With access to plenty of mobile productivity applications, larger display, powerful messaging features and next level web browsing capabilities, the Pantech Pocket is a small powerful and unique combination of portability and power. It can be challenge to find a handset, which does both well, work and play. Its powerful suite of productivity tools make it a monster in board room, while the social media and messaging features make it easy to have a life outside the office. View multiple browser windows in completely rendered HTML, browse Flash based sites and download attachments with ease. Say goodbye to expensive mounted in-car Global Positioning System units. With the help of AT&T Navigator application from Android Market, you will never have to worry about getting lost.

The Pantech Pocket offers a solid 4G Android Gingerbread experience at an affordable price, while the extra wide frame, lack of camera flash and poor video quality could dissuade some folks. AT&T and Pantech have a history of designing quite a few reliable handsets such as Pantech Laser and Pantech Crossover. The Pocket provides user friendly Android Gingerbread skin, excellent quality five-megapixel camera and HSPA+ 4G speeds, all for an affordable price of $50. The black smartphone with slightly rubberized and textured finish coating its back and rim, the Pocket’s squat, short rounded build immediately stands out. It measures 4.52 inch high, 0.44 inch thick, 3 inch wide and weighs 4.4 ounces.

One of the extensive features found on Pantech Pocket is its 4 inch touchscreen display, which translates SVGA or Super VGA resolution of 600 x 800 pixels with 16 million color support. The display is quite colorful and bright for its size with smooth graphics. Powering the Pocket is an Android Gingerbread 2.3 operating system, which is quite user friendly and intuitive. The lock screen displays a circle surrounded by spokes of icons, each representing application you can open right from lock screen and leads to browser, call log, music player, email, messaging application or home screen.

The custom interface of Pantech Pocket offers 7 customizable home screens; pull down navigation menu with fast access to system settings such as profiles, alarm, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. You will also find stylized onscreen navigation buttons for app tray, dial pad, browser and texting menu. Underneath the screen, there are four physical buttons for search, menu, back and home functions. The microUSB charging port is located on the right hand side of the device, while volume rocker button on the left. The power button and 3.5mm headphone are situated on top of the smartphone, while 5.0-megapixel camera at the back. The microSD memory card slot is beneath the battery cover with 2GB SD card installed to store multimedia and apps.

As an Android Gingerbread smartphone, the Pantech Pocket comes with built in Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS. It also gets built in support for plenty of contacts and standards like photo ID, personalized ringtones and calling groups. Multimedia and text messages are also onboard with support for multiple types of email inboxes including corporate work addresses. Some of the essential applications on Pocket include calendar, basic music player, clock, browser and calculator. It also adds compass, measurement converter, document viewer, RSS reader, memo pad and weather application.

Google loads up all its Android smartphones including Pantech Pocket for Google services like maps, YouTube, turn by turn navigation and Places. Also onboard are voice memo, Facebook, stocks app, Twitter, PC connector, Amazon Kindle, sketch pad and City ID. AT&T also adds its own applications, which include Navigator, myAT&T, Family Map, AT&T Code Scanner, U-verse Live TV, AT&T Address Book and Ypmobile. Its five megapixel camera takes clear, crisp outdoor images with excellent color representation. It shoots video in five different resolutions starting from 176 x 144 up to 1280 x 720 high definition video.

Standard features on Pantech Pocket include 2G Network: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900; 3G Network: HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100; 4.0 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen with 16 million color support and 600 x 800 pixels; microSD, up to 32GB, 2 GB included; Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Wi-Fi hotspot; 5.0-megapixel camera with 2560?1920 pixels, autofocus and LED flash; Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread); GPS with A-GPS support; SNS integration; MP3/WAV/eAAC+ player; MP4/H.264/H.263 player; Organizer; Voice memo; Predictive text input; Phonebook: Caller groups, Unlimited entries, Search by both first and last name, Multiple numbers per contact, Ring ID and Picture ID; Organizer: Alarm, Calendar, Calculator, Document viewer and Converter.

The Pantech Pocket is also equipped with Messaging: SMS, MMS, Predictive text input; E-mail: IMAP, POP3, SMTP, Microsoft Exchange, Push e-mail; Notifications: Polyphonic ringtones, Music ringtones (MP3), Flight mode, Vibration and Silent mode. The rated battery life of Pocket is 18 days in standby mode and 6 hours in talktime mode. Those who are in the market seeking a less expensive Android phone with some special features thrown in, Pantech Pocket is ideal.

