After spending the past few quarters in the red, LG recently turned things around with a bit of growth in their once-ailing smartphone division. By focusing half of their 2012 capital expenditures budget on developing smartphones, LG wanted people to know that some big mobile plays were on the horizon.

As it turns out, their plans for the year include the newly-leaked Optimus Vu, which isn’t exactly the sort of big we were hoping for.

The first thing you notice about the Optimus Vu is its large 5-inch display, followed shortly by the realization that it’s awfully square. LG opted to run with a 4:3 screen aspect ratio this time around for some reason, which has led to a handset design that’s more squat than I’m accustomed to seeing.

Now LG isn’t the first to toy with this sort of form factor. Fellow Korean manufacturer Pantech introduced the blocky-looking Pocket late last year, but to see a major player run with it is a surprise.

Meanwhile, someone has reportedly managed snap a shot of Optimus Vu in the wild (above) and with it comes a solid spec sheet. If true, the OV sports a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm chipset, 1GB RAM, NFC support, and an 8-megapixel camera. Sadly, there’s no Ice Cream Sandwich to be found here — the Optimus Vu is all about Gingerbread.

It’s easy to take potshots at the Optimus Vu — comment reels across the web (or at least the part of the web that cares about phones) are full of people decrying the device as a Galaxy Note knockoff. The comparison may be harsh, but in fairness, LG could do worse than to try to follow Samsung’s example here. The Galaxy Note enjoys substantial popularity in the international market, and if the rumors of the Optimus Vu having a stylus pan out, the phablet market may soon grow a bit more crowded.

Potential stylus inclusion aside, LG’s decision to go with a 4:3 display could come back to bite them when it comes time for people to decide on a new phone. Smartphones have historically grown taller instead of just wider, and while LG certainly has the novelty factor going with the Optimus Vu, whether or not that will translate into unit sales is still up in the air.

Japan’s biggest mobile carrier NTT Docomo has introduced LG’s awesome Optimus Android phone in Japan yesterday. It’s compatible to Docomo’s 4G service Xi and follows the launch of the handset in Korea and North America.

The Docomo version comes equipped with NFC and a digital TV tuner for Japanese users wanting to watch 1seg channels on the 4.5-inch, 1280×720 IPS display. LG did not build in an infrared connection, however (which many Japanese mobile subscribers got used to on their feature phones).

It also features other Docomo-specific bells and whistles, like access to the docomo market (the carrier’s Android marketplace), or the so-called “Palette UI” (an interface designed by Docomo for their Android phones). LG also manufactured a version in red, which is only available in Japan (in addition to the black version).

I had the chance to try the Optimus out in Tokyo (where I live) today, and the LTE connection was – not a big surprise – super-fast (see below).

What’s weird is that the company doesn’t mention the 3D features (i.e. 3D video recording) of the slate at all: no word in the press release, spec sheets, brochures etc. (see below).

As far as I can see, the tablet (which will be sold as “Optimus Pad L-06C” in Japan) is the same we could try out last month:

• OS: Android 3.0 (Honeycomb)
• 8.9-inch LCD with 1,280×768 resolution (glasses required to view images in 3D)
• 3G connectivity
• WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
• Bluetooth 3.0
• CPU: Nvidia Tegra 2 Dual-core 1GHz
• RAM: 1GB
• ROM: 32GB
• two 5.1MP main cameras, one 2MP front camera
• HDMI, USB, microSD interfaces
• size: 150×243×12.8mm, weight: 620g

Docomo will offer the tablet for $980 (no contract).

Starting this Black Friday, T-mobile are including their entire line of Android devices (including the Galaxy Tab), as well as the WinPho7-powered behemoth that is the HD7, in a buy-one-get-one-free promotion.

Here’s what you need to know: if you purchase either a myTouch 4G, G2, Galaxy Tab, or HTC HD7, and sign onto a family plan for two years, then you’ll get your choice of a myTouch 4G, G2, HTC HD7, BlackBerry Bold 9780, Motorola DEFY, Motorola CHARM, LG Optimus T, or T-Mobile Comet for free (on another two-year contract, that is)!

The promotion is available on all T-Mobile family plans, including legacy and Even More, for new customers who activate two or more lines or existing customers who are on a T-Mobile family plan and upgrade at least one eligible line.

If you’re not the type who wants to venture outdoors on Black Friday, then you’ll be chuffed to hear that the promo will run until January 18th, 2011.

