Samsung Galaxy Note 2 vs. LG Optimus Vu: Battle of the Korean Phablets

By Anu Passary | Aug 21, 2012 12:49 PM EDT

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Recent reports indicated that Android phones have been stealing iOS's thunder. The trend seems to be given a boost with Samsung's Galaxy Note 2 and LG's Optimus Vu releases in the anvil.

According to reports, LG will release its 5-inch Optimus Vu internationally in September end. The smartphone made its debut in Korea in March this year and has sold nearly 500,000 units. Samsung, on the other hand, is expected to unveil its Galaxy Note 2 on Aug. 29 at the IFA 2012 event in Berlin.

In the battle of the 5-inch Android-powered phablets, check out how the two devices stack up against each other.

Display

Bigger is better seems to be the order of the day for both Samsung and LG. The Galaxy Note 2 is rumored to sport a 5.5-inch flexible AMOLED screen with 1280 x 720 resolution, which betters the original Note's 5.3-inch display size. By contrast, even at 5 inches the Optimus Vu's display is marginally smaller than the Galaxy Note 2's. However, the phablet is nearly 0.2 inches wider than the Samsung offering, owing to its 4:3 display aspect ratio (1024 x 768 pixels), which is similar to that of Apple's iPad.

Stylus

Like the Note 2's S-Pen, LG's Optimus Vu includes a stylus for digital note taking. However, unlike the Note 2 (whose S-Pen slides neatly into the phone itself), the LG stylus does not fit into the smartphone, which means that users would need to carry it separately. Not an ideal scenario as it could lead to users potentially misplacing or losing the stylus.

Processor and OS

The international version of Optimus Vu sees a few changes from the Korean edition. Nvidia's Tegra 3 quad-core processor along with HSPA+ network support replaces the 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and LTE network support in the original.

The Galaxy Note 2 is likely to use the same quad-core Exynos processor as the Galaxy S3, but is expected to clock at 1.6GHz. Optimus Vu's fast "4-PLUS-1^TM Quad-Core with the fifth battery-saver core" is no slouch either and "offers a superb balance of performance and power requirements." Usually, four cores are used for gaming and multitasking, making the Optimus Vu a high performance smartphone.

Optimus Vu will run the Android 4.0 ICS. On the other hand, Galaxy Note 2 is expected to sport the latest Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

Memory and Storage

Note 2 is expected to pack 2GB of RAM as opposed to Optimus Vu's 1GB and will be available in the 16/32/64GB versions compared to LG's 32GB on-board memory offering. Additionally, the Note 2 will have a microSD card slot, which would increase the expandable memory by an additional 64GB.

Camera

Optimus Vu will sport an 8-megapixel rear-facing and 1.3 megapixel front-facing cameras, whereas the Note 2 is expected to have a 13-megapixel camera.

Pricing and Release

Pricing and exact dates of availability for both Android-powered smartphones have not been announced as yet.