Pantech's Matrix PRO slides two ways onto AT&T
By Chris Ziegler 
posted Feb 18th 2009 8:30AM
posted Feb 18th 2009 8:30AM
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So.. is this just a re-branded Ocean/2?
No, this one has WinMo...
I was referring to the hardware.. wondering if there was any difference (hardware-wise) between the Ocean2 and the MatrixPro.
Physically it looks that way. Atleast the Duo looked different, this is so similar.
so it goes both ways?
It kinda is
Though it isn't
This has win mo and somewhat different design
Check out my site at touchhacker.com
It's better looking than the original one, that's for sure.
I'll buy this when it's not running Windows Mobile. If they'd made their own OS (or gone with Android) I'd be interested.
So, you are saying that you would prefer a proprietary OS over a very widespread one with lots of developer support like WinMo? Windows is worlds better than the shitty OSs that they put on phones these days. Nokia - sucks, Samsung - sucks, LG - sucks, and Moto isn't that bad, and I think my RAZR V3xx has a better OS than any of those manufacturer's phones. With my phone, I get the crazy fast responsiveness (no joke), and with Nokia dumbphones, you get something that looks terrible and is laggy as hell. Take your pick, WinMo or unsupported crappy OS.
Whats up with all the wasted space at the top of the phone? I would have thought that with all the great phones with large displays companies would try and put in the largest screen possible.
Right. Bad design. Also what's with ATT always picking up this crappy Pantech WinMo phone. No one likes it, it's been reviewed horribly but they keep picking it up. They need to pick up the Diamond or Touch HD...
I upgraded to the regular Matrix when it launched back in what, November-ish? Anyway, the slide mechanism is weak, the phone would open on occasion in my pocket. Thinking it was just a weak hinge, I took it back for another one, and not 3 days after I had that one, I went to open the phone to type a text out and the top half of the phone falls off. Needless to say I was really disappointed.
I hope this is something that has been addressed, as the style of the phone is something I can really appreciate. However, the craftsmanship leaves a lot to be desired.
word
"'but where else are you going to get this many buttons on a single device?"
Remember the HTC S743...not only will you get a better looking WinMo phone, but also one with better specs.....though I doubt any carrier will have the HTC so anyone wanting one will have to pay full price.
yet another piece of shit from ATT.
What exactly are they trying to prove with this device? How many buttons you can put on a cellphone before you throw it into the garbage? I'm not saying it couldn't be useful, but that is one busy-looking handset. During a time when most companies are going with less buttons, this company is going the opposite direction. I suppose if you buy this thing, you'll be the only one in the city to have one and it will draw some attention as you play around with the dual sliders. It must be one hell of a device to assemble. No huge profit margins from this device.
To bad it's WinMo. It would have stood a chance if it was Android.
A lot of people - a LOT of people - don't like touch-screens. But they don't see why they can't get the same functionality as touch screen phones in a phone with buttons (and they're right). There is a market for this kind of thing, and it's not getting any smaller despite all the touch screen phones out there.
Personally, for me this is getting there, but I want screen protection too. That Samsung phone that's a flip that opens two ways is a bit closer to what I want, but still seems a little clunky. There is a huge market waiting to be tapped when somebody gets this right. A lot of people are holding off upgrading these days (handset sales overall are down and were even before the recession hit) because they don't want a touch screen phone but there are no other real "upgrades" available in non-touch screens.
I don't understand why they keep adding both sliding layers.
Just get rid of the number portion and make it half the width.
I believe that's the biggest selling point of this phone. Otherwise, you'd just get a TouchPRO or something of that nature.
Or just use an overlay over the regular keyboard for the partial slide up. You could use the qaz / wsx / edc area for the numbers and the phone would know if you slid it for a keyboard or a keypad, so that's plausible.
Because seriously, when I read about these dual-slider phones, the only thing I can think is "omg who would want to carry a brick in today's millennium?"
I liked the original Duo but there were a couple of bugs that no one would even acknowledge. I ended up returning after 2 weeks.
1st off, when any sound notification would come in while talking on bluetooth, it would mute the conversation with no way of getting the voice to work again besides disabling the headset.
2nd, the WinMo Media Player skin did not give the name of the track playing. (Maybe it was the artist, bit it still pissed me off that they didn't bother checking this.)
3rd. I can't remember the 3rd.
This is not a bug, but it didn't have a mini usb charger.
Also, it was on the expensive side. The Tilt which feels smaller in your pocket was only $50 more for WinMo Pro which gives u a couple of other features missing on standard even though for a while it felt like things take an extra tap or two on pro than on standard.
I did like the double slide though. Having a T9 keyboard let's u operate with one hand when necessary... you know, like when u shouldn't be typing to begin with. (like while driving).
I thought it was just a re-branded Ocean, isn't that what they did with the last verison too?
I had a Helio Ocean for 1 month and it's really not a brick, its smaller and lighter than you think and the dual slider actually does end up being extremely useful and handy.
Necessary? No, of course not, but I'm saying it really works. You actually would use one or the other depending on the situation.
But Helio the company sucked balls so I returned it... and compared to with whats out there now, it's very 2006. The screen IS tiny, so I don't understand why Pantech would still make a set like this or why At&t would pick it up. I suspect it's more to attract the teen market, like At&t's answer to the Sidekick.
I think this device should be named Duo2 not Matrix Pro.
This device is smartphone. NOT regular phone.
This device could be liked from business or young people who don't like touch mechanism.
well this is the rumored pantech duo 2 i saw last year from th FCC
anyway i will get this phone it looks pretty cool
I wonder if it is able to be upgrade to wibnmo 6.5, I sure hope it is
i will get this the day it comes out
check out my site at touchhacker.com
if you have questions email me at touchhacker@touchhacker.com
Newsflash! Nobody reads your site! If anyone actually cared about your website, they would be reading it instead of Engadget, and you wouldn't need to advertise here. Be gone!
all right then you know i am only in frickin high school i cant code that well and i dont have 79 people on staff reviewing products
newsflash!
huh! no response from lando go figure!!!