LG Optimus Black hands-on

LG's new Optimus Black handset is "the world's slimmest mobile device", says the maker, measuring in at just 9.2mm thick. We've managed to get a closer look at the new gadget on LG's stand at CES.

The Android 2.2 handset certainly is slim and also feels extremely light in the hand - certainly lighter than most of its smartphone competitors. LG's Android-based Optimus UI 2.0 feels extremely familiar and therefore very intuitive to navigate, but it's the screen that really stands out. The 4-inch NOVA display is eye-poppingly bright (measuring 700nits, apparently) making it even more surprising that it uses just 50 per cent of the power needed for a standard LCD display, according to LG.

The back-mounted 5-megapixel camera looks reasonable enough, although certainly not the best snapper that we've seen on a phone. Having said that, so far we've only been able to try it out twice in artificial lighting conditions, rather than outside.