LG Optimus 4X HD to launch with quad-core CPU, Ice Cream Sandwich

First it was dual-core processors. Then it was big screens. Next up in Android smartphone trends: the quad-core CPU. And getting things kicked off is the LG Optimus 4X HD.

Sadly, what has yet to become a trend in Android smartphones is running the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system. But the Optimus 4X HD, thankfully, will ship running Android Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest and greatest version of the OS, LG said in a Korean statement.

Powering the Optimus 4X HD will be a 1.5-gigahertz Nvidia Tegra quad-core processor, along with 1 gigabyte of RAM. The new Tegra chip also includes one “low-power drive ‘companion core’ ” that will be used when the phone doesn’t need four cores to power operations, a move that should save battery life.

Storage will come in at 16-gigabytes, and the Optimus 4X HD will be outfitted with a 4.7-inch touchscreen that has a 1280x720 pixel display -- the resolution being what’s HD about the new handset.

The phone, which will be launched first in Europe sometime in the second quarter of the year, will also be 8.9-millimeters, or 0.35-inches thick.

LG said it will show off the new phone at the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, from Feb. 27 to March 1.

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