1st Look: Pantech Duo

AT&T will be soon releasing the Pantech Duo (Slotted Oct. 9th apparently) but is yet to hit stores or online site. I got a chance to play with this revolutionary device (for AT&T at least) for a bit, and snagged some low quality cell phone pics.

I don't want to become a review site, there are much better ones out there, but I did want to cover this handset.

Pros:

• Small, Small is good, being a phone in the pocket sort of guy, this phone is much easier to carry than a blackjack or a 8800, much less a Tilt or a Treo.
• Dual Slide keyboard, You knew that already though.
• Windows Mobile 6, not a watered down version either, you will have ability to edit attachments from the device, and get push e-mail.
  

Cons:

• Pantech, Do I doubt Pantech's ability to build a quality handset? Yes. Hopefully the build quality shown in some of Helio's handsets are shown here.
• No Touch Screen, It's actually a big pain moving from a touch screen device, Windows Mobile 6 has a lot of quirks features that are a lot easier with a stylus (think pop up boxes)
• No GPS, has TeleNav, but no integrated GPS, c'mon Helio has it on the ocean.
  
• Keys are actually pretty awkward, You can see there is only 3 rows, unlike the traditional 4. The spacebar is smack in the middle of where you want to type. Softkey placement takes some serious getting used to.

Conclusion: AT&T would be dumb not to have a phone like this, and hopefully will market it so that it is a well known name, i.e. envy. It is powerful enough for business users, and is a form that will be appealing to the younger crowds (something AT&T is hurting for). It has some drawbacks, what handset doesn't, but integrated GPS would have been nice. It should be hitting stores any day now, at a ripe $250 after $50 MIR. More pics...

Confirmed: Price List for new releases

AT&T will be releasing a slew of Data Devices (And handsets) in the next month or so, and here is pricing for the new stuff.

This is just what was supposed to be slotted for release before 11/3, There is more coming, like the recently confirmed Blackjack 2, LG Shine, LG Prada, HIGHLY rumored Palm Centro (Or possibly another Windows Mobile based Palm), and even more rumored Nokia N95!

• Samsung A737- $49.99 (After $50 rebate)
• RIM 8820- $299.99 (After $50 rebate with unl. data)
• AT&T 5700- $69.99 (After $50 rebate with unl. data or personal PDA Plan)
• Pantech Duo- $249.99 (After $50 rebate with unl. data or personal PDA Plan)
• Motorola Q9 global- $299.99 (After $50 rebate with unl. data or personal PDA Plan)
• Samsung A747- $149.99 (After $50 rebate)
• SonyEricsson z750- $99.99 (After $50 rebate)
• LG CU720- $149.99 (After $50 rebate)

My 2 cents worth, AT&T knows the money is in data devices, whether or not consumers want to drop $40 a month to use them is another thing. If AT&T wants these devices to sell they need to start looking at adopting iPhone-esc data plans or better yet helio data plans to attract young consumers. More on this later.