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LG has been slow to hop on to the Android bandwagon but the company hopes to make up for lost time with the launch of two new phones and a tablet over the next few months.

The devices will be part of a new portfolio called Optimus and are LG’s idea of an “aggressive strategy” to grow market share in the global smartphone business.

The two Android-powered smartphones in the pipeline are called LG Optimus One and LG Optimus Chic. The phones will run Google’s latest version of Android, Android 2.2 or Froyo.

LG will also be introducing its first tablet device running Android later this year, says the company.

“LGs tablet will deliver vastly superior performance than other similar devices currently on the market while still managing to be thinner and lighter than competing devices,” the company said in a statement.

Since Google introduced Android in 2008 as an open source mobile operating system, LG’s rivals such as Motorola and HTC have bet big on the platform. So far, Motorola has launched at least 11 smartphones using Android and the company’s Motorola Droid is the most popular phone among Android users. Meanwhile, HTC has also used Android to churn out new smartphones that have put it at the top of the pack. Last week Samsung introduced its first 4G Android handset called the Samsung Epic on Sprints network.

LG says with new Android phone launches this year, it will catch up. So far, it has not offered any details about specs, pricing or availability for these devices.

Photo: LG Optimus Chic/LG

Source:wired.com

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Motorola’s Droid is the most popular phone among Android users, followed by HTC Hero, while Google’s Nexus One ranks tenth on the list, according to a monthly metrics report from mobile advertising firm AdMob. AdMob has ranked the top ten Android smartphones by market share.

The data is based on 12.7 million Android phones in the AdMob network in May. It’s also why the HTC Evo, released in the first week of June, is missing from the mix.

About 21 percent Android users have the Droid, while 16 percent users own the HTC Hero. Just 2 percent of Android phone users have Google’s Nexus One phone, says AdMob.

Motorola launched the Droid in November 2009 and made it available exclusively on Verizon Wireless. And despite the gaggle of Android phones launched every month, the Droid has been holding strong.

The only Android phone that could challenge the Droid’s position is the HTC Evo, which is available exclusively on Sprint. It will be interesting to see if the Evo can beat the Droid, though Sprint has a smaller marketing budget and fewer subscribers than Verizon.

Here’s a chart that shows the popularity of different Android smarpthones.

About 67 percent of Android users are in North America while China is the second largest market for Android with 13 percent of Android users coming from the country, says AdMob.

Combined HTC and Motorola have 83 percent share among Android devices. Since the Android OS debuted in 2008, the two companies have been on a roll, churning out phones faster than consumers can keep up with.

Last week, Motorola introduced its eleventh Android phone, the Droid X. It was also a big month for HTC, whose Evo phone is the first and only 4G device available currently.

Data: AdMob

Source:wired.com

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Eight months after Motorola debuted its first Droid phone, the company has refreshed the device to include a bigger screen, a focus on high-definition video and Flash compatibility.

Motorola’s new Droid X phone is the successor to its original Droid smartphone introduced last October. The $200 Droid X (after a $100 rebate and with a two-year contract) will run Google’s latest Android 2.2 Froyo operating system and will include Adobe Flash Player 10.1. DROID X customers will the 2.2 and Flash updates wirelessly over-the-air in the latter half of the summer.

“It is pretty spectacular,” John Stratton, chief marketing officer of Verizon told attendees at the device’s launch. “When you have a screen and form factor like this — very thin and lightweight — it screams video.”

The new Droid X will have a 4.3-inch touchscreen (854 x 480 pixels resolution) — about the same size as the HTC EVO 4G and much bigger physically than the 3.5-inch display on the iPhone 4, which is 960 x 640 pixels.

The phone includes a Texas Instruments OMAP processor with 1-GHz processing ability, 512 MB of RAM and 8 GB of internal memory that’s expandable to 40 GB using a storage card.

It also has a 8-megapixel camera, a step up from the 5-megapixel one in the earlier version. The camera can capture 720p video content and offers HD playback via HDMI. What’s missing is the dual camera that’s now a part of the iPhone and HTC Evo.

The Droid X announcement comes a day before the public debut of the iPhone 4, although Apple’s phone is already in the hands of some lucky customers as well as a few carefully chosen reviewers.

The Droid X will be the star in Motorola’s portfolio. So far Motorola has launched a number of Android phones, including the Cliq on T-Mobile, Backflip on AT&T and Devour on Verizon. But its first Droid phone remains a best-seller. Meanwhile, Apple is charging ahead with its latest iPhone, which is gathering generally positive reviews(though AT&T’s network has been criticized). Many Apple users have already started receiving their pre-ordered iPhone 4.

Droid X is Motorola’s 11th Android smartphone. The phone will start shipping July 15 and will be available exclusively on Verizon’s network.

See below for a larger image.

Top photo: Droid X
Stefan Armijo/Wired.com

Photo: Verizon

Source:wired.com

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