Here’s the official release from T-mobile:

Just in time for the kick-off to the busy holiday shopping season, T-Mobile USA, Inc. today announced the upcoming availability of a new in-store BOGO promotion for families. Starting on Black Friday, new and existing customers who sign up for a T-Mobile family plan with a two-year agreement and purchase a featured smartphone, such as the T-Mobile® myTouch® 4G, or the Samsung Galaxy Tab™ from T-Mobile can get a new featured smartphone or affordable Android™ handset for FREE!

Featured smartphones from T-Mobile include the T-Mobile® myTouch® 4G, T-Mobile® G2™ with Google™, HTC® HD7 and BlackBerry® Bold™ 9780. Affordable Android smartphones include the Motorola DEFY™ with MOTOBLUR™, Motorola CHARM™ with MOTOBLUR™, LG Optimus T™ with Google™ and T-Mobile® Comet™. The new in-store BOGO promotion will be available Nov. 26 through Jan.18, so families who would prefer to avoid the Black Friday crowds this week will still have an opportunity to take advantage of the offer.

The promotion is available on all T-Mobile family plans, including legacy and Even More, for new customers who activate two or more lines or existing customers who are on a T-Mobile family plan and upgrade at least one eligible line. Mail-in rebates are applicable on all devices and data plans will be required.

[via Android Police]
[image via T-mo News]

This is a momentous day for Metro PCS, too, as it is their very first Android-powered handset. Aw… happy days.

The Optimus M will be available tomorrow, November 24, for a hefty $230 — significantly more than the $30 that T-mobile want for the device (or the $1 that Walmart are asking for it) — but that nets you a contract-free $50 unlimited talk, text, and web plan.

The Optimus M runs Android 2.2 atop a 3.2″ touch-screen, and has a 3.2MP camera ’round the back.

Those interested can check the full press release here.

I can think of a couple applications of this: of course, it’d be useless to change the image on the key you’re pressing, but this system would make for a hell of a shift key. Light tap does one thing, light hold-down does another, press down until it clicks makes it stay in shift mode, and so on. It’s a good idea, really, and could be executed in an original way (in which case the headline is pure link-bait).

It’s still a little funny that they would apply for this patent right after a product came to market that does much the same thing. If Art Lebedev, the Optimus keyboard’s creator, has a strong patent portfolio, this particular application is going to get nixed in a hurry.

[via Go Rumors and Liliputing]

Oh boy. LG’s Marketing VP made a mighty big claim in a recent Wall Street Journal article. I’ll state it again if you somehow missed the headline: “our tablet will be better than the iPad.” That’s like Kia saying their upcoming sports car will be better than the Porsche 911. Or some Hollywood startup saying they’re making the next Star Wars only better. A blanket statement like that just doesn’t sit well. Although, LG seems to have the right idea and might bust out the best Android tablet to date — well, that’s not that hard really.

LG’s tablet will be part of the Optimus line and is apparently slated for a Q4 release. According to the WSJ article, LG is taking a different approach with their tablet rather than making an iPad clone. Their tablet will focus on content creation, rather than infotainment.

WSJ,

The tablet will include content focused on creation such as writing documents, editing video and creating programs. It will also have “high-end features and new benefits,” many of which will focus on productivity, Mr. Ma said.

“It’s going to be surprisingly productive,” he said.

That sounds awesome to me. Hopefully LG is using a high-quality LCD screen with either a very accurate tracking or even a digitizer screen like those used in high-end convertible notebooks. It could be popular with everyone from students to the cooperate user. Smart.

Clearly LG is aiming at a different market than Apple with their tablet and that’s probably for the best. Rather than focusing on competing directly with the iPad, companies like LG with their Optimus line and HP with the Slate 500 are trying to fill the void left by the entertainment-oriented iPad.

The iPad is far from the ultimate tablet, but its success is opening doors for tablets in other markets. LG’s Marketing VP probably shouldn’t have publicly set the bar so high way before the tablet’s release, but from his perspective, the LG tablet might be better than the iPad. I wonder what his kids would say, though.

Less than $1000 and shipping at the end of the year is the goal this time around. We saw delays and missed price points before, however, so I’d take those estimates with a grain of salt.

On the other hand, according to the Optimus Project blog, they’re pumped about being able to make the keyboard flatter, the keys rounder, and the displays higher-resolution (now 64x64px). I know I’ll never get to hold one except for a brief moment at CES this coming January, but I can still dream.

[via Technabob and The Awesomer]

I think of Art Lebedev’s odd creations the way I think of expensive, weird sex toys – maybe someone will buy one, but any way you slice it it’s not going to take off. Anyway, the Optimus Popularis keyboard uses little screens on each key, just like the old Optimus Maximus. However, instead of OLEDs it will use LEDs.

