Several days ago, at a RadioShack Business Summit in Dallas, the folks from AndroidCentral were able to capture a blurry photo of a device called the LG Marquee that’s due to come out on Sprint. We’re pretty sure that the Marquee is nothing more than the Optimus Black, but with a slightly modified body, thanks to a Sprint roadmap that leaked in July that said the “LG LS855” was coming. Now thanks to press photos that have hit the internets today, we’re 100% sure that the Marquee is the Optimus Black. We just need to find out when exactly it’ll come out and how much it’ll cost. For those who are less familiar with the Black, you’re looking at a single core 1 GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, and a 5 megapixel camera. That’s not too exciting when you compare those specs to the super phones that are currently on the market and the rumors about the total monsters that are due to hit this fall, but what makes the Black special is the ultra bright screen and super slim body.
Rumors say the Marquee will hit in early October, just around the same time as the iPhone 5, and likely when we’ll start hearing about the next Nexus device featuring Ice Cream Sandwich. Without knowing how Sprint plans to price this thing, it’s hard to say whether or not it’ll be a hit. Frankly, if they can manage to offer it for less than $100, preferably less than $50, then expect it to fly off store shelves.
That being said, we can’t really recommend LG smartphones. They’re buggy, they don’t really get firmware updates, and you’re simply better off getting the equivalent device made by Samsung. If you want a slim smartphone, check out the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc or the Samsung Galaxy S II.