By If you thought LG would be relying solely on their newly announced LG Optimus 2X going into 2011 you would be absolutely wrong. One of our trusted tipsters was able to get their mittens on a secret project the manufacturer is working on, supposedly codenamed the LG B. In addition to a handful of details, our tipster snagged a few pictures of the device (we’ve blurred/chopped some portions to protect their identity).
I’m not sure what the “B” stands for… but maybe it’s “Bright”: take a look at the LG B sitting next to what appears to be the iPhone 4 and Samsung Galaxy S. The LG B sits in the middle and clearly outshines both devices; and the Galaxy S is known for being one of the most bright and beautiful screens on the market.
Screen brightness and clarity doesn’t always reflect properly in photographs, but we’re excited about the prospects of the LG B screen. We’ve put a word in with our source to see if they can’t scoop up some details on the specs of that screen.
While the screen looks promising, how THIN the device looks – at least in these pictures – has me incredibly excited. Right now, Apple is promoting the iPhone 4G as the thinnest smartphone on the planet. If that is indeed valid… it may not be for long.
Here you see the iPhone 4 on the left and the LG B on the right. Which one looks slimmer to you? Excited yet? Take a look at another comparison, this one looking even MORE dramatic:
And lastly, sit the Galaxy S (I think?) flat on the table next to the LG B and what do you see? Android awesomeness at it’s finest.
I’m wishing whoever took these pictures got a better angle of the front and back of the device so we could actually get a better idea of its overall styling. The only potential specs I have come from a rather awkward specs sheet. I presume the “B” column is the LG B, the “S” column could be the Samsung Galaxy S, and I can’t confirm what the “R” stands for but based on logic – since the above pics all include the iPhone 4 which also has a 3.5-inch screen – that’s my guess.
Take a look at the “Brightness” row. The LG B is looking to be quite the nice piece of hardware.
You’ll notice that the phone image on the specs sheet is a silhouette, and when I asked our tipster, they suggested LG probably hasn’t finalized the device as they continue to work on improving the screen and making the phone even more compact. We didn’t get much in the way of time frame either. On the one hand, the device looks pretty polished in the pictures we were provided. On the other hand, if they’re still working on finalizing the hardware, how soon could it really be out?
Kevin, Quentyn, and myself will all be at CES and I’m really hoping this is somehow rushed into production by then because the screen brightness and slimness alone have me pretty intrigued. While the LG Optimus 2X is clearly the BEAST Android Phone that we’ve all been wanting from LG, I’m thinking this will be one of those top-tier high-end phones with mass appeal that doesn’t burn a hole in your pocket. Let’s hope.
I’ve already got a bunch of questions into our tipster and hopefully we’ll have more goodies to share with you soon. We’ve just started up the LG B Forum if you’re interested in chatting it up if/when more details leak! Stay tuned!
That spec sheet is suspicious, because of the design of AMOLED screens, they are able to display blacks without any power output, and has the total power output determined by the intensity of color. My understanding is that LCD, on the other hand, requires current regardless of what color is being displayed.
It seems odd that the latest LG screen would have all of the benefits of a different technology in this generation, while lacking them completely in the last generation (The IPS LCD in the iphone 4 is made by LG for those unaware)
We need more 4.3″ Android phones already. Tmobile in particular.
LG is on a roll today
Samsung is already working on SAMOLED2. I’m sure it will destroy this.
SWHINGGGGGG!!!
All of those shots are framed to be flattering for this device. It clearly has a convex backplate which they aren’t very keen on showing. In the first it is hidden in the hand and the second it is turned out of view. Then the third is no longer an iPhone 4. That said I would love to see an Android challenge the slimness crown, but Apple might hold onto it for a while longer.
So LG B isn’t the name, as the chart says B,S, and R I’m a take it B stands for the name of the technology. S would stand for Super AMOLED, R for Retina display. So what tech name for LG’s display? Bold LCD? Bright LCD? Brilliant LCD?
