Leak specialist @evleaks posted this photo today of what can only be described as an unannounced, upcoming, high-end LG smartphone. Our first guess is to assume this is the new LG Optimus G2, the follow-up to last year’s Optimus G (our review). Since this is definitely not the Optimus G Pro, what else can it be, right? 

AT&T announced this morning that the Jelly Bean (Android 4.1) update for the LG Optimus G (our review) is live. Users can pull the update through their phone on WiFi and then move forward with their lives on the best version of Android to date. With 4.1, you’ll see enhanced notifications, an insanely fast UI thanks to Project Butter, and most importantly, Google Now. 

Someone on LG’s marketing street team is a genius. This morning, new billboards went up in Times Square, directly over Samsung’s “The Next Galaxy” ad that reads, “LG Optimus is here 4 you now!”

We know that Samsung spent $400+ million dollars on marketing Galaxy last year alone, but it’s starting to look like they should have spent just a tad bit more. Well played, LG.

You mad, Sammy?

Via: Engadget

Looks like HTC’s One X and the OG RAZR have some company today, as Sprint also announced it will be pushing out Android 4.1.2 to their LG Optimus G owners. The Optimus G (review here) is an important device for a couple main reasons, the biggest being that it most likely helped LG land the deal with Google to create the Nexus 4, which pretty much brought the company back onto the good side of US consumers.

The update will bring everything that we know and love about 4.1 to the device – expandable notifications, Google Now, etc. If you are the owner of this device, go grab it and enjoy that fresh dessert!

Via: Sprint

One thing we certainly love above LG is their infatuation with wireless charging and the Qi standard. After having released the Nexus 4 and Spectrum 2 here in the States with wireless charging built in, followed by the launch of the Nexus 4′s wireless charging Orb only a week or so ago, it’s clear that they aren’t interested in add-on wireless kits like Samsung has done for years. No sir, with LG, they want wireless charging built directly into their devices. 

So, we didn’t get the new Optimus G2 at CES as had been rumored a number of times. But that may be because the device will actually be called the Optimus G Pro and may arrive a bit later at MWC for all to drool over. According to a leaked slide, the device above is that device, one that will sport a 5″ 1080p display (the standard these days), a beefed up 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro, 32GB of internal storage, LTE, and a massive 3000mAh battery. The phone will be just 10mm thick, have a 13MP rear camera, and a 2.4MP front shooter. 

LG introduced the Optimus G back in November, but before the paint could even dry, its successor was already being rumored as the Optimus G2. With a 5.5″ 1080p display and new Snapdragon S4 “Prime” processor, the MSM8974 (quad-core with speeds of 2.0 – 2.5GHz), it’s certainly a step up on the spec front. The original rumor for this phone pegged it for a May 2013 release, but famed rumor monger DigiTimes thinks that LG will show it off at CES, next week. This matches up to a report out of GSMArena last week. 

In 2012, we saw the Android smartphone world reach heights that I don’t imagine many predicted. On a spec front, 2012 was the year of quad-core processors, 2GB of RAM, HD displays, longer battery lives, and incredibly thin bodies. It seems like just yesterday that we were asking DL readers if they had a dual-core or single-core phone, yet here we are, with dual-core phones already becoming a thing of the past.

On a manufacturer front, 2012 was the year that Samsung proved that it really was the only big fish in a bowl full of minnows. We saw Motorola kick off its life as a Google-owned company, HTC struggle to make money even while releasing amazing phones, and LG take its turn as the face of the Nexus phone program.

In this post, I thought we’d talk a bit about all of that by listing out my top 10 phones of the year.