We first caught a glimpse of the 8.5mm thick LG Optimus Vu early last week, but now the Samsung Galaxy Note rival has officially been revealed ahead of Mobile World Congress sporting a 5in 1024×768 IPS touchscreen.

Unlike the Samsung Galaxy Note’s 5.3in screen, the LG Optimus Vu’s display has a 4:3 aspect ratio, resulting in a shorter and wider handset. The Optmus Vu will also be powered by a 1.5Ghz dual-core processor, have an 8MP camera and a generous 2,080mAh battery.

The LG Optimus Vu will also arrive bundled with a Rubberdium stylus pen, whatever that means. It will be interesting to compare LG’s stylus to Samsung’s S Pen (which utilises Wacom’s digitizer technology) and we look forward to pitting both handsets head to head at MWC.

An upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich from the stock Android 2.3 Gingerbread is promised within three months of the LG Optimus Vu’s release, by which time Samsung’s Galaxy Note should have received the upgrade to Android 4.0.

In the meantime, check out our Samsung Galaxy Note review to see if a phone/tablet hybrid is the device for you, before waiting for our verdict from MWC in Barcelona next week.