Sprint and AT&T have announced their respective versions of LG’s year-end Android flagship in the LG Optimus G. Both will be available later next month, with the AT&T version coming out on November 2nd and the Sprint version being released one week later on the 11th, both for $199.99 after a new 2 year agreement.
Both devices feature the same general specifications, with the same 4.7-inch 1,280 x 768 True HD IPS PLUS display, Android 4.0, a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4, 8MP camera module on the AT&T version rather than the 13MP module on the global and Sprint models, 2GB RAM and dual-band AT&T LTE, while the Sprint version features 32GB of internal storage with no microSD slot. The AT&T version does feature a microSD slot at the expense of slightly smaller built-in internal storage at 16GB, reflecting the slight but notable differences in each variant.
Both devices are available for pre-order now from each respective carrier ahead of their respective launches, with LG confirming Jelly Bean for the devices before the end of the year, in a bid to shake off its reputation for poor Android update support compared to the rest of the Android OEMs, with sudden update cancellations common and updates frequently being limited to its home market in South Korea.
The LG Optimus G is supposed to herald a newly revitalized LG in terms of competitiveness regarding Android, and early reviews of the international and Sprint versions of the phone point to an overwhelmingly positive first impression. What remains to be seen is if the Optimus G can carry LG past its previous doldrums in terms of well-received but poorly supported devices into a new era of competitive devices that are frequently supported for the long term and subsequently attract new customers, while mending fences with previous LG owners that felt burned on previous high-end devices.
