LG’s sleek and slender Optimus Black may not pack the same dual core punch of the latest superphones on the market, but it was never meant to compete with those beasts. No, the LG Optimus Black is all about thin, 9.2 mm thin to be exact, and about screen quality. The 4 inch “Nova” display on the Black is toted as one of the brightest panels to ever grace a mobile phone and it can even outshine the 4.3 inch panel found in the Samsung Galaxy S II. The question on everyone’s mind since this device was announced back in February at Mobile World Congress is when would it come to America? LG has historically released mid to low end devices in the states, and their 3.2 inch Optimus One has been a huge success here, but more recently we’ve seen the LG Revolution, one of the first Verizon 4G LTE enabled smartphones, and the T-Mobile G2x. We’re happy to say that according to a recent FCC filing the Optimus Black is not only coming to America, but that it’ll be avilable on Sprint, Virgin, and Alltel too. Why CDMA and not GSM? We’re not exactly sure, but we do hope that changes at some point in the future.
Now should you buy it? Well, that’s a tough question. LG’s not exactly known for stable software, their T-Mobile G2x is riddled with problems, and the Samsung Galaxy S II is even thinner, so if you’re the type who likes anorexic phones then there are better choices out there. It all depends on how cheap this thing is going to be on contract, but we encourage you to wait to see what the next iPhone or Nexus has to offer later this year. If you need a new phone today, as in right now, and it has to be Android, then we say pick up the Samsung Nexus S for T-Mobile.