CTIA Fall 2009
The Reveal from Pantech seems like an oddball phone at first. Why would you put a numeric keypad on a phone, and then a QWERTY keyboard right below that on a slide? The way Pantech explained the rationale, though, actually makes a lot of sense. Essentially, it's just like the dual-slide, dual-keypad Matrix - a nice concept - but with only one slide, which allows it to be much thinner. Thickness is a major downside of all dual-slide phones to date; the mechanism just takes up too much space.
Once you try the Reveal, the concept makes even more sense. When open, you have a full four-row QWERTY keyboard with a large space bar, plus the numeric keypad above remains active, serving the same purpose as a dedicated fifth number row. The keyboard even has room for dedicated period, comma, and question mark keys. So even though it looks odd to have one type of keypad stacked on top of another, it makes for a pretty good messaging experience.
The Reveal feels good. The slide mechanism and overall build quality are excellent. The keys - both numeric and QWERTY - are also good. The numeric keys are roomy and have a nice domed shape, with good feel when pressed. The QWERTY keys are small, hard and squarish, making them feel a tad awkward, but they're easy to find and press accurately. It's better than a lot of keyboards on other phones from larger manufacturers.
The Reveal also sports 3G data, a 2-megapixel camera supporting video capture and AT&T Video Sharing, plus a microSD memory card card slot.
Look for the Reveal on AT&T starting October 18th.
The other new Pantech this week is the Impact. This sleek little phone has a very unique style. The form factor is a little like the LG enV3, in that it has a small display and numeric keypad on the front, but opens up sideways to reveal a QWERTY keyboard and much larger display.
The Impact we saw was trimmed in pink, and had a generally feminine design flair, although it will also be offered in blue. The face is one large metallic oval. It's mostly dark when off, but when in use, a monochrome display appears at the top, and a set of touch numeric keys below that. I'm not a fan of all-touch keypads like this. I wish they had at least included a physical d-pad in the center.
Opening it up reveals a surprisingly wide, high-resolution display. It's very bright and crisp. Surrounding the display is a mirror; not something mirror-like, no: a full-on mirror.
The QWERTY keyboard is large and works very well. A circular d-pad is located off to the right, with soft keys and send/end keys across the top. The keyboard includes a dedicated key to launch social networking features, including Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. Pantech claims these are full software clients, although AT&T wasn't allowing us use units with SIM cards, so we couldn't try them out.
AT&T also forbade us form taking photos of the Impact, unfortunately.
Like the Reveal, the Impact includes 3G data, a 2-megapixel camera and microSD memory card slot. The memory card slot is oddly located at one end of the top half. Video Sharing is also supported.
Look for the Impact in mid-November on AT&T.
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