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Verizon catalog reveals Motorola Droid 2, new dumbphones
We knew the original Droid's replacement was coming, but we were never able to nail down the market name with confidence -- until now, it seems. The Droid 2 makes a prominent appearance in an official catalog of Verizon devices leaked to BGR, talking up its 5 megapixel cam, 8GB of onboard storage, and 1GHz processor, positioning it just ever so slightly below the mighty Droid X. Also finding their way into the catalog are the recently-launched Pantech Jest, the self-branded Verizon Salute, and the Intensity II and Gusto both from Samsung, all dumbphones that just add more evidence to the theory that all the good names for mobile devices have already been taken. No date's given for the Droid 2, but we imagine it can't be long now that they're openly talking about it, right?
No joke: Verizon launches Pantech Jest
Don't call it a joke of a phone. Well, okay, go ahead and call it a joke if you want to, but it's true -- Verizon is calling its latest text-centric dumbphone from Pantech the "Jest." Features include a 2.6-inch display, optical d-pad (pretty unique for a phone in this market segment), a 2 megapixel cam with video capture, and the usual host of built-in social apps for services like instant messaging, Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. It launches today online -- for free, no less -- while stores will get it on July 5 for $69.99 on contract after rebate. Follow the break for the press release.
Pantech Ease now official on AT&T
AT&T's latest from longtime partner Pantech has now gone from rumor to reality, bringing another full-touch dumbphone into the fold -- but there's an interesting twist on this one. The so-called Ease is clearly geared toward the older set, packing unique features like a pill reminder and built-in pedometer alongside more common goodies like text-to-speech and voice command. It's got a 2 megapixel camera, slide-out landscape keyboard, 3G, and a 3.2-inch WQVGA display paired with a $69.99 launch price (on contract after rebate, of course) that should make it fairly appealing to the penny-pinching types Pantech's clearly trying to appeal to with this one. It's available today. [Thanks, Sedat T.]
AT&T's LG Prime and Pantech Ease in the wild?
If the Pursuit isn't up your alley, it looks like Pantech's got a slightly higher-end phone in store for you: the Ease. We know next to nothing about it, but it's clearly got a more spacious keyboard than its kid brother -- and the silver highlights are a little more businesslike than green and blue. From LG, we've got a phone called the Prime that looks as though it could be a keyboardless (and arguably better-looking) version of the Vu Plus. No dates or prices on these, but dummies are out and about, so it can't be long. See more in the gallery below. [Thanks, anonymous tipster] Update: We've been told by two independent sources that the Ease is actually geared toward the older set -- first we've really seen a full touchscreen phone do that -- and the Prime is destined for AT&T's prepaid GoPhone service with a 2 megapixel cam. Thanks, guys! %Gallery-95670%
Pantech Pursuit probably pretty perfect for plenty of people
Announced way back in March, the Pursuit from Pantech is finally available on AT&T, the latest member of the carrier's well-established "quick messaging device" line of text-centric dumbphones. Interestingly, this is Pantech's first full touch QWERTY slider, packing a 2.8-inch display, 2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, microSD expansion all the way up to 32GB, and -- of course -- a four-row sliding keyboard. Not our cup of tea, necessarily, but it's awfully cute -- can you just imagine this thing giving the X10 mini a run for its money if only it were running Android? We can dream, but in the meantime, the Pursuit is available now in your choice of lime or blue for $49.99 on contract after rebate. Follow the break for the release.
NTT DoCoMo, KDDI launch their endless Summer 2010 collections
Surprise: Japanese carriers are announcing literally dozens of phones at once. Okay, look, that's not a surprise at all, but bear with us, because there are a few shining jewels in here amongst the seemingly endless array of WVGA displays and one-seg tuners from NTT DoCoMo and KDDI au, both of whom have announced their Summer 2010 collections of handsets this week. Of note, two of the models from DoCoMo -- the Fujitsu F-06B and Sharp SH-07B are capable of shooting 1080p video, while KDDI's SH008 from Sharp, S003 from Sony Ericsson, and CA005 from Casio all feature sensors of 12 megapixels or larger. Several of the devices can also be used as WiFi hotspots, and Hitachi's trick Beskey for KDDI has interchangeable keypads that change the shape of the keys, not the layout -- a bit superficial, perhaps, but we're all about choice. DoCoMo is also launching a handful of smartphones: the Lynx SH-10B from Sharp (not to be confused with the old Atari handheld of the same name) that features Android atop a 5-inch touchscreen, Toshiba's 4.1-inch T-01B Dynapocket with WinMo, and RIM's plain old BlackBerry Bold 9700. Don't get us wrong, it's still quite a haul, but we can't help but feel that the gap between Japan's wireless scene and the rest of the world is closing fast.
