In a special press event earlier today in New York City, LG announced that the LTE-capable quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro is now officially coming to the United States in the form of the Optimus G. What they didn't announce was which carriers would get it, what modifications each carrier will make to the device (there will apparently be modifications). I reviewed the absolutely sick specs of this device earlier, and while each U.S. carrier will no doubt mold the device into its image, there's no reason to believe there will be any major changes (i.e. CPU downgrades or different display sizes as in the Galaxy S series). The Optimus G is expected to be available in Q4 of this year.

Verizon might have the best version of them all

According to PhoneArena (citing a "Verizon insider"), Verizon's version (allegedly called the Optimus Blaze) might have a 1.7GHz CPU clock speed compared to 1.5 for the other carriers and feature future-proof LTE+ (aka LTE Advanced) connectivity. Furthermore, the phone will possibly be available for preorder at the end of October and start shipping on November 16 for $300 subsidized. It supposedly will come in black, white, and special-edition brushed metal options.

Would it be worth the steep on-contract price if the rumors are true? I'll leave that up to you to decide, but you might want to first consider what advantages you would gain with LTE+ connectivity. Although Verizon has made no official announcement about this technology, it is supposedly upgrading its LTE network over the next year. In short, LTE Advanced is expected to provide better security, faster downloads (anywhere from 300 to 1200 Mbps peak speeds), faster uploads (anywhere from 50 to 600 Mbps peak), and better audio quality with Voice Over LTE. You can read more about LTE Advanced here and find a detailed white paper here (I gleaned the download and upload speeds from pages 11 and 12 of this white paper).

You can view an official hands-on video below: