Starting with the LG Optimus G and the Nexus 4 last year, the Korean company has released some great devices over the past 12 months. Alex is currently reviewing the LG G2, and so far he loves it. The Optimus Vu II was not the big hit that LG’s more recent devices have been, but they are trying to turn things around with the Vu III.
The LG Vu III was first rumored back in July. We have seen some specs and basic information, but nothing concrete. We’re now hearing some more information from Korean site etnews.com about the Vu III and a possible release date. The smartphone could be announced later this month. We’re not necessarily excited about the Vu III, but maybe you are.
The reason that we are not super excited about the Vu III is because of the weird 4:3 aspect ratio. The Vu II had the same display set up. The Vu III has a 5.2 inch screen, like the LG G2, but with a display resolution of 1280 x 960. The device itself is squat, almost square. I can tell you from testing the Vu II that it did not feel good in my hand. From the leaked images we’ve seen of the Vu III, it’s going to provide a similar experience. Otherwise, the Vu III will have decent specs. The rumored Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC is top of the line, and it should pack at least 2 GB of RAM.
We just aren’t sure how many people are going to be interested in picking up an Vu III. LG obviously feels differently; they are moving forward with releasing the thing. LG could be announcing the Vu III by the end of this month and launching it in October. They reportedly want it to compete with the Galaxy Note III. The LG Optimus Vu II was carried by Verizon here in the U.S. as the LG Intuition. It looks like the Vu III will be launched in Korea initially, with a global release still unconfirmed. There are 3 model numbers – the F300k, F300l and F300s, which should be for KT Telecom, LGU+ Telecom and SK Telecom, respectively. We could see a U.S. launch shortly after that, if you’re interested.