LG isn't waiting until next week's Mobile World Congress to show off its latest goodies.
The Korean tech giant has unveiled a new pack of midrange smartphones designed with "elements and features usually reserved for premium models." The lineup includes four handsets — dubbed Magna, Spirit, Leon, and Joy — which will be available in both LTE and 3G versions.
The LTE and 3G versions are "nearly identical" with the exception of the back covers – the LTE models have a metallic covering while the 3G versions have a plastic backs. The Magna and Spirit both feature a curved design, which LG says makes them more comfortable to hold in the palm of your hand.
The Magna, which means "ultimate" in Latin, is the standout of the pack, featuring a 5-inch in-cell touch display and a quad-core chipset. In-cell technology — normally found on for premium handsets — allows for a thinner touch screen, making the phone look slimmer while maximizing display areas and minimizing bezels.
"By bringing images closer to the screen, in-cell touch displays offer improved sensitivity with faster touch recognition, better outdoor visibility, and crisper images," LG said.
The Magna boasts an 8-megapixel main camera, 5-megapixel front shooter for "high quality selfies," and a large 2,540mAh removable battery, which promises to keep the device powered up all day even with heavy use.
The Spirit has a smaller 4.7-inch in-cell touch display with an 8-megapixel or 5-megapixel main camera, depending on market, and a 1-megapixel front shooter. The Leon, or "lion" in Latin, has a 4.5-inch display while the Joy is the smallest of the pack with a 4-inch display.
All four models ship with Android 5.0 Lollipop and offer some cool features like Gesture Shot, which lets you take selfies with a simple hand gesture that starts a three-second countdown. The camera can recognize gestures up to 1.5 meters away to accommodate selfie sticks, LG said. Another feature, called Glance View, lets you quickly access important information like the time, recent messages, and missed calls with a simple downward swipe on the screen, even when the display is off.
The new lineup will begin rolling out globally this week in "select markets." There's no word yet on pricing.