LG’s Optimus Vu comes to Verizon as the LG Intuition, out this week for $199

As expected, Verizon has announced that it will be releasing LG’s tablet/smartphone hybrid the Optimus Vu this week, but under the new name of the LG Intuition.

The Optimus Vu has been around since the beginning of the year, but only in LG’s home country of Korea, making its international release a subject for discussion. Last week, in an interview with CNet UK, an LG spokesperson said the phone wouldn’t be released in the UK in 2012, which went against previous statements indicating it would make an appearance.

Verizon though, has managed to snare LG’s big-screen handset, and better still, it comes with a few tweaks to bring it more up-to-date.

Primarily, this concerns the operating system, as the Korean Vu went on sale with Android 2.3 Gingerbread onboard, but that wouldn’t do today, so sensibly the Intuition will come with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich installed. No, it’s not Jelly Bean, but it’s more preferable than Gingerbread.

The LG Intuition will also connect to Verizon’s 4G LTE network, which is excellent news, but this does mean that rumors of a quad-core processor upgrade aren’t true of this variant, as it has a 1.5Ghz, dual-core Snapdragon processor.

LG went in a different direction to its competitors with the Intuition’s screen, choosing an unusual 4:3 aspect ratio for the 5-inch, 1280 x 720 pixel resolution LCD panel. It also has an impressive 294 pixels-per-inch density, making it suitably sharp.

Other features include an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 1.3-megapixel forward-facing video-call lens, plus 32GB of internal memory, 1GB of RAM, NFC, Bluetooth 3.0, DLNA and just like its closest rival, the Galaxy Note 2, a stylus for writing notes on the screen.

LG Intuition, or the Galaxy Note 2?

We say “closest rival,” but it’s difficult to see who would choose the Intuition over the Galaxy Note 2, at least judging by the on-paper specs. Samsung’s new phablet, revealed during the IFA 2012 show, has Android 4.1, a quad-core chip and a 16:9, high definition, 5.5-inch Super AMOLED screen.

Verizon’s Intuition wins through in two areas though, as it’s ready to go on sale on September 6 for a competitive $199, and the Galaxy Note 2 is still coming soon, with no price attached. If the Note 2 is to gain 4G LTE connectivity on release, that quad-core chip will most likely become a dual-core Snapdragon too, just like the Galaxy S3.

According to the press release, online orders will begin on September 6, and the Intuition will hit Verizon stores on September 10. If you’re planning to buy the Intuition, then try to grab it online, as it’ll come with a free LG Tone Stereo Bluetooth headset. In the meantime, you can read our hands-on with the Optimus Vu here.