’s cellular networks has been cited as a cause.
Locally LG will be distributing the Optimus G through local vendors and exclusively on contract through Telstra, starting at $0 on a $60 per month plan over 2 years for both consumers and business on its 4th generation network. It is HSPA+ compatible with 3G networks.
The phone has a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro 1.5 Gigahertz quadcore processor, a 4.7-inch 1280x768 pixel display, 2 Gigabytes of internal memory, 32 GB of internal storage, a 13 megapixel back facing camera and a 2100 milliampere hour battery.
It runs LG’s variant of Google Android Jellybean 4.1.2 and LG is heavily promoting its extensive software tweaks that offer enhanced functionality.
They include ‘dual screen dual play’ – an ability to overlay video on part of a screen while performing other functions on the phone and even stream the video to a TV using a ‘mirror cast’ dongle, again while other functions are active on the phone.
Its Q-slide facility brings something akin to old-style Microsoft Windows to a smartphone – you can resize windows and alter their transparency to make them fade in and out.
QuickMemo lets a user scribble on the display and offers a way to jot down a phone number for using later while on the go.
LG has added multi touch gesturing to the phone that will allow common apps such as emails and contacts to be enlarged for easier reading.
It’s also added a feature called ‘Time Catch Shot’ which captures two seconds of burst photos before the user presses the button in case they miss an action shot.
The Optimus G also will be available for a recommended price of $699 outright.
Australian IT will be reviewing the Optimus G in full shortly.