Pantech Duo C810 is named so because of the dual slider design. The phone is quite similar to Helio Ocean. Slide the phone up vertically and you will see a numeric dialpad, sliding it down will reveal a full QWERTY keyboard. The keyboard and the keypad are on separate layers which means that you both cannot be kept open at the same time. This is the main difference between Pantech Duo C810 and Helio Ocean. Also, Duo is a bit smaller than the other phone at 4.02×1.97×0.83 inches and it is also lighter at 3.88 ounces. Ocean weighed 5.6 ounces. Pantech Duo C810 is bulky because of the triple layers and I found it hard to squeeze the device in my pants pocket.

Pantech Duo C810 has chintzy plastic shell which makes the device look like a toy. The gray dull finish on the exterior attracts a lot of fingerprints easily and the screen border makes the handset look old. Also, the QWERTY keyboard’s sliding mechanism feels loose and flimsy.

All these imperfections are made up for but the cool 2.2 inch QVGA screen. It has a resolution of 240×320 pixels with support for 262,000 colors. The display is lovely and it is easy on your eyes. Fonts look legible, images are clean and the colors too are bright. I played a couple of video clips and they looked really great. The display automatically switches the position from portrait to landscape mode when you slide out the full QWERTY keyboard. The keyboard makes it easier to type text and browse the Web.

Noteworthy here is that the display doesn’t have a touch screen interface which might disappoint some. Just like all the Windows Mobile 6 handsets, the Pantech Duo C810 has Today screen as home screen and you can change background image, displayed menu items, theme, font size and backlight time.

The navigation array of the Pantech Duo C810 is located beneath the screen and it consists of Back button, Home button, five direction toggle, two soft buttons and Talk/End keys. There is also a discrete Quick List key which shows you a menu of different sound and power profiles. Quick List button can also be used for locking the keys.

The number keypad and navigation array have bubblelike keys along with curved texture which makes it pretty easy to dial. But I was concerned by the slippery buttons; it made the typing experience a lot less than ideal. Also, the phone’s Quick List buttons was a bit small for my tastes.

AT&T Cloud and Broadband services; music player; 1.3-megapixel camera; nice QWERTY keyboard

Against:

Call quality needs improvement; small screen does not give much benefit of Web browser

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

The Pantech Link is based on WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM technology that supports 850/900/1800/1900 MHz. Its micro-SD expansion slot accepts up to 16GB cards. The supported wireless interface is Bluetooth 2.0.

The 2.4-inch LCD display has 320×240 pixels resolution that supports 262,144 colors. The 1.3-megapixel camera features self timer, effects, white-balance, and exposure control.

The additional features are GPS, speakerphone, voice recording, QWERTY keyboard, and Bluetooth. The 930mAH lithium ion battery has a life of 180 minutes talk time and 250 hours of idle standby time. Accessories supplied inside the box are battery, wired headset, user manual, and power charger.

Razzle Dazzle:

The Pantech Link is 4.5 inches tall, 2.4 inches wide and 0.39 inch deep and weighs 3.2 ounces. It has solid built with plastic housing. The back has rubberized texture for better grip.

Inside Dope:

The Pantech Link is an overdue update over its predecessor – the Pantech Slate. The Link is one of the first devices for supporting the AT&T Cloud services such as Online Locker and the Social Net. It features GPS, 3G/HSDPA support, music player and 1.3-megapixel camera. The Link is available for $9.99 with two-year AT&T contract. It is one of the thinnest messaging phones available in the market, but still suffers from some issues such as its call quality needs improvement. In addition, the HTML browser is not useful due to small screen. Speaking about the design, you will find the micro-SD card slot and the volume rocker on the left side. The camera button and charger/headset jack are on the right side. We will prefer the manufacturer to include the 3.5mm standard headset jack instead of combined port for headset/charger. The camera lens with self portrait mirror sits on the back. If you need a cheap messaging phone with good QWERTY keyboard, then the Pantech Link remains a good choice.

Display

The 2.4 inches LCD display has 320×240 pixels resolution that supports 262,000 colors. It exhibits colorful and crispy images with legible text. You can change the home screen text, the clock format, the menu type, the font style, the brightness and the backlight time.