I mean come on man how did you not get that?
“R” probably = Retina
@Pimpstrong: Yes! I am with you. We need more 4.3 (and even bigger) screens for T-Mobile phones.
I’ve always liked LG’s design…they remind me of what Sony ‘could have been’ in the smartphone world.
I’m eager to see what they do with Android.
I take it the legend for the chart is this
B- Bright LCD
S- SuperAMOLED
R- Retina Display
*drool* :-)
Seriously look at the specs
The R has the specs of the iPhone 4
The B has the specs of LG’s Optimus 2X
The S has Specs of Samsung Galaxy S
Not trying sound assholish but man its easy to tell.
Wow, this looks amazing! Love it.. I like this phone’s design better than the star!
Only a 3.5 inch screen? That is so 2009. I am anxious to upgrade to a newer phone, but I flat out refuse to buy a screen smaller than my G1. 3.5 inch is for low end phones.
Hey genius that’s the iphone…
Is that their custom skin. *looks down in disappointment*
Can’t wait for what Samsung comes up with! Love competition.
@Robert: I agree, the pics probably are biased towards the product they are showing off. But I would say that they still have merit to the aspect that the LGB will be a very very slim phone. And as for the iphoney being the slimest, they can keep that crown. My phone is .40 inches while the iphone is .37 inches. I’ll take the .03 along with all the capabilities my phone gives me over the iphone.
why are Rob’s hands clearly visible in the thumbnail preview image on the homepage, but blurred out in the larger photos? lol
can we just have a army of android phones come out for sprint already? i love my HERO but i need more options that the EVO and EPIC if im going to pay and extra 10 bucks for something that only costs 4 to produce.
U said Apple 4g…lol
I still think my galaxy is more thin then iphone and i compare it daily to my friends iphone. With the thin galaxy back cover off deff. thinner then iphone but whose going to walk around without a back cover….idc androids better anways the ONE and only one thing the iphone has over (so far) android is its solid built.
I will never buy a 4.3″ phone, too big to pocket. PASS!
Lg is starting the new year strong, samsung just bought $300mill worth of tegra 2 chips as well and also has a few strong devices in the pipeline! Them koreans are the next tech gurus, (what happened to Japan?)
that galaxy s backlight is set to automatic. If you set it to it’s brightest setting it will look better and be a more accurate comparison.
These photos are suspicious. If taken on auto, the auto metering will probably have metered the middle spot, metering the slightly brighter white of the LG screen and taking the overall brightness of the image down to ensure correct exposure.
Also was the SGS on full brightness, or automatic, because my SGS looks far brighter.
Battery will last approx 2 hours.
I will pass this one!!!! Sidekick Twist coming!!!!!
SIDEKICK LIVES!!!!!!
I think we shouldn’t jump to conclusions on this whole screen brightness thing.
What’s awesome though is that LG, unlike most manufacturers excluding Apple and Samsung, is actually putting effort into the screen. Let’s just hope the build quality matches it.
@teckel
Grown men should not have a phone with a screen smaller than 4.0″ Gonna need you to grow up!!
When looking at this phone from the side, it resembles the tapered shape of the Incredible.
The difference usually is LCD are cheaper to manufacture and manufacturing capacity for LCD is about 1 million times larger than Super AMOLED capacity.
Although Samsung is investing billions of dollars in a new Super AMOLED factory for second half of next year, LCD always manages to improve their quality as well.
And I think the price thing is an important factor, soon enough phones will mostly be sold unlocked out of contract.
i don’t care i just want the new screens to rival the resolution of the iphone 4 screen. who needs 700nits. give me more resolution. and don’t give me any more pentile displays. i’m sorry if a galaxy owner is offended but imo these displays (especially in displaying fonts) are still not comparable to the iphone 4s display. i guess everything is an upgrade from my lousy G1 display. sigh
hopefully plastic body uses rubberized plastic, not a piano-glossy like Galaxy!
