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Korean smartphone also-ran Pantech goes up for sale
If we asked you to think about a (South) Korean tech company, it's highly likely that the names "Samsung" or "LG" would be the first to spring to mind. That's one of the reasons that Pantech, the country's third biggest manufacturer, is putting itself up for sale. Being sat behind two of the world's biggest smartphone outfits has hurt the comparatively small business, which has recorded losses for six consecutive quarters. According to ZDNet Korea, the company decided to put itself up for sale because it's worth a lot more as a going concern than it is being broken up and sold-off for scrap. Ouch.
Pantech adds another fingerprint-scanning handset to its Vega Secret line
Pantech's latest secret has just been revealed in the form of this 5.6-inch smartphone that's packing similar gear to the company's Secret Note. Like its predecessor, the new Vega Secret Up boasts a fingerprint sensor, LTE-Advanced data connection and a 13-megapixel rear camera. Based on the slightly reduced specs, however, it sounds like a less costly version of its older sibling, ditching the stylus and sporting half (16GB) of the internal storage and 2GB, instead of 3GB, of RAM. Inside the device, which works on WCDMA/GSM bands, you'll find the same 2.3GHz MSM8974 Snapdragon 800 chip and a 3,150 mAh battery. The company won't divulge pricing or availability, but we imagine it'll come in under the price of the Vega Note, which goes for $839 in South Korea.
Daily Roundup: Fitbit Force fitness watch, Twitter's Event Parrot, Pantech Vega Secret Note and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Pantech Vega Secret Note includes fingerprint reader, stylus and the kitchen sink
Don't look now, but Pantech just managed to combine five hot smartphone trends in one device. Its new, 5.9-inch Vega Secret Note centers on a fingerprint reader that hides personal info. However, that's just the start of a feature list that includes seemingly every major trick we've seen in the past few months -- there's also pen input, a rear touch sensor, LTE-Advanced data and an optional windowed front cover. It's no slouch in the performance department, either. On top of its big 1080p screen, the Vega Secret Note packs a Snapdragon 800 chip, 3GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel rear camera, a 2-megapixel front shooter and 32GB of storage with USB host support. Pantech hasn't said when its new flagship arrives, although it should reach all three major South Korean carriers for an estimated 900,000 won ($839) off-contract.
Pantech Vega LTE-A gains fingerprint-based mobile payments
Want to find a nifty use for the fingerprint sensor on the Pantech Vega LTE-A? Well, thanks to the hard work of two South Korean companies, it's picking up the ability to pay for goods by authenticating with your fingerprint. This news comes from Danal, a mobile payment provider, which tapped the fingerprint technologies of Crucialtec to create the BarTong app. While the concept of fingerprint-based payments isn't entirely new, it's claimed to be an industry first for the mobile phone. The BarTong app is currently exclusive to South Korea, but its creator is looking to expand the payment service into the US and China. Naturally, Danal may want to hold off until fingerprint readers become more widespread in smartphones, but we certainly won't fault the company for being ambitious.
Pantech founder resigns as vice chairman due to firm's poor performance
Pantech's been mustering all it's got to win folks over with its smartphones, but poor business performance has prompted Park Byeong-yeop, the firm's founder and current vice chariman, to resign. Despite Samsung's recent $50 million investment, the firm's taking additional measures to solve its financial woes, which weren't eased by disappointing smartphone sales and a $46 million operating loss in Q2 2013. The Korean manufacturer is asking approximately 800 employees -- roughly a fourth of its workforce -- to take a voluntary, unpaid leave of absence for six months. If the outfit's circumstances haven't improved by the end of that period, it plans to ask another 800 folks to swap places with those on leave. Tough times are ahead for camp Pantech, but here's hoping the fiscal belt-tightening changes the state of its coffers.
Pantech Vega LTE-A flaunts fingerprint recognition, 5.6-inch 1080p display
Few phones can take advantage of South Korea's freshly-launched LTE-Advanced networks, but Pantech's just given speed demons a new option: the Vega LTE-A. Though full details haven't trickled out from overseas just yet, the available specs paint an impressive picture. A 5.6-inch full HD display graces the front of the handset while a quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor helps the device run Android 4.2.2. What's more, it's toting an area for fingerprint recognition on its back. Come mid-August, folks in the hardware maker's homeland will be able to pick up the handset for use on SK Telecom's network. If the LTE-A variant of the Galaxy S 4 doesn't strike your fancy, Pantech's newest piece of kit might just be worth a look.
Refresh Roundup: week of July 29th, 2013
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!
Refresh Roundup: week of June 17th, 2013
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!
Refresh Roundup: week of June 10th, 2013
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!
Samsung buys 10 percent stake in rival phone maker Pantech
Hang around these pages long enough and you're bound to come across Pantech, the South Korean purveyor of everything from giant 1080p handsets down to... giant 720p handsets. Samsung has noticed this rising star too and, so says Yonhap News, has now made a $50 million investment in the smaller company in return for a 10 percent stake. Implicit in that is that the Korean government has allowed Samsung's ever-expanding influence to infiltrate a potential rival, since Pantech is now the No. 3 phone maker in that country and only Qualcomm and a state-run bank possess larger stakes than Samsung's. As a result, the acquisition could have an anti-competitive aura to it -- but then, Pantech has actually been struggling of late, not least with large debts, and it has relied on big backers to bail it out.
