LG Outs Its Next Phablet, The Slender LG Stylus 2

There’s less than a week to go until LG’s pre-MWC press conference, where the company is expected to lift the veil on a new flagship smartphone, the LG G5. But the South Korean mobile maker has another handset to show off in Barcelona — which it’s just announced today.

The 5.7 inch LG Stylus 2 is the follow on phablet to the G4 Stylus, which launched in May last year. The screen size of the sequel is the same but LG has shaved a few millimeters off the thickness, with the Stylus 2 measuring just 7.4mm vs 9.4mm for last year’s model.

It’s also a few grams lighter, weighing in at 145g vs 163g for the G4 Stylus. Despite being so slender the phablet does include an SD card for user expandable memory. It also packs a 3,000mAh removable battery.

Another changed is a tweak to the bundled stylus, which LG is now calling a “pen”. It says the new stylus has a “nano-coated tip” — for, it claims, enhanced accuracy vs the rubber-tipped stylus of 2015’s phablet. It’s also touting a new Calligraphy Pen font which is says will let people write with the stylus as if it were a fountain pen.

Another new feature aims to avoid phone and stylus being separated, so the phone will pop up a warning message when the handset is detected to be in motion yet the stylus bay is empty. So no more stylus separation anxiety.

Under the hood of the Android 6.0 device there’s a 1.2GHz Quad-Core chip, 1.5GB RAM and 16GB of internal storage (user expandable as noted above), so in classic phablet style it’s not going to be treading on the toes of the top of the range smartphone flagships.

Round the back, there’s a 13MP camera situated near LG’s now trademark rear power key placement (love it or hate it). And the handset will come in a choice of three colors: white, brown and “titan” (aka a charcoal/metallic shade).

There’s no specific confirmation of pricing yet but LG says the price-tag will be “of a mid-tier phone” — adding that it’s aiming the handset firmly at the “mass-tier segment” (aka where there’s still some growth to be found in smartphones).

The company will be showing the Stylus 2 at MWC next week. TC will be on the ground in Barcelona to get hands on so stay tuned.