The Popularis will sell for under $1,000 and should be mass produced in time for everyone to forget about it.

via SlashGear

What good is that Optimus keyboard without World of Warcraft? None good, I say, which is why it brings me great joy to see this homebrew WoW layout. It was created by one of the blokes at an Optimus Keyboard message board—message boards are the new salons—and is primarily for Warlocks.

As you can see, many (all? I’ve never played as a Warlock) of the icons from the game’s action bar are somewhere on the keyboard—I recognize a few spells on the left-hand side.

And you’d have to admit that this is merely an aesthetic mod, since when you’re playing the game it’s not like you’re staring at the keyboard. Nope, your eyes are fixated on the monitor, looking at damage meters and the like.

Still, fun, I guess. That’s the Internet’s raison d’etre: pointless, but fun stuff.

via OLED-DISPLAY.NET

I’m pretty sure it’ll still cost north of, oh let’s say $400, but I think this is more practical than the actual full-LCD keyboard. It’ll probably be real around the beginning of 2009.

Art Lebedev’s Optimus Keyboard, famous for having little OLED screens on each key and never actually, you know, being purchased by anyone, was the defining meme of the 2006-2007 blogging season. Everyone was all excited for the product and when it finally launched everyone was like “Huh” and kept tapping at their iPhones.

Now AL is talking about the Tactus, a full-screen keyboard without buttons. As BoingBoingG points out, the best part of this futureboard is the fact that you’ll be able to see the underage girls in t.A.T.u. kissing.

No pricing, but do you care?

That garish Optimus keyboard that annoyed people with its price and lack of functionality will be re-born as the Optimus Popularis. That up there is the first mock-up of the keyboard, which is supposed to be “well under” $1,000. I know, feed your family, or buy a keyboard?

via Wired’s Gadget Lab

Ladies and germs, the next version of the Optimus keyboard! Dubbed the Optimus Popularis, it’s currently set to retail for “well below” $1,000. That’s some deal, $1K for a keyboard. Why buy food or pay rent when you can have a cool LED keyboard?

All the best stories come from random LiveJournals. Or something.

That’s right: the Optimus keyboard is on ThinkGeek for 1,600 freaking dollars. 1,600 freaking dollars. Seriously. It’s a keyboard with OLEDs in it. Make a good flat touchscreen interface for data entry a la Star Trek and leave this bugger to the dustbin of technological overreach.

(via BBG)

It really does look like a $500 object, and if you can afford it, I’d say go for it. Their booth girls were nice and glossy too, definitely not local.

If you’ve spent any amount of time on tech sites like this one, you’ve surely heard of the Optimus keyboard. It uses OLEDs in place of “regular” keys. One minute a key open Safari the next it open Photoshop. Like the picture! According to a recent patent filed last March (but only revealed recently), Apple is working on a keyboard just like the Optimus.

Maybe with Apple R&D behind this type of keyboard it’ll actually see the light of day, unlike the as-yet vaporware Optimus.

New Apple Dynamic OLED Keyboard [hrmpf.com via Mac Rumors]

Hot on the heels of this year’s never-released Optimus Maximus superkeyboard, Optimus has taken the concept one step further with the Tactus keyboard. The idea is similar, but instead of customizable keycaps, the keys themselves are virtual.

Cool idea, but as anyone who’s tried to play Mario on an iPhone can attest, there’s a definite advantage to the tactile feedback real buttons (or, indeed, keys) give a user.

Optimus Tactus concept keyboard [Slippery Brick]

Art Lebedev Studios was more than happy to take preorders for the Optimus Maximus keyboard (that we all thought would never see the light of day) but seems to have neglected to make the device’s firmware work well enough to justify the high price tag. The method by which the firmware gets upgraded also needs to be overhauled.

Alas, she’s been delayed until the end of February. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but we’ve been waiting this long, what’s another couple of months, huh? One of us here will be sure to update you in mid-February when it gets delayed again. 

Optimus OLED keyboard pushed to February [MacNN]

The pre-order date was rumored to be May 12, but it’s actually May 20. We’d heard of it being affordable. That was wrong. If you’ve got a spare $1,500, and don’t mind sending it to a totally legit Russian company, you yourself can have a 100% customizable keyboard as early as December. Granted, the Optimus could have been more expensive. For the technology involved, it’s not a bad price. That being said, we’ll wait for the $200 Optinus Keyz Chinese knock-off.

Optimus Keyboard [Product Page, via Tekenstein]