LG has outed its Mobile World Congress device ahead of the conference. The company announced the LG G Pro 2, its Galaxy Note 3 fighter, with a 5.9-inch 1080p display—slightly bigger than the paltry 5.7-inch display offered by Samsung's phablet.
LG is bringing the best design feature from its recent phones to the G Pro 2, an industry-leading screen-to-bezel ratio, which LG lists as 77.2 percent. In the "gigantic phone" space, anything that can make the device a little smaller is a big deal.
Still, LG's tiny bezels aren't magic, and this device, at 157.9 x 81.9 x 8.3 mm, is even bigger than the Note 3, which measures 151.2 x 79.2 x 8.3 mm. The G Pro 2's SoC is a now-standard-issue 2.26GHz Snapdragon 800 with an Adreno 330 GPU. LG has packed 3GB of RAM into the G Pro 2 and, like the Note 3, the device has a removable 3200 mAh battery. An optically stabilized 13MP camera can shoot 4K video and has a slow-mo 120 FPS HD video mode. The device ships with KitKat and has a "Flash for Selfie" camera mode, which turns most of the display white, providing a few extra photons to assist the front-facing camera.
Key Specifications:
- Chipset: Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 800 (2.26GHz Quad-Core)
- GPU: Qualcomm Technologies’ Adreno™ 330
- Display: 5.9-inch Full HD IPS (1920 x 1080), Slim Bezel
- Memory: 3GB DDR3 RAM / 16GB/32GB eMMC ROM / microSD slot
- Camera: Rear 13.0MP OIS+ / Front 2.1MP
- Battery: 3200 mAh (removable)
- Operating System: Android 4.4 KitKat
- Size: 157.9 x 81.9 x 8.3 mm
- Weight: 172 g
- Network: LTE / HSPA+
- Connectivity: Bluetooth Smart Ready (BT 4.0) / USB / Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac) / NFC / SlimPort
- Colors: Titan, White, Silver
- Other: Knock Code™, 1W Hi-Fi Sound, Content Lock
KnockOn, LG's tap-to-wake feature, is back, which is great news since it will let you mostly ignore LG's awkward rear power button. KnockOn now features a security unlock mode called "KnockCode." LG says that you can unlock the screen using 86,367 tap combinations—presumably this works a little like morse code. LG hasn't mentioned a price, carrier availability, or US launch date, but the device should be on display at Mobile World Congress, where we'll be sure to get our hands on it.