Navigation Array

The navigation array is located underneath the display and includes two soft keys, round toggle with middle select button, Talk key, a speakerphone key, a Clear key, and End/Power button. The navigation toggle has spun metal surface at the outer circle and works as shortcut for e-mail, the AT&T Address Book, instant messaging menu, and new text message. The other array keys has nice curved surface.

QWERTY Keyboard

The QWERTY Keyboard is located below the navigation array. We like that the keys has bubble-like texture and are raised above the surface. You will find the symbol, function and dedicated .com key. The numeric keys are clearly marked in blue color. We could type continuously without any error while testing.

Phonebook and PIM features

The Pantech Link can store 600 contacts in its phonebook. Each contact can save six phone numbers, a note, an anniversary date, a birthday, three street addresses, a Web URL, a messenger ID, a company name, and three email addresses. These contacts can be categorized into caller groups and you can pair them with one ring-tone and a photo for caller ID.

The basic feature set includes text and multimedia messages, eight polyphonic ring-tones, a unit converter, a timer, a stopwatch, a tip calculator, a calculator, a world clock, a voice recorder, a notepad, a calendar, an alarm clock, a speakerphone, and a vibrate mode.

Advanced Highlights

The advanced highlights of the Pantech Link are Web-based mobile email, GPS support with AT&T Navigator, instant messengers (Yahoo!, Windows Live, and AIM), ATT.NET browser (based on Opera), voice command, and stereo Bluetooth. The mobile email provides access to POP3/IMAP4/SMTP accounts and others such Windows Live Mail, AOL Mail, and Yahoo Mail.

AT&T Services

The AT&T has also included its cloud services in the Pantech Link. It includes AT&T Address Book online for backing up contacts and ability to retrieve them back. The AT&T Online Locker offers storing videos and pictures on the AT&T servers. You will get 250MB online storage free, but the file transfer is paid. Each transfer of 10MB costs 35 cents and you can also pay $10 for 50 transfers.

The AT&T Mobile Share provides sharing of media files at Photobucket, MySpace and Facebook. You can also send non-media message to update your profile on Twitter, MySpace and Facebook. The Link also has AT&T Mobile Video for streaming video content through various providers.

Music Player

The Pantech Reveal has inbuilt AT&T Mobile Music that provides option for buying and downloading on-the-air music through eMusic or Napster, access to fan sites, streaming music videos, a ring-tone creator, a song ID application, and XM Radio Mobile. The inbuilt music player features play-lists, shuffle and repeat modes.

Camera

The 1.3-megapixel camera features self timer, self portrait mirror, and video recording. We are disappointed that there is no flash to improve the picture quality. The still capture options are four resolutions, three quality settings, shutter sounds and a timer sound with their respective silent choices, color effects, and white balance. The captured picture quality is only good for a low-resolution camera.

Games and Personalization

The Pantech Link comes preloaded with these games and applications: TextTwist2, World Series of Poker, Ms. Pac Man, Block Breaker Deluxe 2, Tetris, PicDial, FunScreenz, Mobile Banking, and Mobi TV. The cell phone can be personalized with ring-tones, graphics, and wallpapers. You can download more options through AT&T AppCenter.

Call Quality

We made few calls through the Pantech Link via AT&T service for testing. The overall call quality was mediocre. We received clear and loud sound with a bit static. The callers received crackled and bit hiss sound at their end. The speakerphone calls were also suffered with more echo and crackled sound. We received tinny and hollow sound while playing the tracks in the music player. The streaming video playback had average quality.

Battery Life

The battery life of the Pantech Link is 3 hours of talk time and 10 hours of idle standby time. Its digital SAR is 0.75 watts per kilogram in accordance with FCC radiation tests.

Verdict:

We will definitely recommend buying the Pantech Reveal as it has slim design, excellent mid-range features, and wallet-friendly price. However, its call quality needs improvement.

Good multimedia features; AT&T.Net Mobile browser based on Opera, 3G support,  QWERTY keyboard with alphanumeric keypad.

Against:

The small screen does not give much benefit of the Web browser. The QWERTY keyboard is cramped.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

The Pantech Reveal is based on WCDMA (UMTS) 850/1900 + EGSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz. It supports 3G, HSUPA, EDGE, GPRS, and UMTS. It has 64MB internal memory and micro-SD card slot that accepts up to 16GB.

