If you were hoping to see a phablet device like the Samsung Galaxy Note on Verizon, Big Red's upcoming device is going to technically fit the bill. Except instead of the enjoyable, well designed, and globally acclaimed device, you will get this horrendous boxy eyesore, complete with a 4:3 CRT-like aspect ratio: the LG Optimus Vu.

Here it is, in all its glory monstrosity, next to... yup, the 4.8" Galaxy S III. It's HUGE:

We're talking 5 inches at 1024x768 on an HD IPS display if the specs are going to remain the same as its international counterpart's that we played with at MWC. Think old CRT monitors and TVs before wide-screens. Think really awkward to hold - so awkward that you will need to use two hands to reach some of the bottom-row buttons comfortably. Think four capacitive buttons - something Android has abandoned with Honeycomb and Ice Cream Sandwich. Think "what the hell was LG, in turn, thinking"?

At least unlike the Vu at MWC which came with Gingerbread, the Verizon version comes with Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box. Considering ICS has now had around 8 months to bake, I am not too shocked, although this is LG we're talking about here. The company has yet to upgrade any of its devices outside of Korea to ICS, which scored it a big fat F in JR Raphael's last Android upgrade report card. It looks like the Vu has actually just gotten ICS in Korea, though it was of the "Value Pack" variety.

If the rest of the specs remain unchanged, we'd be looking at:

a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S3 with Adreno 220 GPU (MSM8660)

1GB of RAM

32GB storage

8MP/1.3MP cameras

stylus

Unfortunately, our source hasn't confirmed or denied any changes from the above, so I can't comment on them. Of course, as you can see from the photos, the Vu is compatible with Verizon's 4G-LTE network.

If you want to see the Optimus Vu in action, here's our MWC hands-on:

While we don't have any information on availability, the Vu can't be too far off now, considering it passed through the FCC at the end of last month. Show of hands - is anybody going to pick it up when it arrives on Verizon's network? Bueller?

Source: reliable

Images: slightly edited to remove sensitive information and version numbers