LG has unveiled its Optimus Vu, ending Samsung’s monopoly on a smartphone tablet hybrid in the Galaxy Note. Like with the Note, the Vu’s large 5" (768 x 1024) stylus-and-finger-friendly display is suppose to provide a middle ground between the 4" smartphone and the 7" tablet. The Vu offers a little less screen real estate, when compared to the Note’s 5.3" (800 x 1280 pixels) touchscreen.

This display features a bright 4:3 aspect ratio that according to LG makes viewing documents, books, webpages and multimedia contents easier on the eyes, whist the screen has also been optimised to allow for the best viewing experience even under bright sunlight.

At only 8.5 mm, the Vu is as thin as a Galaxy SII smartphone and thinner than the Galaxy Note (9.7 mm), and according to LG, the Optimus Vu is the slimmest LTE phone currently available. It is powered by a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor (compared to the Note’s dual-core 1.4 GHz ARM Cortex-A9 CPU), and also sports 32 GB of internal memory, eight megapixel rear-facing camera and 1.3 MP front-facing snapper, as well as a large 2080 mAh battery.

On the connectivity front the Optimus Vu offers LG’s advanced LTE (4G) technology, HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) input and DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) technology. LG’s Optimus Vu sports a built-in QuickClip hotkey, which allows users to capture screenshots as well as memos with a single push. Jotting notes is also possible by either using one’s finger or the dedicated Rubberdium pen (accompanying stylus). Among the productivity apps installed on the Optimus Vu, is Polaris Office that enables users to open and edit documents, spreadsheets or presentations whilst on the go.

As is the case with the Galaxy Note which runs on Android Gingerbread 2.3.5, the Optimus Vu will initially launch with Android Gingerbread handling the operating, but LG did state that this device is upgradable to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and that an update to ICS is already in the works.

The company stated that its Optimus Vu will be introduced in the Korean market during March and will also be on display at the LG Stand (Hall 8) at MWC 2012, which is taking place between 27 February and 1 March in Barcelona, Spain. No local release info is available yet.

“The Optimus Vu: was designed to maximize what customers could do with a smartphone,” said Dr. Jong-seok Park, president and CEO of LG Mobile Communications Company. “By offering an optimal 4:3 ratio viewing experience, 5" display combined with superfast LTE technology, Optimus Vu: is just one example of what we can achieve when we combine our best technology with customer needs.”

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