The LG Optimus G Pro, LG's premier "phablet" finally hit AT&T on Friday, sharing the home of its rival, the Galaxy Note 2. While the phablet category of communication devices has been growing, it's still in its infancy.
That said, should Samsung worry about its latest phablet competitor? Well, that all depends on whether you like to use a stylus or not.
PCmag.com loves the LG's quasi-phablet, saying while the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 treads carefully between tablet and phone, the Optimus G Pro sits squarely on the side of being a really large phone. That's largely thanks to the Optimus G's smaller width, measuring in at 76 millimeters, allowing it to be operated with one hand.
The Optimus G Pro also features a 5.5-inch LCD IPS display with a 1,9200 x 1,080 resolution. The screen boasts an impressive density of 401 pixels-per-inch, making it one of the sharper displays out on the market. Its 13 megapixel camera has one of the higher megapixel counts for mobile devices, but, as PCmag notes, a high megapixel count doesn't necessarily translate to better image quality. Sascha Segan, reviewing the device for PCmag.com, was disappointed with the camera's blurriness when zooming in on images.
The phablet contains a 1.7GHz quad core Snapdragon processor, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, which is upgradable to 64GB with an SD card. By contrast, the Galaxy Note 2 contains a 1.6GHz quad core Samsung Exynos 4412 processor, 2GB of RAM and ranges from 16GB to 64GB internal memory.
The Optimus G Pro runs the same Android operating system, Android 4.1.2, as its Galaxy Note 2 brethren. But phablet features some unique software, such as dual recording, which records video from both cameras, creating a picture-in-picture video.
Fans of the Galaxy Note 2 shouldn't fear the LG Optimus G Pro, however. The Optimus G Pro notably lacks a stylus, a popular feature of Samsung's Galaxy Note series, shifting LG's phablet more towards the smartphone category and putting it in the territory of the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4.
Though it hasn't been announced, Samsung is likely working on the successor to the Galaxy Note 2, and, according to Gizmag, will likely be launched sometime towards the end of 2013.
The LG Optimus Pro is priced at $199 with a two-year contract and retails for $550 contract-free.
