0 LG Optimus G arriving in the States in Q4; we go eyes-on its UI

After yesterday's huge unveiling of LG's latest flagship in Korea, LG today brought the Optimus G to US shores for a debut here in New York. In case you missed Phil's extensive hands-on, this is the device LG hopes will help them compete with the Galaxy S 3,HTC's One line, and of course the iPhone 5. The Optimus G has just about everything you'd want in a smartphone and then some: the 4.7-inch True HD IPS+ display is a stunner, and performance is blistering thanks to the Snapdragon S4 Pro on board. The Optimus G is the first device of its kind with Qualcomm's Pro chip, a quad core SoC which comes equipped with integrated LTE. Other highlights include the 13 MP camera, Ice Cream Sandwich, and NFC on board. LG told reporters today that it' s expecting the OptimusG to reach American shelves sometime in Q42012.

But, as Phil said, the highlight here is LG's revamped UI, which comes jam packed with a ton of goodies that LG hopes will be enough to catch your eye. Some are less useful than others, though a few standout, including Quick Memo, which you'll see below. Quick Memo allows you to write on the screen, but rather than traditional memo apps, you'll be able to return to normal operation of the phone with an overlay of what you've written. As you'll see in the demo below, it's especially useful for jotting down phone numbers and web addresses.

Another feature LG is particularly fond of is QSlide: it's a way for you to watch video while doing other things, but rather than Samsung's approach of relegating the video to a small corner of the device, LG has placed the video behind the rest of the UI, leaving a faint vision of what you're watching beneath whatever else you're doing. This type of graphi cs-intensive multitasking, LG says, is made possible by the quad-core chip.

We'll have much more on both the Optimus G's UI and hardware in the coming weeks. Until then, be sure to check out Phil's hands-on and video walk through of what will almost certainly be one of the most powerful phones on the market this holiday season.

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