Thin is good, but I’d rather have it slightly thicker with better battery life. Thin is overrated. iPhone thickness is just fine.
This is a photoshop. Screen contents of the B and Galaxy S are identical.
As for power dissipation differences…
(700 nit / 500 nit) x (4.0″ / 3.5″) x 0.42 watts =~ 0.672 watts
which seems to be close to 0.7 watts number for LG. I don’t think the actual efficiency of the LG display is that different from that of iPhone 4.
At least, with LG, users will have an option of getting a higher brightness or lowering to the iPhone 4 level to prefer the battery life…
PHOTOSHOP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The image on the LG phone is the same as the one on the Galaxy S, even the icons in the notification bar. The 3G icon on LG is that of TouchWiz on Galaxy S. Needless to say, the brightness has been photoshop enhanced on the LG.
It may be brighter, but it also looks really yellow.
WOW. Just to re-cap a couple things NO ONE has been talking about.
1. There is no such thing as a iphone “4g” so please drop that ridiculous moniker, Ive never gotten anything faster than 3 mb/s on ATT HSPA+.
2. Did no one bother zooming in on that first picture? It clearly says “H” where 3G would normally be.
3. That Lg is going to T-mobile USA :D
-You know, that guy.
Maybe it’s just me.. but if you look at the 2x video, it also looked noticeably brighter in that video too.. so maybe LG are already employing these screens in their current (well soon to be current) device.
Anyone notice the notification bar on the two android phones are exactly the same? I mean exactly. The icons and everything are identical.
That, and the BS spec sheet on the LCD makes me suspicious. LCD’s use the same power no matter the output. It has a uniform backlight, and the individual pixels rotate their little polarizers to change the amount of that backlight it lets through.
Why are others so desperate to compare product that came out 8 month ago to product that will launch in future??
Why are most of you dogging this phone jealous a bit much if you have nothing good to say don’t say anything you don’t have the phone and probably never will.
To echo Eric I’m very interested in knowing how an IPS LCD utilizes no power when producing a black image. What about the dimmest grey it can produce..is it back to 0.7 watts?
If this is a real product I look forward to more info about it. Would be particularly interested in seeing if it can touch the colour gaumet of SAMOLED.
the picture that poses the LG B next to the Galaxy S is kind of dumb. I say this because the Galaxy S is a little bit thicker on the bottom, so i feel like their might have been some type of bias when those comparison pictures were taken.
why has the LG got the same notification icons as the galazy S? Even the 3G icon on the LG is that from TouchWiz from Galaxy S…. i smell something fishy!
Eric & Soundman, Perhaps it has some dynamic backlighting feature that dims the backlight to zero when the screen is on black, or mainly black, hence the zero power consumption on ‘black screen’.
Overall this seems pretty impressive – will be good to see how it turns out when all the details emerge!
@ Eric – Yeah those two screens are EXACTLY THE SAME!!
Nice if we can get halfway descant battery life.
@RobertLoblaw Obviously the third picture is not the iphone seeing as how the author explains that its a galaxy s. See in the very top photo there are THREE phones?
Awesome screen
0 watts @ black screen
They seriously need to stop getting bigger and bigger screens..
These are phones. I won’t go any larger than 4″ really.
Want bigger? Buy a tablet.
First off these angles don’t do justice to the beauty that apple beholds in all it’s devices.
Truly it is the better choice all around every single time.
Second, look at the supposed specs; the iPhone won’t drain your battery like this “B” will.
The display will reign supreme for quite some time, until Apple let’s Sharp in a little closer.
Lol Why are you comparing the fater side of the galaxy s against the b?
In Other news… Iphone 4s screen is brighter than galaxy s… We think this is a lie. The glaaxy s i wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy brighter.
the galaxy s screen is much much better, the black are really black, look at lg:s black, its more like grey
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