2.2 inches display of the Pantech Reveal has 320×240 pixels resolution that supports 262,000 colors. 1.3-megapixel camera capture still pictures in four resolutions: 320×240, 640×480, 1024×768, and 1280×1024. The video recording resolution options are: 320×240, and 176×44.

The connector set includes 1×2.5mm headset jack, and 1×mini-USB. The Reveal has lithium ion battery that has a life of 180 minutes talk time and 240 hours of standby time. Pantech provides one year limited warranty with the Reveal handset. Accessories included inside the box are power charger, wired headset, user manual, and battery.

Razzle Dazzle:

The Pantech Reveal is 2.36 inches wide, 3.9 inches tall, and 0.59 inch deep and weighs 4.66 ounces. It has solid construction and curved corners. The handset gives good feeling while holding in hand. The black body has smooth steel finish. The sliding mechanism is sturdy and needs a firm press.

Inside Dope:

The Pantech is the well known manufacturer to introduce the dual-slider handset. Its Helio Ocean is a pioneer in this design type that reveals QWERTY keyboard and a numeric keypad too. Not only in this one phone, but the dual sliding design was also repeated with the Pantech Matrix, the Matrix Pro, the Pantech Duo and the Helio Ocean2. Now, the company has changed its tone with new single sliding phone – the Pantech Reveal for AT&T. It has alphanumeric keypad on the front and slides down to reveal QWERTY keyboard. It is the first cell phone to offer AT&T.Net Mobile browser, which is based on the Opera. The Reveal also offers music player, 3G support, GPS, and 1.3-megapixel camera. It costs $79 with two-year AT&T contract. However, the small screen does not give much benefit of the Web browser and the QWERTY keyboard is cramped. If you need a good messaging phone with dual keyboard and can work without touch-screen, then the Pantech Reveal for AT&T is a good option.

Design

The volume rocker and charger/headset jack are located on the left side, while micro-SD card slot and camera key are on the right side. The camera lens and speakers sits on the back.

Display

2.2 inches display of the Pantech Reveal has 320×240 pixels resolution that supports 262,000 colors. It is enough bright to exhibit sharp text and colorful images. You can change the menu type, the color theme, the font style, the backlight time, and the brightness. Need more – the Reveal allows the customization of home screen with greeting text and clock formats.

Navigation Array and Keypad

The navigation array sits underneath the display and includes two soft keys, and round toggle with center OK button. The alphanumeric keypad sits below the array. You will find the messaging shortcut and Talk key on its left; while the Back button and Power/End key is on the right side. The middle Ok key launches Web browser in stand by mode, whereas the Clear key also works as a calendar shortcut. The alphanumeric keypad is spacious and curved upward. You can dial and text using this pad even when the phone is closed.

QWERTY Keyboard

The QWERTY keyboard has small keys, but they are raised above the surface. Both the keypad and the keyboard remain active, so you can quickly type both alphabets and numbers. We are disappointed that the keyboard is little cramped and letters are tiny.

Phonebook and PIM features

The Pantech Reveal can store 1000 contacts in its phonebook. Each entry can save five phone numbers, two email addresses, a memo, a Web URL, and a street address. You can organize the contacts into caller groups and pair them with a caller ID, alert tone, ring-tone and a photo for caller ID.

The basic feature set includes a speakerphone, a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messages, voice command, a tip calculator, a notepad, a calendar, a calculator, a timer, a stopwatch, a unit converter, a world time clock, eight alert-tones, eight polyphonic ring-tones, and an alarm clock.

The additional highlights are GPS support with AT&T Navigator for turn-by-turn directions, stereo Bluetooth, AT&T.Net Mobile browser, instant messengers, and Mobile Email. The mobile email allows working with POP3/IMAP4 accounts as well as includes Hotmail and Yahoo Mail.

AT&T.Net Mobile Web browser

There are three welcome screens that appear on starting up the AT&T.Net browser. One is for Internet bookmarks, Yahoo search box, and URL field. Second is for local information such as news headlines, local weather, local movie shows, local traffic, local shops and restaurants. The third is a Popular screen that lists shopping sites, Entertainment, News & Finance, Sports, Travel, and so forth.

