LG Optimus LTE: a 720p Android smartphone available now in Korea, and the rest of the world soon

The Ice Cream Sandwich update LG promised in June is here, at least for one of its phones. We've gotten confirmation that the Optimus LTE software upgrade, which adds Android 4.0 as well as the Optimus UI 3.0, is now live for phones in Korea. LG PR rep Ken Hong has posted a picture of his Optimus LTE running Android 4.0.4, and we're keeping our eye out for similar updates elsewhere. Besides the Optimus LTE, LG has previously said that the Vu and Optimus LTE Tag will be getting Ice Cream Sandwich in June.

LG has been slow but steady about announcing Ice Cream Sandwich rollouts, but we're still in the dark when it comes to American variants of its phones. The LG Nitro HD, for example, is just the Optimus LTE for American carriers, but users are still stuck on Gingerbread. The Spectrum, meanwhile, has gotten a recent upgrade... to 2.3.6.

LG's Optimus LTE smartphone is making its way around the world. It first launched in Korea, will soon be on Bell in Canada, and now evidence is mounting that it'll be making its way to AT&T in the coming weeks. PocketNow revealed a promo photo that shows a device cosmetically identical to Bell's Optimus LTE, but with a slightly different home screen layout and, of course, AT&T's branding and 4G LTE logo. PocketNow also claims that this phone will come to AT&T branded as the Nitro HD, but we have yet to see any official word on this potential name.

Adding fuel to the fire, a tipster sent Phone Arena a photo of a handset believed to be the Nitro HD, but it's hardly a unique design for an Android phone. With a 720p display and LTE capabilities, this device would help boost AT&T's holiday lineup as a Galaxy Nexus competitor.

The LG Optimus LTE has a 4.5-inch True HD IPS display, a dual-core 1.5GHz processor, an 8-megapixel camera with 1080p video, and, of course, 4G internet connectivity. That souped-up package has recently been announced as heading to Bell in Canada, where it'll launch exclusively with the carrier and make good use of its new LTE network. Having started selling in Korea a few weeks ago, the Optimus LTE has now become the fastest-selling LG smartphone to date, so clearly its loaded spec sheet is speaking a language we can all understand.

Bell is the first North American carrier to announce it'll have this Gingerbread-running Galaxy Nexus competitor, leaving us to ponder which of its southerly neighbors will follow suit. AT&T, would you have any interest in a smartphone with enough grunt to stand up to Verizon's Ice Cream Sandwich phone? The Optimus LTE is shipping with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) preloaded, but a recent picture picked up by Pocketnow shows it with an ICS lock screen and it's relatively obvious that LG will want to keep up with the Samsung-built Galaxy Nexus. If you want evidence of how deep the rivalry between the two Korean companies runs, the LG press release specifically identifies the HD resolution on the Optimus LTE as 1280 x 720 x 3 RGB, poking a big stick at the Pentile Matrix RGBG subpixel setup that Samsung employs. That's why it's True HD, you see.

If you've been wondering just what a true 720p HD display would look like on a smartphone, wonder no more. The LG LU6200 that LG teased over the weekend has been spotted in the wild, complete with its 1280 x 720, 4.5-inch AH-IPS display. The smartphone is still said to be powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core processor -- Qualcomm's MSM8660 Snapdragon to be precise. The other specs are also in line with what we've heard: an 8-megapixel camera, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage, and a mess of connectivity options like DLNA, MHL, and Wi-Fi Direct. It will launch with Android 2.3.5, but supposedly an upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich is on the table after it gets released.It's expected to launch next month, but only in Korea on LG Telecom's U+ LTE network. Source: MoneyToday (Translated); via Phandroid and PocketDroid