AT&T scheduling Palm Pixi Plus, Vu Plus, and others for early June launch?
So we know the Pre Plus is hitting AT&T this coming Sunday -- but what about its little brother? We're hearing that AT&T has lined up the Pixi Plus for a June 6 launch for $49.99 on contract after rebate, $100 less than it'll be charging for the Pre Plus -- in other words, you'll be able to get a Verizon Pre Plus or an AT&T Pixi Plus for the same price, and the latter won't include free mobile hotspot service. Voodoo math aside, we've got a few more goodies in here for you: the aging LG Vu will apparently be replaced on June 6 with a Vu Plus model for $149.99 on contract with rebate, Samsung will re-up the rugged Rugby with the Rugby II for $129.99, and Pantech's Pursuit swings in for $49.99. It all makes for an exciting June, does it not? [Thanks, Kal]
Palm Pre Plus, Pantech Breeze 2 dummies showing up in AT&T stores
It's pretty wild that neither Palm nor AT&T have fessed up to a release date for the GSM-ified versions of the Pre Plus or Pixi Plus yet -- especially considering that there are already unboxings going on -- but we've now got confirmation that dummy units (of the Pre Plus, anyhow) are filtering into retail stores, so it definitely shouldn't be much longer now. Dummies of an updated version of the ultra-simple Pantech Breeze (uncreatively named Breeze 2) is also coming in, so between these two, you should pretty much be able to outfit every member of the family from grandpa to the newborn. Seriously though, AT&T -- wait much longer on this release, and this sucker's going to be obsolete. [Thanks, Kal]%Gallery-92113%
Pantech's Sirius Sky smartphone does Android 2.1 on Snapdragon
One gigahertz is becoming the bar of entry in the world of Android, and the upcoming Sirius Sky from Pantech meets that with its Snapdragon processor. It's also helped along by an Android 2.1 install and a 3.7-inch 800 x 480 OLED screen that does look rather vivid in the above shot -- presumably taken indoors. 500MB of storage is offered internally by the phone while expandable memory bumps things up to 32GB, upon which pictures from the five megapixel camera can be stored for later mockery. The phone is said to be hitting Asian markets "pretty soon" and, while there are rumors of a US release, they're sounding a bit unsubstantiated at this point.
AT&T posts four new featurephones from Samsung and Pantech
AT&T loves to trumpet the importance of the so-called "quick messaging" segment to its bottom line -- the QWERTY-equipped featurephones that keep the teens and tweens texting 24 / 7 -- so it's no surprise that of the latest batch of devices they've added into the mix from Samsung and Pantech (which we missed while caught up in the week's MIX10 activities), three of the four have full keyboards. The Strive from Samsung gets real in stores on March 21 with a 2 megapixel cam and vertical slide for just $20 on contract with rebate; the Sunburst comes on the same date for $40 with the same cam but a rather attractive full-touch design. On the Pantech side, you can choose from the portrait QWERTY Link (pictured left) or the Pursuit portrait slider, though neither has been blessed with a price or release date just yet. Perhaps more interesting than the phones themselves is the fact that the devices are the first to get hooked up with a host of new services from AT&T, including a cloud-synced address book, a media sharing service called Mobile Share that allows you to transfer videos and pictures between devices for a monthly or per-transfer fee, and so-called "Next Generation Messaging" that adds group texting capability, a threaded view, and a unified inbox -- smartphone-caliber features across the lower end of AT&T's range.
Pantech Sky IM-U560K is small, slick, and very pastel
Pantech's Sky IM-U560K is a small slider set to launch -- in four soft pastel hues -- on Korea's Sky in the near future. One of the IM-U560K shining features is handset control via gestures -- with a shake or twist of the phone, for example, you can scroll and slide through the interface without having to lay a single finger on its 2.6-inch touchscreen. Other notables include a DMB TV tuner, the usual MP3 player, 3 megapixel camera, photo and video modes, and a potentially useful Korean to English text-to-speech app (we can at least hope it trumps the translation Google coughed up for this Korean-to-English post). As a bonus, the IM-U560K's packaging is eco-friendly using soybean inks printed on 100% recycled paper -- replacing, we assume, whatever toxic substances were used in the past. No word on the exact when or price -- but these things always pop up shortly after the PR does -- so hang tight.
