Here comes Pantech Jest 2 from Verizon Wireless

Here comes Pantech Jest 2 from Verizon Wireless

Pantech Jest 2 followed the unique Pantech Jest (2 stars) wasn't all that funny, and sadly the brand new Jest 2 isn't a lot of an enchancment.  It swaps the primary version's fatally flawed touchpad for a correct five-way management pad, and it's now a real world cellphone as properly.  for those who need one thing small for voice calls and frequent texting, it's solely a decent, middling selection now.  apart from its odd shape, this mobile cellphone nonetheless doesn't stand out in any approach. Here's more about Pantech Jest 2.

Pantech Jest 2 Design, Controls, and Voice Quality

The Jest 2 seems so much just like the unique version, which isn't an awesome factor at all, however not less than it's snug to make use of.  It measures a squat three. 7 by 2. 6 by 0. 6 inches (HWD) and weighs four. 1 ounces.  The smooth, shiny plastic and rounded edges make it particularly straightforward to slide the Jest right into a pants pocket or purse, whereas the rubberized again panel provides consolation throughout lengthy cellphone calls.  the two. 4-inch, 320-by-240-pixel liquid crystal display appears to be like vibrant and colourful.

The managements are an enormous enchancment over the past model, with a daily five-way management pad entrance and heart and two  operate keys in lieu of finicky capacitive buttons.  Pantech additionally moved the 4 principal perform keys down a bit, and blended them right into a single button bar with a textured floor that's simple to make use of one-handed.  Pantech left the unique keyboard largely intact, though the brand new one has extra attractive, metallic pink accents and brighter backlighting, which seems sharp.

not like the primary model, the Pantech Jest 2 is an actual globetrotter, with dual-band 1xRTT (850/1900 MHz) and quad-band EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) assist for calls made abroad.  however regardless of the 3G/CDMA sticker on the side, the Jest 2 is squarely a 2G-only gadget.  There's no Wi-Fi either, however function telephones often don't have Wi-Fi.

Voice high quality was fairly poor, with a honking, midrangey sound within the earpiece that was uncomfortable to pay attention to.  Transmissions via the microphone sounded skinny and brittle, with lots of avenue noise filtering via.  Reception was common.  Calls sounded high quality by means of an Aliph Jawbone period Bluetooth headset ($129, four stars) and the Nuance-powered voice dialing labored properly over Bluetooth.  The speakerphone sounded a bit harsh however had respectable gain, if not fairly sufficient to be used open air.  in contrast with the primary version, battery life fell virtually an hour to five hours and fifty seven minutes of discuss time, however that remains to be fairly good. 

Pantech Jest 2 consumer Interface, Apps, and Multimedia

This is actually simply a voice name and texting phone, however we'll dive in and speak about its different options simply for completion's sake.  the house screen's animated wallpaper is cute.  the principle menu consists of 9 icons organized in a grid sample.  Verizon lastly dropped its ridiculous $5-per-month cost for e-mail, and now offers you free entry as half of the $10 knowledge plan (which additionally allows you to browse the Web).  One good bonus: You get Opera Mini because the default browser.  Opera's server facet compression helps with delivering internet pages extra quickly, although there's solely a lot you are able to do on 2G; keep on with WAP websites and it really works nicely sufficient.  you furthermore mght get voice-enabled, turn-by-turn GPS instructions with VZ Navigator for a further $10 per thirty days.

The Jest 2 nonetheless isn't a lot of a multimedia phone, although.  The non-standard 2. 5mm headphone jack makes discovering respectable sounding earbuds nearly unimaginable.  There's simply 44MB of free inside memory—bizarre, because the unique model had virtually a gigabyte free.  no less than the Jest 2 acknowledged all tracks on my 32GB SanDisk microSD card, not only those in a particular folder.  Music tracks sounded clear and brilliant by Plantronics BackBeat Go Bluetooth headphones ($79, four stars), and that i heard not one of the dropouts that plagued the primary Pantech Jest.  Standalone video playback is out, although.

Pantech Jest 2 digicam and Conclusions

The 2-megapixel digicam has no flash or auto-focus, and is, to place it bluntly, a complete catastrophe.  There's a few second of delay between if you hear the shutter sound and when the picture is definitely taken, which means you'll should sit completely nonetheless or threat blurring the end result.  Even after I did sit still, pictures had a lot of colour noise and have been by no means utterly sharp.  The video recorder can be fully useless, due to its most 176-by-144-pixel video size, which is barely bigger than the decision of an iPhone app icon.  There's no excuse for this on a telephone today, even a free one, particularly since loads of low-end units with 1. 3-megapixel cameras snap usable photographs.

function telephones are a tricky promote to start with these days, because of steadily dropping smartphone costs.  The Jest 2 acquits itself higher than the primary model, however simply barely.  It's an honest purchase in the event you wish a free cellphone for plenty of texting and voice calls, and also you have a separate point-and-shoot digital camera and iPod.  one other good texting different is the LG Cosmos 2 (Free, three stars), with its higher voice quality, extra conventional dimensions, roomier horizontal QWERTY keyboard, and second numeric keypad.  our favourite characteristic telephone on Verizon wi-fi stays the admittedly costly Casio G'zOne Ravine 2 ($199. 99, four stars), which gives stellar voice high quality and stands as much as loads of abuse, though it's not a texting telephone just like the Jest 2.

Benchmarks

Continuous speak time: 5 hours fifty seven minutes

Pantech Jest 2 is a small phone with a big feature.

