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LG's G Pro 2 sports a bigger screen, but goes light on the new features

LG's G Pro 2 sports a bigger screen, but goes light on the new features

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LG G Pro 2 (stock)
LG G Pro 2 (stock)

LG took the wraps off the successor to the G Pro smartphone in South Korea today, giving press a sneak peek at the slightly larger LG G Pro 2, a phone that was originally expected to debut at Mobile World Congress later this month. The phone has a 5.9-inch 1080p IPS display (up from the G Pro's 5.5 inches), and looks similar to its predecessor. But at 8.3mm thick, the G Pro 2 is slightly thinner, and has a new "metal mesh" back cover. Under the hood there's a Snapdragon 800 2.26GHz quad-core processor, 3GB of DDR3 RAM, and 32GB of internal storage, which is expandable with a microSD slot. Other changes include a 1W speaker, which LG says is 30 percent louder than before, along with a 13-megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilization, and a 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera.

Unlock your phone without looking

On the software side, there are only a few new main features. The phone's running Android 4.4 KitKat, and comes with a new LG-security option called Knock Code that LG says lets users unlock their phone without looking at the screen. It's not replacing the KnockOn unlocking feature, and instead uses an invisible grid that lets users create more than 86,000 different unlocking codes by tapping on different sections of the screen. Also, because of the new camera, the phone is able to record 4K video with stabilization and 120fps slow-motion footage in HD.

LG's G Pro 2 smartphone (gallery)

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LG is also throwing in some specialty software tools from its G2 smartphone for controlling and navigating content. That includes a tool to shrink down the display to between 3.4 to 4.7 inches so you can use the phone with one hand. There's also a dual web browser to make use of the 5.9-inch display, and a new content lock that password protects access to files and media.

The LG G Pro 2 comes in two different models, one with LTE and another for LTE-A bands for Korea. The phone goes on sale in Korea this month, and will arrive in other unannounced countries after that. LG has not said how much it plans to charge for the phone. Not making an appearance at the event was the LG G2 Mini. The company teased that device on its Facebook page earlier today, saying it would be at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on February 24th.

Hands-on reporting by Hyunhu Jang.