AT&T Services

AT&T also added its broadband services to the Pantech Reveal, which includes AT&T Cellular Video – for streaming video content via CNN & CBN; AT&T Video Share – stream one-way video calls to another compatible phone; and AT&T Mobile Music – that contains music applications such as music community, XM Radio Mobile, and a Song ID service. You can buy and download songs via eMusic and Napster for $1.99 per track with free PC version.

Music Player

The music player interface of the Pantech Reveal is simple and clean. You can arrange the songs by genres, albums, and the artists. The player features album art, playback controls, shuffle & repeat modes, and play-lists. It supports Real Audio, AAC+V2, eAAC+, AAC+, AAC, and MP3 audio formats. The video player supports H.264 and MPEG4 video formats.

Camera

1.3-megapixel camera of the Pantech Reveal features self-timer, and video-recording. The still capture options are shutter sound toggle, timer sound, brightness, four color effects, four white balance presets, three quality settings, and four resolutions. You can record the videos for MMS and longer in normal mode. You can share the pictures and videos via MMS and Video Share feature. The video recording options are with/without audio, three resolutions, and other similar to the still capture. We captured some still photographs and recorded clips. The overall photo quality was average; while the video quality was mediocre with blur and pixelation.

Games and Personalization

The Pantech Reveal has four preloaded games: Diner Dash 2, Ms. Pac Man, Uno, and The Slims 3. The preinstalled applications are: Notifier, Mobile Banking, WikiMobile, My-Cast Weather, and MobiTV. The Reveal can be personalized with available sounds and graphics. More options can be downloaded through AT&T MediaMall store.

Call Quality

We made few calls through the Pantech Reveal via AT&T Wireless for testing. The overall call quality was mixed. We received clear and loud sound at our end without any crackle and static. The callers received mumbled sound with some background noise and crackle. They also missed to hear some words.

The speakerphone call quality was good. We received loud, but harsh sound at our end. The callers received machinelike sound with echo at their end.

Music Quality

The speakers provided loud sound, but could not provide good music quality. We heard tinny and harsh songs without good bass. However, the headset provided a nice experience.

Web Browsing Experience

We loaded some Web sites in the browser. The GSMcellulars.com and CDMAcellulars.com loaded in 10 and 15 seconds. A 2MB song was downloaded in 60 seconds and there was no buffering time for streaming video. However, the video looked pixelated and jerky.

Battery Life

The battery life of the Pantech Reveal is 4.5 hours of talk time. The idle standby time is 11 days. Its digital SAR rating is 1.04 watts per kg in accordance with FCC radiation tests.

Verdict:

The Reveal is a good and affordable messaging phone with full HTML Web browser, but it has some design issues including cramped keyboard and small display.

If you need a budget friendly messaging phone and can work with above design drawbacks, then purchase – the Pantech Reveal for AT&T.

OLED touch-sensitive alphanumeric keypad; dual displays; full QWERTY keyboard; 2-megapixel camera, 3G support.

Against:

The keypad should be spacious; the QWERTY keyboard feels off-balance while usage.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Pantech Impact is based on WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM technology and quad-band of WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM 850/900/1800/1900. It has 80MB internal memory and micro-SD expansion slot that accepts up to 32GB cards. Supported wireless interface is Bluetooth.

1.5 inches small external display is monochrome and sits on the exterior. 2.6 inches internal LCD display has 240×400 pixels resolution that supports 262,000 (18-bit) colors.

The advanced features are HSDPA, Java applications, Opera HTML Web browser, EDGE, GPRS, and mobile-email. Messaging features include text messages, picture messages, multimedia messages, and instant messengers.

2-megapixel camera features 3x digital zoom, video-recording and self-timer delay of 5 and 10 seconds. It captures still photographs in five resolutions: 320×240, 640×480, 1024×768, 1280×1024, and 1600×1200. The video capture resolutions are: 320×240, 176×144 (standard), and 176×144 (MMS).

930mAH lithium ion battery has life of 300 minutes talk time and 336 hours standby time.

