It looks like LG’s first Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich handset has broken cover in the form of the U1. We know very little about the handset as a whole but judging by the pictures, it will be an uber-thin and snappy handset, which is exactly what we’d expect.
Back in July we saw LG’s roadmap leak out and the only handset that wasn’t pictured was an Ice Cream Sandwich device called the LG K. While we have no idea if this handset is one and the same as the U1, we wouldn’t be shocked if it was. If that is the case, then we can expect a 720p display on a 4.5 inch screen.
The U1 features a very thin profile with a 8 megapixel camera and LED flash. That’s about all we know about the handset, other than it will be shipping with Android Ice Cream Sandwich, of course. That said, we do find it a little odd that even though Android 4.0 no longer requires physical buttons, you can clearly see a centralized button, which is likely for home, as well as a back and what looks to a be a menu button. We guess LG doesn’t want to see the end of physical buttons, and that’s ok.
Don’t expect this handset to do battle with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus anytime soon, as it’s said that it won’t launch until sometime next year. Moreover, the Korean carrier owned by LG was recently renamed to U+, which could mean that the handset you see above won’t be landing anywhere else. Still, that doesn’t mean that we won’t see the handset in one form or another land on more shores in the future.
The handset’s design is very simple but still looks like a high-class piece of hardware that is very approachable. With many manufacturer’s adding humps here and there on super thin smartphones, the U1 may look to be a boring slab of a phone, but at least it’s a sexy slab. But who knows, the U1 could look quite different if/when it makes it to US shores.
[Via: GSMArena]