If recent leaks and rumors are anything to go by, it certainly looks like LG has joined forces with Verizon Wireless in order to develop and launch a brand new, affordable, super-sized smartphone — entitled the LG G Vista. The handset is expected to be announced tomorrow, July 31, and should retail for $499 off-contract, or $99 on any of Big Red’s 2-year tariffs.

As the G Vista is intended to be a budget-friendly phablet, it won’t be looking to compete with Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Note 4, but it could prove to be a contender to the South Korean company’s more affordable smartphones, such as the Galaxy Mega 5.8, which is in the same price range.

The G Vista is said to feature a colossal 5.7-inch screen with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels, a speedy Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor powered by four 1.2GHz cores, 1.5GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage (expandable up to 64GB via microSD), an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera complete with OIS and laser autofocus, a 2.1-megapixel front-facing shooter, 4G LTE support and, finally, a massive 3,200 mAh removable battery.

According to the image above, the handset is set to ship running the latest build of Android 4.4.2 KitKat skinned with LG’s ‘G’ custom user interface, which means users will have access to the full suite of standard Google apps, including Gmail, Google Play Store, Maps and YouTube, together with some of the Korean firms exclusive software features, including Knock Code, Smart Notice and Dual Window.

As with all leaks and rumors, we have to take these alleged specifications with a pinch of salt until LG provides us with some solid evidence regarding what it has in store for its next budget-friendly smartphone — but thankfully looks we won’t have to wait too much longer until we find out.

 

 

• ViaDroid-Life