LG debuts quad-core Optimus 4X HD

South Korean electronics manufacturer LG has announced the Optimus 4X HD, a quad-core Android-powered smartphone, ahead of Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona at the end of February.

The company unveiled the device on Thursday, promising "PC-like performance" from the smartphone.

"LG introduced the world's first dual-core smartphone exactly one year ago and today we're announcing the next milestone," Jong-seok Park, chief executive of LG's mobile business, said in a statement.

The phone uses an Nvidia Tegra 3 1.5GHz quad-core processor, which also includes a 12-core GPU for a "console-quality" gaming experience. In addition to the four cores, the processor also has a low-power fifth core to save battery life for tasks such as background synching or music playback.

In addition to the high-spec processor, the Optimus 4X HD  has a 4.7-inch HD IPS display, 8-megapixel camera, and 16GB of onboard storage.

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime also uses the Nvidia Tegra 3 processor.

The device will run the Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android, which aims to unify the different forks of the OS by running equally well on tablets and smartphones. Previously, the 2.x builds of Android had been used on phones and the 3.x versions had been aimed at tablet devices. In addition to unifying the different builds of Android, it brings a redesign and a range of new features.

The Optimus 4X HD is 8.9mm thick, the same as the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

Get the latest technology news and analysis, blogs and reviews delivered directly to your inbox with ZDNet UK's newsletters.