Razzle Dazzle:

Pantech Impact is 4.19 inches tall, 2.04 inches wide, and 0.7 inch deep and weighs 4.9 ounces. Its flip shape may be like that of LG enV3, but the Impact has its own style. It is much rounder and thicker than the enV3. The silver chrome edge and patterned border gives a jewel-like look to the Impact, especially when touch-sensitive exterior is in action. The front black shiny surface works as magnet to attract fingerprint and smudges.

Inside Dope:

Pantech is one of the famous manufacturers for sliding QWERTY phones. From Helio Ocean to Pantech Reveal, the company had launched great messaging phones. Now, the company has come up with flip-design messaging phone – Pantech Impact. It looks like LG enV3 and has external keypad, full QWERTY keyboard and dual displays. The Impact costs $99.99 with two year AT&T Wireless contract after mail-in-rebate. It features touch-sensitive OLED exterior, 2-megapixel camera, Opera Web browser, GPS, and 3G. However, the Impact also has some drawbacks. Its camera is a bit difficult to use, the keyboard is off-balanced, and external keypad is not spacious. The Impact has something in common with Sanyo SCP-6760 Incognito. Both Incognito and Impact has small external display on exterior, but the Incognito has a better QWERTY keyboard. If you need a low cost messaging phone with QWERTY keyboard and 2-megapixel camera, then go for – Pantech Impact.

Design

Like Incognito, the touch-sensitive keypad and small external display sits on the front of Pantech Impact. You have to flip open the phone horizontally to access the QWERTY keyboard and internal color display. The stereo speakers are located on both sides of internal display hidden behind mirrored surface.

Charger/headset jack sits on the top; while micro-SD card slot is on bottom. Volume rocker and keypad hold button are located on the right-spine. You will find the camera lens on the back.

Display

1.5 inches tiny external display of Pantech Impact is small and monochrome. It displays date/time, battery life, and signal strength. You can also access some options on this small screen including phone dialer, music player, recent calls list, address book, and messaging menu. The display shows bright gray and white text on black background. We do not like that you cannot use the external display as camera viewfinder and it does not show caller ID due to monochrome.

2.6 inches internal display has 240×400 pixels resolution that supports 262,000 colors. You can customize the backlight time, brightness, font size and style, color theme, and menu style. Moreover, you can change the transition effect between menu and home screen.

Navigation Array

Touch-sensitive keypad glows with blue or pink color. Pantech Impact phone allows adjusting the vibration strength and touch sensitivity of the keys. The navigation array consists of up-and-down toggle, two soft keys, Talk button, and End keys with alphanumeric keypad. In standby mode of phone, up arrow shows new text message and down will open address book. All the keys are quick responsive and you can type messages with them accurately.

QWERTY Keyboard

After flip-opening the Pantech Impact, you will find the dedicated camera key, two soft keys, Talk button, center Select key and Power/End button located underneath the display. You can also use the Select key as Web browser shortcut in standby mode. There is also a round toggle with middle select button on the right side of keyboard under “Pantech” logo. This toggle works as shortcut to mobile email, address book, instant messaging, and new text message.

QWERTY keyboard is raised above the surface and has well-spaced keys. However, the keyboard feels off-balance as right-side circular toggle aligns it to left. We like the big space bar in middle plus dedicated .com and instant messaging keys.

Phonebook and PIM features

Pantech Impact can store 1000 contacts in its phonebook. Each entry can save five phone numbers, one Web URL, street address, memo, and two email addresses. You can organize the contacts in caller groups and pair them with one alert tone, one ring-tone and a photo for caller ID.

The essential feature set includes timer, stopwatch, unit converter, tip calculator, calculator, world clock, voice memo recorder, notepad, calendar, eight ring-tones, eight alert tones, alarm clock, speakerphone, text and multimedia messages, and vibrate mode.

The additional highlights are 3G support, Bluetooth, GPS support, Opera Web browser, mobile email to access POP3/IMAP4/SMTP accounts, and instant messengers – Windows Live, Google Talk, Yahoo, and AOL.

AT&T Services

AT&T has also included its services in the Pantech Impact like AT&T Navigator for turn-by-turn directions, AT&T Mobile Music, AT&T Video Share, and AT&T Cellular Video. You can use the AT&T Video Share for sharing the recorded videos and send one-way live video with other similar compatible phone.

Web browser

There is Opera HTML Web browser in Pantech Impact. It features three welcome screens, zoom in/out using volume rocker, full screen view, and ability to show mobile & desktop version of Web pages. You can also log on at AT&T account to send bookmarks via “Send to Mobile” feature.

