14 DAY TRIAL // U.S. Cellular has officially announced that it will introduce the LG Optimus U Android smartphone on December 13th. This is the fifth Android device from the carrier's lineup, along with Samsung Mesmerize, HTC Desire, Samsung Acclaim and LG Apex.
LG Optimus U is an affordable handset, ideal for customers who never had an Android smartphone before.
Recently ranked as the best carrier in the United States in a Consumer Reports research, U.S. Cellular is rounding out its 2010 lineup of Android-powered phones with LG Optimus U.
“The LG Optimus U is a good fit for first-time smartphone customers who are looking to explore a wide range of games, multimedia entertainment and time-saving Android applications,” said Edward Perez, vice president of marketing and sales operations for U.S. Cellular.
“Customers with one of our Belief Plans who are eligible for a phone upgrade can pick up an LG Optimus U at our promotional price without signing a new contract,” added Perez.
LG Optimus U is powered by a 600 MHz processor and runs the latest Android 2.2 Froyo platform.
It comes with a 3.2-inch HVGA capacitive touchscreen with 262k colors and 320 x 480 pixel resolution, accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate and proximity sensor for auto turn-off of the screen.
The device measures 113.5 x 59 x 13.3 mm, weighs 129g (battery included) and comes with a Li-Ion 1500 mAh battery that should last up to 700 hours standby mode or 8 hours talk time.
Other key features of the Optimus U include: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, GPS with A-GPS support, 170 MB internal memory, microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB, 2GB card included), Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP support and 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus and video recording function.
In addition to the popular Google applications like Google Maps, Google Talk and Gmail, that are pre-loaded on the LG Optimus U, U.S. Cellular customers can also tap into Your Navigator Deluxe for voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation, get ringtones from Tone Room Deluxe and store all their contacts on a secure Web site with My Contacts Backup.
LG Optimus U will be available in U.S. Cellular stores for free after an $80 mail-in rebate. The smartphone is also supported by all the benefits of The Belief Project.