LG Electronics officially announced its new phablet - LG Optimus G Pro.

LG introduced the newest addition to the G family in Seoul, Korea. The new smartphone that features a 5.5-inch display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, a 1.7GHz quad core Snapdragon processor, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, a 3,140mAh battery and Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean.

Other key features of the device include the Dual Recording functionality that "allows users to capture video with both the front and rear cameras simultaneously for a unique picture-in-picture experience," and the Virtual Reality Panorama camera feature that "allows shots of entire horizontal and vertical environments for a full 360o view."

The Optimus G Pro is among the first of several phablets that are likely to come out in 2013. LG says that the Pro will be available in Korea starting this week but hasn't yet indicated when it will launch in other countries in the second quarter of this year.

The new phablet will battle against Samsung's own smartphone-tablet hybrid product line - Galaxy Note series.

The latest Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is powered by a 1.6GHz Exynos 4412 quad-core processor and has a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display with resolution of 1280 x 720 and 267ppi. It also has 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD to 64GB), an 8-megapixel rear camera with 1080p video capture and 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera.

It runs on the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system, has LTE connectivity, supports NFC, has a 3100 mAh battery and users also have the advantage of the S Pen stylus.

Below is the comparison of the two devices in terms of some of their specs and features.

Screen Display - The LG Optimus G Pro features 5.5-inch full HD IPS display with capacitive touchscreen and 16M colors. At a pixel density of 400 ppi with 1080 x 1920 resolutions, the Optimus G Pro's display is considerably sharper than 720p screens. Samsung Galaxy Note 2, on the other hand, also features a 5.5 inch screen with 720 x 1280 pixels at 267 ppi

Processor - LG Optimus G Pro is powered by 1.7 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor under the hood; while Samsung Galaxy Note 2 comes with Exynos 4412 quad-core Cortex-A9 processor clocked at 1.6 GHz. Both devices comes with 2GB RAM.

Operating System - Samsung Galaxy Note 2 comes with Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean out-of-the-box, which can be upgraded to version 4.1.2. On the other hand, the LG Optimus G Pro runs on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean.

Internal Storage - LG Optimus G Pro is equipped with 32GB internal storage. Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has 16GB, 32GB and 64GB variants with expandable storage up to 64GB via microSD slot.

Camera - The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 sports an 8-megapixel autofocus rear camera with LED flash and a 1.9 megapixel front-facing camera. The LG Optimus G Pro seems to have an upper hand in this regard with a 13-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash and 2.1 megapixel front-facing camera.

Battery - The Galaxy Note 2 has Li-ion 3100mAh standard battery compared to LG Optimus G Pro's removable Li-Po 3140mAh battery.

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is available through various Australian carriers and resellers. However, the carriers that will offer the LG Optimus G Pro are still unknown.