LG F180 flagship phone surfaces, quad-core S4, 13MP cam and LTE onboard

Just yesterday, we talked about a mystery phone being developed by LG which was rumored to have a 10MP camera and quad-core CPU onboard. Today, we have another leak, thanks to AndroidAuthority that talks about LG’s next possible flagship offering codenamed F-180. It’s difficult to say whether yesterday’s leak and today’s point to the same device but at least with the F-180, we have details about some of its possible specifications as well. The F-180 should be powered by a Qualcomm APQ8064 SoC, which is their quad-core Krait offering with Adreno 320 GPU onboard. The phone is also said to have 2GB of RAM, which seems to be soon becoming the defacto standard amongst high-end phones. The F-180 will also have LTE capabilities, which is good news for markets like the US. As for the display, we hear that the F-180 will sport a massive 5-inch HD display so we are looking at a Galaxy Note competitor here.

LG planning a fleet of new phones

While quad-core CPUs in phones is great to have, it does take a toll on battery life. Luckily for LG, the 5-inch screen will allow them to fit in a much larger battery pack and the fact that the S4 is built on the more efficient 28nm fabrication process, we could expect above average battery life from the F-180. Android 4.0 is a given and will most likely come with LG skin on top. The design is said to be inspired by the Optimus L series and will have NFC onboard as well. Finally, the camera is said to be a 13MP sensor, which makes it a serious competitor to the upcoming Sony Xperia LT30, which also sports the same megapixel count.  It’s not just phones however; the LG is also working on their own branded chipsets, dubbed L9. This is said to feature a quad-core ARM CPU based on either the Cortex-A9 or Cortex A-15 architecture. The L9 is rumoured to power a new high-end phone sometime in September so it seems like LG is going to be very busy shuffling the launch of multiple smartphones in Q3.

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LG desperately need a winner of a handset if they are going to make any impact in the mobile segment today. They had a fair bit of success when they launched one of the first dual-core phones, the Optimus 2X, with Tegra 2 at a very competitive price but since then, it’s only been downhill from there. They just don’t seem to have any memorable phone off late and even their new Optimus 3D Max wasn’t quite exciting. If they have to increase their market share and take on Sony and Huawei, they need a solid product. Let’s hope the F180 performs every bit as good as it looks on paper.