Pantech Pocket

Pantech Pocket

Pantech and AT&T have a history of making some pretty reliable phones, including the Pantech Crossover and the Pantech Laser. In the Pocket, you see Pantech's user-friendly Android Gingerbread skin, HSPA+ 4G speeds, and a good quality 5-megapixel camera, all for a very reasonable $50. In an interesting twist, however, the Pocket's standout trait--its wider, shorter build--is also its Achilles' heel, since the dimensions make for an awkward grip in smaller hands. Video quality will bum out budding videographers. A black phone with a textured, slightly rubberized finish coating the phone's rim and back, the Pocket's short, squat, rounded build immediately stands out. Even though its 4.52-inch height makes it no more vertically challenged than the iPhone 4S and the Samsung Transform Ultra), the handset's 3-inch waistline is much more ample than most. At 0.44-inch thick, the phone steers clear of bulkiness, and at 4.4 ounces, it's light without being flyaway. What makes the Pocket more pocket-filling than most is the 3:4 ratio of its 4-inch touch screen. This translates into an SVGA, or super-VGA resolution of 600x800 pixels (there's support for 16 million colors.) The screen itself is bright and colorful for the size, and graphics look smooth, not jagged or pixelated.