Pantech P9020 packs touch, QWERTY, cute into one package
Thought that the low-cost messaging phone craze was cooling off? Think again, because this Pantech that just hit the FCC looks like something we'll probably see at retail in the next few months. The so-called P9020 (we're sure it'll get a much snazzier name by the time you can buy it) has a 2 megapixel camera behind a full touchscreen and a full QWERTY slide, perfect for those rugrats in desperate need of a 100-plus wpm rating on the text circuit. This sucker's got 850 / 1900MHz WCDMA on board, ripe for use on AT&T; the carrier's got a history of collaborating with Pantech, anyhow, and there are mentions of AT&T services in the user's manual filed with the FCC documentation -- so yeah, we pretty much know where this thing's going. With the Quickfire's reputation sullied since it took on a far-too-literal name, this seems like a fitting successor, does it not?
Pantech Impact now available on AT&T for $100
That trick Impact -- the better half of Pantech's two-phone combo for AT&T this fall -- has finally hit AT&T in the past couple days after we had a chance to play with it way back at CTIA at the beginning of October. Though it's not much of a monster on paper, the Impact has one of the more unique looks of anything currently in AT&T's lineup thanks to a touch-sensitive "hidden" external keypad paired with an internal color display and full QWERTY keyboard. That all matches up nicely with 3G capability and a 2 megapixel camera -- and buyers of all genders, tastes, and moods are welcome to this party thanks to availability in blue and pink. Grab it for $99.99 on contract after rebate, if you're so inclined.
Virgin Mobile looks ready to euthanize Helio brand, Ocean 2 vanishes
Back in our day, the kiddies all ran around with Helios, VK Mobile looked like it could be the next Pantech, and "Kickflip" was a phone, not a skateboarding move. Okay, fine -- we knew like one or two people that used Helio, VK Mobile never even made a dent in the US market, and skateboarding had a lock on kickflips long before the wireless industry did -- and actually, that perfect storm of bad news may have ultimately led the once-promising MVNO to the sad situation we have here today under Virgin Mobile's stewardship. Virgin has now all but erased the memory of Helio from its website, leaving just the Ocean and Mysto to soldier on -- and the phones now go by their ODM's names (Pantech and Samsung, respectively) rather than Helio proper. The strangest part is that the Ocean seems to have outlasted its replacement, the Ocean 2, which is now gone -- unless you hit up Virgin Mobile's Korean language site, a sub-brand in itself that it inherited from Helio and has a track record of giving members of the community better, faster access to hot devices. Any way you slice it, though, it never made sense for Virgin to run two brands -- Helio's fate was sealed the moment the sale was finalized, but considering the company's spot-on mantra of "bring awesome Asian phone tech to North America," we'll always have a soft spot in our hearts for these guys. [Via MobileCrunch]
SKY Dupont is the most expensive Pantech ever made
What exactly does the equivalent of roughly $830 buy you in Pantech's home market these days? Well, it'll apparently get you signed up for the priciest device South Korea's third-largest handset manufacturer has ever made, the Dupont from subsidiary SKY. As far as we can tell, this thing is more show than go, thanks largely to a weakling 3-inch WQVGA display and 3 megapixel camera -- but then again, it's hard to argue with designer tie-ins and questionably tasteful gold accents, isn't it? Look for this one on local carrier SKT, and for once, we're totally fine with the fact that Pantech is concentrating on low-end messaging devices over on AT&T. [Via Unwired View]
Pantech Reveal and Impact revealed with impact
We've just checked out Pantech's new pair of messaging-friendly phones for AT&T, the Reveal and Impact; one of them left an "impact" on us, and we'll let you guess which one (hint: it's the one that would result in a pun occurring). Yeah, the Reveal was a pretty cheap-looking set -- and we're not sure we understand the value of eating of screen real estate with a dedicated numeric pad just so you don't have to slide the phone open to dial -- but the Impact (pictured above) was a genuinely intriguing phone. Up front you've got a glossy black surface that lights up to reveal a basic monochrome display and a numeric pad; pressing buttons on the pad triggers haptics so you can sorta feel your way around. Opening the phone up produces a full QWERTY keyboard with dedicated buttons for key functions (messaging, for example) and a color display with stereo speakers on either side. It's not a huge widescreen like you might find on something like an enV Touch, but it's still pretty big, plenty vibrant, and serviceable for the full HTML browser that AT&T's touting in these new devices. Pantech tells us that the Impact will go for "under $80" when it ships next month, so we'd argue that makes it a heck of a bargain in light of the unusual, slick design and the dual displays. %Gallery-75041%
