Mobile World Congress doesn't start for another week, but LG has jumped the gun and lifted the curtain on the Optimus Vu.
Much as we expected from the teaser trailer a couple of weeks ago, it's got a 5-inch screen, so it sits halfway between a phone and a tablet. That's Samsung Galaxy Note territory. But I'm sure there's room for more than one mega phone in the mobile world.
The LCD features IPS (in-plane switching), so it should have a nice wide viewing angle too. That's fitting, considering how wide the actual device is. It's got a resolution of 1,024x768 pixels too, making images nice and sharp. The 4:3 contrast ratio is a prefect fit for the hand, according to LG anyway.
The Vu runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread, though an update is promised within three months after launch. This is from the Korean press release, so we might have to wait for Mobile World Congress to find out UK-specific details.
There's an 8-megapixel camera on the back, with an LED flash and a 1.3-megapixel front-facer. Memory is 32GB, and a 1.5GHz dual-core processor powers things, giving it a little more grunt than the Galaxy Note. Though it's not a patch on the quad-core handsets we've been hearing about lately.
The Note is an acquired taste, so I'm a little surprised LG has followed Samsung down the massive phone/tiny tablet path. I just thought Samsung was throwing tablets of all sizes at a wall and seeing what stuck. Battery life might be an issue, and those quad-core phones may make it look a little sluggish too. But if you don't want a separate phone and tablet, this could fill the medium-sized hole in your gadget collection.
Would you buy one? Let me know in the comments below, or over on Facebook.
Android App 
RSS Feeds 
iPhone App 
Newsletters 
Comments 3
Add your comment
yadan 20 February, 2012 22:48
Very interesting. I was fairly sure I would buy a Note when my present Xperia Arc contract expires, but the LG is definitely worth a good look.
anonymous 25 February, 2012 13:17
I was looking at getting the note but may wait for LG it looks good,nice size screen for me...
anonymous 22 July, 2012 07:09
This is, I think, the perfect size for me. I've only used Motorola: the original Droid & currently the DroidX. I worry that I'd miss the durability that I associate with Moto. I'm sticking with Verizon (stuck) and they have nothing between 4.8 & 7.7". I'd consider getting a tablet with a data plan & using Google Voice. Any suggestions on that would be welcome.