By Patrick Avenell

SYDNEY, NSW: One week after the celebrated launches of the HTC Desire S and Wildfire S, and the Samsung Galaxy S II, LG has very quietly announced the availability of the its Optimus Black handset.

Running of Android 2.2 (Froyo), with an upgrade to 2.3 (Gingerbread) due sometime in the uncertain future, the Optimus Black has apparently attracted 2 million pre-orders worldwide since its unveiling at CES in January 2011.

In Australia, the handset will be available for RRP $599 this month (no exact release date is given) from Optus, Vodafone and retailers. Telstra will begin selling the device in “early July”.

If Apple was upset with Samsung for supposedly ripping off their mobile devices, the Californian’s ire will surely be raised again, with this handset looking more like an iPhone than any other device espied by Current.com.au.

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Its shiny black bezel surrounds a 4-inch Novo LCD display, with hidden speaker and microphone adding to the sleek and smooth aesthetic ideal LG is aspiring to.

Very few specifications were included in this morning’s release (the only one was that the front facing camera is 2MP), so we’re using LG’s UK website to provide details.

In addition to the front camera, there’s also a 5MP rear camera, Wi-Fi, Micro USB, 2GB internal memory (expandable to 32GB via MicroSD) and DLNA.

The new LG Optimus Black will be out this month through Optus and Vodafone.