LG G2 smartphone unveiled with rear control key

LG G2 smartphone unveiled with rear control key

Computerworld - LG announced its newest flagship smartphone, the G2, with a 5.2-in. HD display and an unusual rear-control key for device on-and-off and volume.

LG Mobile CEO Jong-Soek Park introduced the G2 at a New York event on Wednesday, which was also Webcast.

"Think about it-- where is your index finger when you are talking on the phone?" Park said. "Relocating power and volume buttons to the back ... changes the way we interact with the form. Simply everything is more convenient."

As expected, the G2 will come with the first worldwide smartphone use of the Snapdragon 800 processor, said Steve Mollenkopf, president of Qualcomm.

The 800 processor has been showcased for months and offers 75% better performance than the S4 Pro processor used in the LG Optimus G, the G2's predecessor. The 800 has four core processors, each clocked at 2.3 GHz, up from 1.7 GHz per core in the LG Optimus G. The phone runs Android 4.2.2.

The rear button posed a design challenge to the size of the battery, but LG still came up with a battery at 3,000 mAh when many modern smartphones have less than 2,000 mAh.

Also included is a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, which offers Optical Image Stabilizer technology that LG demonstrated to help keep images from getting blurry even when a phone is shaken slightly.

In addition to the 13 megapixel rear camera, there is a 2.1-megapixel front camera. The 5.2-in. display has 1,920 x 1080 pixels. The device will come in two internal storage models: 16 GB and 32 GB. No expansion slot is included.

Overall dimensions are 5.5 x 2.8 x 0.35 inches. Weight was not available. LG said they were able to reduce the bezels on either side of the display to a thin 1/10th of an inch.

LG said the G2 also features an "outstanding user experience" that includes ways to answer a phone by saying, "answer me" or to turn on or off the phone by tapping the screen twice. A special "Slide Aside" app allows ease in moving applications aside to multi-task.

T-Mobile and Sprint separately said they will carry the LG G2, but didn't offer pricing or availability. ATT and Verizon Wireless have already said they will carry the device.

This article, LG G2 smartphone unveiled with rear control key, was originally published at Computerworld.com.

Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at @matthamblen or subscribe to Matt's RSS feed. His email address is mhamblen@computerworld.com.

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