LG has been fleshing out its Android offerings of late and the latest handset off the production line is the LG Optimus Black.

Sporting a slick lightweight design and a bright, yet power efficient, NOVA screen, it will sit alongside the also-new LG Optimus 2X in LG's range.

The LG Optimus Black is a very interesting phone, with the large four-inch screen the first thing you notice – it sits in the hand pretty well, and it's phenomenally light when you pick it up.

It's almost too light, if that makes any sense, because it means that the feel is a little cheapened. At 109g, we're very impressed with the way LG has managed to cram so much into such a slender frame.

The phone itself looks a little bit unremarkable turned off, but this isn't just another phone release from LG; it's the necessary step to bring the Korean firm back towards the head of the smartphone game with a top-end device to sit alongside the Optimus 2X.

The four standard touch-sensitive Android buttons are out at the bottom of the phone once more, with LG's familiar 'pop-out window' style menu key on the left-hand side.

The general feel of the LG Optimus Black is one of sparse style, with the bottom of the phone only holding the battery cover removal slot.

Front-facing cameras are all the rage this year, and the LG Optimus Black has leapt to the head of the pack with a whopping two-megapixel effort – only the BlackBerry Playbook's three-megapixel offering can best that.

The main ports are all clustered at the top of the Optimus Black, with the micro-USB slot and 3.5mm headphone port next to the easy-to-reach power/lock button.

As you can see, there's no mini-HDMI jack here for porting content to a bigger screen – the super-bright NOVA display will have to do you for that.

Also note the extra hole at the top, which we assume is for noise cancelling.

The back of the phone is plastic and feels slightly rubberised, but it pretty devoid of anything bar the camera.

The HD recording ability of the device is evident, with 720p capture on offer. The 5MP camera is flanked by a single LED flash, but the overall effect is nice enough.