LG Optimus L4II has three SIM slots, TV tuner

LG and Mediatek are keen to offer something above a dual-SIM phone, namely a triple-SIM smartphone, dubbed the LG Optimus L4II. According to PConline, which outed the story and Brazilian online store Webfones which has actually listed the L4II for roughly US$200 (R2 000) , this entry-level smartphone has some decent specs for what looks to be one of the world’s first tri-SIM devices.

First thing’s first, what would anyone need a triple-SIM phone for? For one thing, roaming the boarders and swapping networks in countries such as China would now be a breeze. Also, it would be easier to swap between business and home SIM-cards. Heck, one of the SIM-slots could be dedicated to 3G traffic only, effectively turning the phone into a mobile router at the touch of a button. Judging by the last button on the bottom of the L4II (next to the “menu” key), there’s a quick SIM-swap button. Handy that.

There’s not a flood of specs for the phone, but Webfones does list some specs on its site. So what we do know about the phone is that it’s obviously a 3G phone, and has a 3.8-inch display. There’s also a 3-megapixel camera, but the site doesn’t state if this is on the back or the front. We’re guessing at this price that it’s on the back, and the front is a 1.2-megapixel camera.

As for the battery, it’s a very capable 2150mAh cell which translates to more than a day of heavy use. The 1Ghz CPU and 512MB RAM are also above-average internals for a phone of this price, and ilk. We believe though that the 4GB internal memory (expandable via the microSD card slot) would potentially slow the phone down if it was crammed with content. We’ve seen it before in the past with these cheaper Android devices, such as the Galaxy S III Mini.

It’s a TV too

There are some interesting titbits if we look at the stock images listing the L4II (or “LG Optimus E470 L4 II Tri” according to the dodgy Google translations), there’s a TV antenna and the word “TV” printed on the device. It’s not hard to guess then that this Android smartphone has a built-in TV tuner, but that alone will likely keep it out of the hands of most US and European markets, as smartphones that double up as TVs are few and far between.

Finally, the L4II has Android 4.1, or Jelly Bean. With the phone on sale, it may be worth an import, but we’ll have to wait for a review unit before we can make that costly decision.