The PR machine of Korean smartphone manufacturer LG hasn’t been one of the most reliable these past couple of weeks. First, the manufacturer announced that it will roll out the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update to the LG Optimus Black. However, LG Canada had something else to say about the matter when it confirmed that the handset will no longer get a tasty treat of Ice Cream Sandwich. And it did not help one bit that LG is seen as a manufacturer that is very “untimely” when it came to releasing updates for the handsets in its stable. Despite all the mess, no solid word was heard from LG as of yet.
However, we were able to spot several retail boxes of the LG Optimus Black that has stickers that say “Upgradeable to Android 4.0 Ice cream Sandwich.” Could this be the confirmation that we are waiting for regarding the ICS update for the LG Optimus Black? Is this LG’s way of making it known that the handset will after all get cranked up to Ice Cream Sandwich? As of the moment, we’re not sure but the more optimistic among our smartphone-crazed brethren claim that this comes directly from LG and ICS will sooner or later land on the device.
The more cautious among us however are quick to take a step back to ensure that we get a clearer view of the picture here. The non-believers though claim that these units were released by the manufacturer even before it decided that the LG Optimus Black will no longer get the ICS update and just left the stickers on the retail packages of the handset. Others however claim that this might be the handiwork of some retailers who are aiming to get rid of their remaining inventory of the handsets.
Whatever the case may be, we hope that LG will come out in the open to clear things up. This way, users of the LG Optimus Black who are waiting for the ICS update to land on their respective devices will have an idea whether they should continue expecting the update or if they are just waiting in vain.
As for the LG Optimus Black, the handset was announced back in January of last year but only managed to make its debut in the shelves in May of the same year. It shipped with Froyo for its operating system but got upgraded to Android 2.3 and since then has been stuck in the Gingerbread generation. It has a Texas Instruments OMAP3630 chipset under the hood and comes with a 1 GHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor and 512 MB of RAM. The storage space onboard the LG Optimus Black is just a measly 2GB but there is an option for memory expansion here. Its display on the other hand is a 4.0-inch IPS LCD panel with a 480 x 800 resolution while its dual-shooter configuration include a rear 5MP shooter and a front 2MP snapper.
