When shopping for a new phone, not everyone can afford the most expensive new $299 phone on the block, so Pantech certainly wants to offer you a well-priced alternative. The Pantech Breakout is currently being sold for $50 straight from Verizon, or free from 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] party vendors (on a new 2-year individual contract). The device offers you LTE speed with mid-tier hardware, so let’s take a look.
Overview:
This phone was released a few months back to cater to those that couldn’t afford the high prices of the Bionic or the Razr. The device offered those LTE speeds with a price tag that will not break the bank. This phone definitively has the specs of a mid-range device, but also includes LTE. It comes with a single core processor, a 5 megapixel camera, and very little on-board memory. This phone isn’t made to stack up to today’s best, but it can meet your daily needs.
Using the phone I had a pretty good experience. The device offered a fairly smooth user interface, and not too much overlay or bloatware to give you a headache. The camera quality wasn’t the best. Pictures turned out looking muddy. The call quality, on the other hand sounded pretty good, I heard the other person quite clearly and did not have to say “can you hear me now” even once.
The software on the phone is Android 2.3/Gingerbread, so you’re getting quality stuff whenever you use it. I did experience a low memory issue when I had SPB mobile shell going alongside the browser and music player. This is a downside to me, but most people will almost never have that same situation going when they’re using all that memory.
For a mid-range device, this phone is actually pretty decent. The only true downsides to me are how ugly it looks, and the fact that we don’t know Pantech’s reliability track record just yet in the Android arena.
Here's the breakdown:
Good:
- Great call quality
- LTE 4G support
- Pretty good battery life
- Good build quality
- Not Android 4.0
- Camera quality could be better
- Pretty ugly
- Low memory
7/10: Speed and Multitasking
7/10: Camera Quality
7/10: Browsing Experience
7/10: Music Playback
8/10: Build Quality
7/10: Size
10/10: Network
10/10: Pricing
7/10: Overall Rating
Would I buy it?
For the price this is a great phone and I would really consider it if I were looking at a mid-range device, but in all honesty, I wouldn’t buy it.
Recommend it?
Yes; as a well-priced phone, it’s certainly a device not to be overlooked when considering a new cheap phone, but if there’s a 4G HTC device in this price range also available… you might check that out first.
