Today we feel like proud parents as the Optimus family welcome a new member today. The LG Optimus 2X is a brand new Android smartphone and boasts the claim of being the world’s first smartphone with a dual-core processor.

The NVIDIA ® developed dual-core Tegra 2 processor offers a run speed of 1GHz and will ensure faster, smoother web browsing and applications and even lets users multitask with virtually no lag. The Tegra 2 also offers low power consumption and high performance for playing video and audio as well as smoother gameplay compared with single-core processors running at the same speed.

As is that wasn’t enough the LG Optimus 2X also offers 1080p HD video playback and recording with full HDMI mirroring that expands content on external displays to full HD quality. Also taking from its Windows Phone 7 cousin – the LG Optimus 7 – the Optimus 2X will be equipped to wirelessly connect with DLNA compatible devices such as HD TVS for a console like gaming experience taking full advantage of the handsets built in accelerometer, gyro sensor and HDMI mirroring. The smartphone also includes both rear and front-facing cameras, microSD memory expandability, Micro-USB port and a 1500mAh battery.

The Optimus 2X will be available in Korea from next month, with countries in Europe and Asia to follow. Initially the phone will be released with Android 2.2 (Froyo) and will be upgradeable to Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) at a later date.

Key specifications:

• 1Ghz Dual-core Processor (NVIDIA Tegra 2)
• 4-inch WVGA screen
• 8GB memory (up to 32GB via microSD)
• 1,500 mAh battery
• 8 megapixel rear camera and 1.3 megapixel front camera
• HDMI mirroring
• 1080p MPEG-4/H.264 playback and recording

UPDATE, 7 January, 2011: Here’s a video of Paul Trueman, Marketing Director, LG UK, discussing the key features of the Optimus 2X handset from CES 2011