With the big, beautiful Samsung Galaxy Note taking off in such an unexpected manner, it was only a matter of time before others followed suit to produce their own oversized handsets. The first to attempt the feat is LG, who showed off the Optimus Vu in a sneak preview event before the start of Mobile Word Congress in Barcelona.
The Vu is possibly the most unusual smartphone we’ve yet seen. On paper, its 5in screen isn’t quite as big as the Note’s 5.3in display, but the Vu does things differently. Instead of the smartphone standard 16:9 aspect ratio, the Vu’s screen is 4:3 – just like a tiny iPad. The resolution is an impressive 1,024 x 768, and behind the scenes is a dual-core 1.5GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.The reason the Vu looks so massive is that it's much wider than most mobiles. This 5-inch display has an unusual 4:3 aspect ratio, meaning it's really broad.
LG reckons that aspect ratio will mean the Vu is better for reading ebooks and browsing the web. I'm tempted to agree -- the wider screen would likely make cruising around websites a pleasant experience. But there's a compromise to be made.
Because it's very wide, the Vu is tough to wrap your mitts around, and at 90.4mm wide, it's so broad that I think you'll really struggle to squeeze it into your pockets, even though it's astonishingly slim at just 8.5mm deep.
At the rear of the device, an eight-megapixel camera with autofocus and LED-based flash captures both still and video images, while a 1.3-megapixel camera is included on the front for video chat functionality.
Sadly, LG has confirmed that the otherwise cutting-edge handset - which will, in selected countries, include Long Term Evolution (LTE) 4G capabilities - will ship with the outdated Android 2.3 'Gingerbread' operating system. Shortly after launch, LG promises, this will be upgraded to Google's latest Android 4.0 'Ice Cream Sandwich.'
LG has yet to confirm pricing and UK availability for the Optimus Vu, with more details expected when the device is formally launched at the Mobile World Congress event next month.
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