Camera

2-megapixel camera of Pantech Impact features self-timer, and video recording. Other image editing options include shutter sound, timer sound, four color effects, four white balance options, three quality settings, and five resolutions. You can record videos in three different resolutions.

Music Player

Pantech Impact has one Mobile Music application that works as music fan form, XM Radio Mobile, and song ID service. You can buy and download songs for $1.99 per song with desktop version from eMusic and Napster directly on the Impact phone.

The inbuilt music player has simple interface and you can arrange the songs by genres, albums, and artists. It features album art, creation/editing play-lists, shuffle and repeat modes. Pantech Impact supports MIDI, AMR, eAAC+, AAC, and MP3 files.

Games and Personalization

Preinstalled applications are AT&T Social net, Mobile Banking, WikiMobile, My-Cast Weather, and MobiTV. Pantech Impact comes with four games including Dinner Dash 2, Ms. Pac-Man, Tetris, and Loopt. The Impact can be personalized with alert-tones, graphics, and wallpaper. You can download more options from AT&T MediaMall store.

Call Quality

We made few calls through quad-band based Pantech Impact via AT&T Wireless for testing. The overall call quality was good. We heard loud and clear sound at our end with little background noise.  The callers received natural, loud and clear sound at their end with some background hiss. The speakerphone call quality was average, but callers received some echo while conversation.

Battery Life

Pantech Impact has battery life of 14 days of idle standby time and 5 hours of talk time. Its digital SAR is 0.72 watts per kg in accordance with FCC radiation tests.

Verdict:

If you need touch-sensitive keypad and small display on exterior and do not mind off-balance QWERTY keyboard, then go for – Pantech Impact.

However, we will recommend you to check Sanyo SCP-6760 Incognito.

Swivel design, navigation panel buttons are big and hence easy to press, the QWERTY keyboard too feels comfortable, plenty of features for messaging and music

Against:

Inclusion of just a 1.3 mega pixel camera makes this bad as an overall multi media phone. There is no EV-DO so you can’t download songs over the air. Doesn’t have a 3.5 mm headset jack.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

The display of the phone is 2.2 inches big, has a resolution of 220 x 176 pixels with 262k colors. The phone has a 1.3 mega pixel camera and it comes along with a self portrait mirror. Supported audio formats are MP3 and WMA. The task bar key on the side gives a task bar for applications’s shortcuts. It gives you access to Contacts list, My Pictures menu, My Music menu, VZW services, Messaging menu, Recent Calls list, dialing interface and a list of all the handset’s tools. This key is also used to lock the screen.

Verizon Wireless Razzle is a CDMA phone with support for 1800/900 bands, Additional features include music control, voice command, microSD card slot, Rhapsody, speakerphone, intelligent typing (T9). Downloadable content includes music, ring tones and games. Other than the task bar key, on the sides, there is a volume rocker button, charger jack and camera button. PIM features on the phone include notepad, stopwatch, world clock, tip calculator, standard calculator, to-do/tasks, calendar and alarm.

Razzle Dazzle:

Verizon Wireless Razzle has an attractive design and yet looks simple. It is a typical rectangular phone, has a smooth matte black finish and has curved edges. The phone is lightweight and the most attractive part about it is that the bottom half can be twisted to access the music player keys. This is not a new feature but still nice to have in a cellphone.

Inside Dope:

Verizon Wireless Razzle is one of those smart phones which can is great for messaging and provides great music too. We think it can be used by business men as well as the youth. The Verizon Wireless Razzle cell phone looks like a business handset with the full sized QWERTY keyboard and when you swivel it around, you get dedicated keys for controlling music playback. There is a bit of downside though, we were disappointed that there is a 2.5 mm headphone jack. We would have preferred a 3.5 mm jack for plugging standard earphones. For messaging enthusiasts, the keyboard is tilted to one side which is great ergonomics for typing messages and e-mails. We also liked the task bar shortcut key on the sides that gives you shortcuts for various applications on the cell phone. There no EV-DO either, so you cannot download songs over the air. The handset costs $19.95 with a two year contract from Verizon Wireless. The phone is manufactured by Pantech and is marketed, developed and distributed by PCD.