AT&T touts Opera-powered full web browsing with new phones from Samsung and Pantech
AT&T wants you to know that you don't need a smartphone just to get a rich, full web experience from your handset -- theoretically, anyway -- with the introduction of four new models from longtime partners Samsung and Pantech alongside a new featurephone browser. First up from Samsung comes the Flight (pictured left), billed as a "next-generation messaging device" on account of its full QWERTY portrait slide paired with a full touchscreen up top; it'll be available next month for $99.99 on contract after rebate -- that is, if you didn't buy it on Craigslist already. That silvery slate in the middle that's more likely to be catching your eye is the Mythic, rocking TouchWiz on a 3.3-inch display along with AT&T Mobile TV, making it a fitting successor to the Eternity and big brother to the Solstice; like the Flight, it swings onto retail next month, but you'll be paying a stiffer $199.99 on contract after $50 rebate. Turning our attention to the Pantech side of the table, we've got the Reveal (pictured right) that lets you have it both ways with a numeric keypad up top twined with a QWERTY slider underneath. It's 3G-capable, AT&T Navigator-equipped, and available for your enjoyment on October 18 in red and blue. Finally, the Impact (not pictured) has an OLED touchscreen up front, but when the texting gets hot and heavy, the phone opens up to reveal a second display along with a QWERTY keyboard. It'll be available in pink and blue, though neither pricing nor availability are being announced just yet. Gluing everything together is AT&T's new mobile browser, described as "a rich hybrid experience that gives you a HTML experience similar to your PC browser at home" that "works really well on a feature phone." Additionally, users visiting att.net from their PCs will be able to send bookmarks to their phones' mobile portals -- kind of a neat trick, especially when you're trying to minimize the number of URLs you have to mash out on an on-screen keyboard. Of course, featurephone browsers have a reputation for generally sucking, so considering that AT&T bills its new line of devices as "full web browsing phones," it'll be interesting to see how close they actually come to delivering on the claim; it's said the phones use "advanced data compression from Opera Software," which we're thinking is very likely some variation of Opera Turbo -- not a bad start.
Pantech Crystal's dazzling cover distracts us from its lame specs
Pantech's Korea-only SKY brand has launched a new flip that it's very overtly targeting at a female audience, the IM-S500K Crystal -- and as the name implies, it's a visual feast. The major differentiating "feature" here is a diamond patterned shiny plate up front with concealed lights and icons that seemingly illuminate at random (though are probably configurable enough to make sense to the user, just not those of us looking at a couple pictures from halfway around the globe). It's available in no fewer than four colors and features a 2.4-inch QVGA display, FM radio reception, a 2 megapixel camera, and a document viewer -- not the most Earth-shattering spec sheet we'd ever seen, but then again, can you really put a price on a shiny diamond pattern with LEDs underneath?
Pantech C180 for AT&T frugally tiptoes its way through the FCC
If you're looking for the most basic of basic candybars and you happen to be using AT&T service, today is a glorious day, friends, because Pantech's submitted a doozy for the FCC's perusal. The C180 lacks virtually every modern mobile convenience, eschewing even EDGE data -- though they have managed to keep a memory slot and FM radio aboard. Mentions of MEdia Net in the manual and the "C" model name -- historically reserved for Cingular, which is now AT&T -- tell us where this one's going, but we can't imagine that it'll see duty beyond GoPhone. [Via Phone Scoop]
Verizon announces Escapade global flip, available tomorrow
Typically, dual-mode global handsets on carriers like Sprint and Verizon have a distinctly high-end (or at least a midrange) flair to them, but the Escapade is rolling up on this scene to ask "why is that?" Verizon's new Pantech-sourced clamshell -- which will be sold under the Verizon name alone -- lacks EV-DO, UMTS, and even EDGE data, concentrating instead on offering voice and text services in "220 destinations worldwide." It's got a 2 megapixel camera, support for voice commands, Bluetooth, and VZ Navigator, but the most compelling feature might be the price: $29.99 on contract after rebate. Look for it to launch online and in stores tomorrow.
