Verizon Wireless Joins the “Phablet” Party With LG Intuition

Move over, Samsung Galaxy Note. You’re no longer the only “phablet” in town.

Today, Verizon Wireless announced the upcoming availability of the LG Intuition, an Android device that blurs the lines between smartphone and tablet.

The Intuition features a five-inch touchscreen with a 4×3 aspect ratio, so browsing the Web, watching videos and reading text will be easier on the eyes. It’s not quite as big as the Galaxy Note’s 5.3-inch display, or the Galaxy Note II’s 5.5-inch screen, but the “smaller” screen might make the Intuition a little more manageable to carry and hold.

Like the Note, it also includes a stylus — which LG calls the Rubberdium pen — so you can jot down handwritten notes using the preloaded QuickMemo app.

The 4G-enabled Intuition runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and has an eight-megapixel camera on back and a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera.

In addition, the smartphone is equipped with near field communication technology and comes with two programmable NFC stickers that let you switch between different phone modes. For example, you can program a sticker for “car mode,” and then turn on the phone’s GPS functionality simply by tapping the back of the phone to the sticker.

The LG Intuition is basically the U.S. version of the LG Optimus Vu, which debuted at Mobile World Congress in February. It costs $199.99 with a two-year contract, and will be available from Verizon online on Sept. 6, and in stores on Sept. 10.