LG Electronics announced on Monday, Feb. 18, that its new LG Optimus G Pro smartphone will reach North America in the second quarter.

After teasing the device, LG now offers full details on its Optimus G Pro Android smartphone. The high-end handset sports a 5.5-inch screen, LTE networking and a powerful quad-core 1.7GHz processor under the hood.

In typical LG fashion, the LG Optimus G Pro will launch at first in the company's home market of South Korea this week. The smartphone will reach other markets, including North America and Japan, in the second quarter of 2013.

LG's announcement (Korean) comes just days ahead of the Mobile World Congress show, where the South Korean company will show off the handset. LG also announced three lower-end L-series Android handsets: the Optimus L7 II, L5 II and L3 II.

The highly-anticipated LG Optimus G Pro comes as a large-display model close to a "phablet," as Android smartphone makers such as Samsung, HTC and others have moved to bigger screens in an effort to differentiate their products from the smaller-screen iPhone.

The LG Optimus G Pro boasts a 5.5-inch, 1,920 x 1,080-pixel AMOLED screen, packing a linear resolution of 400 pixels per inch (ppi). The smartphone also sports a relatively large 3,140mAh battery, which means users will be able to watch Full HD video "for hours on end," according to LG.

The Optimus Pro also packs the quad-core 1.7GHz Snapdragon 600 processor, backed by 2GB of RAM. Other specs and features include a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera with LED flash and a 2.1-megapixel front-facing shooter for video calls. Meanwhile, VR Panorama is a new feature designed to create 360-degree panoramas out of a range of vertical and horizontal views surrounding the person holding the phone.

LG added another intriguing functionality: both cameras on the LG Optimus G Pro can work in a dual-recording mode. This means that users can capture footage with both cameras at the same time, obtaining a "unique picture-in-picture experience," boasted LG.

Other features include LTE, HSPA+ and EVDO inside, Wi-Fi and WiFi Direct Support, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, HDMI SlimPort output, USB 2.0 Host, and a micro SD card slot for up to 64GB of additional memory to expand the 32GB of onboard storage. The smartphone will be available in "Indigo Black" and "Luna Black" color options.

The LG Optimus G Pro hits Korea on Wednesday, Feb. 20, and North America, Japan and other parts of the world in the second quarter.