Display

The display of the Razzle is 2.2 inches big and gives a resolution of 220×176 pixels or 262k colors. Though not the best display, the photos look good and the text is sharp. You can adjust the menu layout, change the backlight time, menu position, size of the menu and dial fonts and the format of the clock.

Navigation array and keyboard

The navigation array consists of two soft keys, clear key, speaker phone button, circular toggle with OK button in the center and the Send/End keys. The latter buttons are located on the outer edge of the device. The direction keys can be programmed to start any applications of your choice. The navigation array buttons are flat on the surface of the phone but there is enough space between the keys so pressing them is comfortable. All the keys are big enough except the four way navigation button but there weren’t any major issues.

The lower part of the handset can be turned to access the music buttons. We really liked this feature and we think this is a great way to reduce the button clutter on the keyboard. The keyboard is tilted which gives you better ergonomics while typing. The buttons on the keyboard are small but they are again segregated from each other so you don’t get a lot of mis hits, even for people with thick fingers. The number buttons are colored in green. The space key can be used as Quick Note shortcut key and there is a dedicated key for messaging which opens up a new text message.

On the music side, there are four buttons, a key to open the music application, pause/play, previous and next track keys. The music keys cannot be used when it is at the back of the phone and same holds true for the QWERTY keyboard.

Phone book and PIM features

The handset comes with 1000 entry phone book. A single entry can take street address, IM screen name, two e-mail IDs and 5 phone numbers. You can make groups of your callers, photo caller ID too is supported. You get a choice of 27 ring tones and alert tones. PIM features include notepad, world clock, stop watch, alarm clock, calendar, tip calculator, standard calculator, speaker phone and vibrate mode. There is also an e-diary for you to pour your thoughts in. Advanced features include GPS along with turn-by-turn direction service by VZ Navigator, plus a wireless Web browser.
Messaging features

The handset is message-centric and comes with tools like multimedia and text messaging, instant messaging (Yahoo, Windows Live and AIM), mobile e-mail with mobile Web e-mail. Mobile e-mail service costs $5 a month, it is Verizon’s downloadable application which delivers e-mail directly in to your phone’s inbox. Mobile Web e-mail opens the Web browser and gives access to e-mail services from Verizon.net, Yahoo Mail, AOL Mail and Windows Live.

Music features

The Razzle has a simple and clean interface for music and the tracks are divided into genres, albums and artists. You can edit and create play lists on the move, shuffle and repeat modes are there. There are six sound effects like Bass, Pop, Classic, Jazz, Rock and Normal. You can minimize the music player and get on to other things on the device. There is also airplane mode if you want to groove to your music while onboard. There is there no EV-DO, so you cannot access V Cast Music with Rhapsody to download music over the air. The music quality is good and it would have been better if there was a 3.5 mm jack included. Speaker phone quality for music is not so good, it distorts at highest volume.

Camera

The 1.3 MP camera on the back has self portrait mirror and can take pictures in four resolutions – 160×120, 320×240, 640×480 and 1280×960. The settings on the camera include three shutter sounds along with a silent option, four effects for color, six presets for white balance, brightness and self timer. Photos were really bad but you cannot great pictures from a 1.3 MP rated camera. The camera cannot shoot videos.
Games and personalization

The Razzle doesn’t come with any games but you can download games and applications on to it. You can personalize the device with various display themes and wallpaper. You can use your own pictures as wallpapers on the display. Other downloadables include alert tones and sounds and you can download Verizon store from the wireless Web browser.

Call quality

The call quality of the Razzle was good, we could hear what our friends were speaking clearly and our friends too gave us similar results. There was a bit of background noise while on the calls but it wasn’t that irritating. Speaker phone calls were very bad. We could hear what our friends were saying and vice versa but our friends said that we sounded quiet and we had to place the phone closer to our mouth to solve this problem.

Battery life

Razzle has a rated battery life of 4.77 hours for talk time and standby time is 15.25 days. In our lab tests the battery lasted for little over than 6 hours which is more than rated talk time.

Verdict:

We just couldn’t get enough of the swivel; we were twisting the Razzle all the time in our labs. The handset is good for music and messaging. We would have called it a great multi media phone, if there was a 3.2 mega pixel camera. We will recommend this phone to both business men and youth for the music and messaging features that it offers.