Pantech Perception official for Verizon, delivers motion-aware Android on April 25th
Unofficial details of the Pantech Perception have been around for long enough for the phone to feel old, but the truth is that it's only just getting started. The 4.8-inch, mid-tier Android smartphone is at last launching with Verizon on April 25th, and it should cost $100 on contract after subscribers cash in a $50 rebate. It won't trigger much regret among Galaxy S 4 buyers when it's carrying a more GS3-like Super AMOLED 720p screen, 16GB of storage, an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front shooter. That said, Pantech does promise an extra level of software savvy: the company's customized variant of Ice Cream Sandwich (soon to upgrade to Jelly Bean) centers on a Motion Sense suite that lets owners wave their hands to answer calls, switch tracks or navigate contacts and photo galleries. While we can't say we're bowled over by that claimed advantage, the Perception may just hit the sweet spot for those who want an alternative to HTC and Samsung for a bigger handset.
Pantech Vega Iron brings a 5-inch 'zero bezel' display, where zero equals 2.4mm (update)
We've got to admit that we saw some rumors about a "zero bezel" Pantech a few days ago, but ignored them because we had no idea what that meant. Now we do, however, as Pantech has made the 5-inch 1080p 720p phone official, under the solid-sounding name of the Vega Iron. The bezels aren't quite zero, but they are small: just 2.4mm across on each side, which -- for reference -- is roughly half the width on an iPhone 5. This results in a viewable-to-total area ratio of 75.5 percent, which Pantech claims is a world beater. Other specs include a quad-core 1.7GHz Snapdragon 600 processor, in-cell LCD display and Gigabit WiFi. We have no idea if Pantech has penciled the United States into the Vega Iron's release schedule, but the company is certainly trying to make an impression in this hemisphere and a phone like this couldn't hurt. Update: The rumors were right about everything except the resolution, which now looks to be 720p rather than the big ten-eighty. Thanks to commenters who spotted the error.
Engadget Giveaway: win a Pantech Discover!
The Pantech Discover isn't a flagship device that may turn a lot of heads, but we determined that it was actually one of the best -- if not the best -- budget-friendly phone we've reviewed. Available for $50 on AT&T, it sports a 720p display, 13MP camera and a few other tempting specs. Pantech was kind enough to offer one to our readers, so head below to our widget to enter! Entries will be accepted until 11:59PM ET tomorrow. Note: comments are no longer accepted as entries to giveaways. We've begun using Rafflecopter for our contests, so now you have the ability to put in more than one entry! Winner: Congratulations to Thomas W. of Urbana IL for winning the Pantech Discover!a Rafflecopter giveaway
Mobile Miscellany: week of February 18th, 2013
If you didn't get enough mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we've opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This week brought confirmation of Pantech's next phone for Verizon, legal battles over the airwaves in India and a new smartphone to Virgin Mobile. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of February 18th, 2013.
The biggest 1080p phone so far: Pantech's 5.9-inch Vega No. 6
It's been such a mighty, mighty long time since the Vega No. 5 came out to tug on the Dell Streak 5's coattails, but Pantech has just announced the next installment in its phablet series: the 5.9-inch Vega No. 6. The Android 4.1 handset opts for an IPS LCD display, alongside a 13-megapixel rear camera capable of 1080p30 video and a hefty 2-megapixel front-facer. The battery is pretty big too at 3,150mAh, and it's powering a Snapdragon S4 Pro, which means the only thing we're missing right now is some concrete release info -- the official announcement has so far been entirely Korea-centric.
Pantech Discover review: a budget phone has never looked so premium
Watch out, folks: Pantech is moving up the AT&T food chain. Once known in the US as little more than a budget brand, the Korean company is learning that it's possible to push out a device with premium components without increasing the going price (while choosing an outside-the-box design at the same time). The latest piece of evidence supporting this is the Discover, a $50 smartphone with enough trimmings to turn some heads. But will the phone set a new precedent for its pricing tier, or is it just blindly checking off items on a spec sheet to-do list? Follow us after the break and find out.
Verizon-bound Pantech Perception leaks: 1.5GHz S4, 720p display, LTE and Android
Sure, Pantech's 4.8-inch Discover HD for AT&T had its official announcement around CES, and now it appears Verizon will get its own variant of the Android smartphone. The ever-resourceful evleaks has scooped up details about said device, dubbed as the Pantech Perception, along with the leaked press image above. As the report goes, it's apparently packing a similar 720p (1176 x 720) HD display, a 1.5Ghz Snapdragon S4 SoC, LTE connectivity and, naturally, Verizon markings. Details are slim aside from that, although, evleaks is implying it'll cost near to the $50 on-contract pricing of the Discover HD. As always, we'll keep you posted when more info arises -- there are more happenings from CES to catch up on in the meantime.
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Pantech's Chandra Thompson (update: video embedded)
Love budget devices? We've got Chandra Thompson, marketing manager for Pantech hitting our stage to discuss what the next year has in store for the company. January 9, 2013 1:00 PM EST Check out our full CES 2013 stage schedule here! Update: video embedded
Pantech Discover hands-on (video)
Talk about a stark contrast to last year's AT&T Developer Summit: instead of blasting out a large number of devices, the Pantech Discover was the carrier's sole handset announcement today. It's certainly a spotlight hog, though -- the budget-friendly smartphone is making its way to store shelves on January 11th for $50, and it's bringing an entourage of premium features. Boasting a 4.8-inch 720p TFT display, 12.6MP camera, 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 Plus, 2,100mAh battery and 16GB internal storage with microSD capacity, it's one of the most tempting phones we've ever seen in this price tier (on paper, at least). We've been able to spend some quality time with the Discover. We have some photos after the break, and keep on reading below as we collect our thoughts and first impressions of the surprisingly solid device. Follow all the latest CES 2013 news at our event hub.
