5.5-inch LG Optimus G Pro officially launched, will hit North America in Q2

LG has finally, officially unveiled the beefed-up Optimus G Pro device and confirmed a North American launch for the second quarter of 2013.

The South Korean company's latest challenger to the Samsung Galaxy Note range will arrive packing a whopping 5.5-inch screen, compared with the 4.7-inch display on the original Optimus G phablet.

That full HD IPS display brings a resolution of 1920x1080p and a sharp, Retina Display-topping pixel density of 440 ppi.

Beyond a luscious display, the Optimus G Pro has been fitted with an 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor (upgraded from the initially announced S4), 2GB of RAM and an ample 32GB of internal storage.

Check out our hands-on video with the G Pro below:

Dual video recording and VR panoramas

The device aims to take on Samsung's market-leading Note 2 with a neat dual recording mode, which allows it to simultaneously capture video from the 1080p rear camera and the front-facing webcam.

The camera will also take 360 degree Virtual Reality panoramas, similar to Google's Photo Sphere and regular 13.1-megapixel still shots.

Naturally, 4G LTE connectivity is on board, alongside the Android Jelly Bean OS and a large 3,140mAh battery in order to keep that juice-sapping HD video playing a little longer.

LG has confirmed that the device will be appearing at the Mobile World Congress expo in Barcelona next week and will roll out in Japan and North America sometime between April and June.

However, don't expect a launch in the UK or the rest of Europe. The first Optimus G did not make it to the old world and LG mentioned nothing of a European launch in its official communications on Monday.

Via PC Mag