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Let's take a look for Pantech Hotshot from Verizon Wireless

Let's take a look for Pantech Hotshot from Verizon Wireless

The Pantech Hotshot (free with a two-year contract) appears and feels quite a bit like a smarttelephone, however it's truly a characteristic telephone in disguise.  It's skinny and sleek, with respectable name quality, good battery life, and a pleasant person interface hiding behind its contact display screen.  however all of that is fairly a lot negated by a processor that's simply too sluggish.  It might have been a contender, however it's extra of a swing and a miss for this Pantech Hotshot.

Pantech Hotshot Design and name Quality

The Hotshot measures four. 7 by 2. four by 0. four inches (HWD) and weighs simply three. 2 ounces.  It's made totally of plastic; the again is matte black with a diamond-textupurple pattern, whereas the entrance is a shiny, metallic purple.  There's a coated microUSB charging port on the fitting aspect of the phone, alongside with buttons to activate the phone's digital camera and voice dialing.  The left facet is house to quantity management keys, in addition to a three. 5mm headtelephone jack; this location makes it unusual to carry the telephone in your pocket whereas utilizing headtelephones, for the reason that wire stands proud to the facet.  apart from that, there is only one multifunction button situated beneath the phone's three. 2-inch 400-by-240-pixel capacitive show.  That decision is certainly on the low side, which makes high-quality particulars and textual content seem grainy.  And whereas the phone's contact display screen appears responsive, the processor makes every thing really feel slow; extra on that in a bit.

The on-display keyboard feels cramped, and comparable to different contact display Samsung characteristic phones, it solely presents a digital quantity pad in portrait mode.  To sort utilizing a QWERTY keyboard, you want to flip the cellphone sideways.  The perform button beneath the show largely serves as a house button.  however press it twice, and it'll pull up a view of all three of the phone's dwelling screens.  maintain it down and it will present you your six most up-to-date apps, then take you to whichever one you select.

The Pantech Hotshot is a dual-band EV-DO Rev 0 (850/1900 MHz) system with no Wi-Fi.  Voice high quality is usually good general.  Voices sound good within the phone's earpiece, however develop into distorted at larger volumes.  On the opposite end, calls made with the cellphone sound clear however thin, with under common noise cancellation.  Calls sounded superb by means of a Jawbone period Bluetooth headset ($129, four. 5 stars), and the Nuance-powered voice dialing labored nicely over Bluetooth.  The speakerphone is loud sufficient to make use of outside, however sounds a bit distorted.  Battery life was good at 6 hours and fifty five minutes of speak time.

Pantech Hotshot Processor and Apps

The largest downside with the Hotshot is that every thing feels far too sluggish and stiff.  As i discussed earlier, I don't assume that is a fault of the contact screen; capacitive screens are utilized in loads of responsive units.  i feel the issue lies within the processor.  The Hotshot is powered by a 480MHz ARM11 processor that simply isn't as much as the duties its software program calls for of it.  Swiping between every of the three residence screens outcomes in a noticeable delay.  Ditto for launching apps, and fairly a lot andifferent perform you are able to assume of.  It's irritating having to attend so often, and it makes listening to music or watching video nearly impossible; for those who attempt to do something else on the teletelephone on the identical time, audio will incessantly pause or reduce out utterly because the teletelephone tries to maintain up with you.

The Hotshot has an e mail app with entry to Gmail, Hotmail, Microsoft Exchange, Verizon. net, home windows Live, and Yahoo accounts, however it requires that you just have both a minimal information plan of $9. ninety nine per month, or pay a $5 month-to-month subscription price.  because the entire objective of a function cellphone is to avoid wasting money, these costs are a bummer.  The Opera Mini 5. 1 browser does a pleasant job of delivering clear WAP and HTML pages.  VZ Navigator 5. 1 is on the market for clear, voice-enabled GPS instructions for $9. ninety nine per thirty days further.  however between that and email, you're already half of the approach in which in direction of a smartphone information plan.  you furthermore may get all the usual apps, like an alarm clock, calculator, calendar, notepad, and a stopwatch.

Pantech Hotshot Multimedia, Camera, and Conclusions

For multimedia, you get 220MB of free inner memory, alongside with a 2GB microSD card.  My 64GB SanDisk card labored superb as nicely.  On the plus side, the Hotshot had no bdifferent discovering my media, whereas many different Verizon function telephones require particular folders for every media sort.  The cellphone is in a position to play AAC, MP3, and WMA music files, however as beforehand mentioned, pops and skip abound, by both wired earbuds or Altec Lansing BackBeat Bluetooth headcellphones ($129. 99, three. 5 stars).  If you're attempting to pay attention to music and do one thing else on the identical time, it turns into practically unpay attentionable.  And audio nonetheless cuts out periodically even when the cellphone stays in any other case untaxed.  Additionally, sound high quality through Bluetooth is simply too tinny to be satisfying.  This issues extends to video playback.  The Hotshot performs H. 264 and MPEG4 movies at resolutions as much as 640-by-480, however suffers from periodic drops in audio.

The Hotshot's three. 2-megapixel digicam lacks an LED flash and auto-focus.  Shutter speeds are average, and check photographs taken in areas with good lighting look moderately sharp, although a contact blown out.  decrease lighting brought about movement blur and smudgey particulars.  The digital camera may file movies at 640-by-480-pixel decision at 12 frames per second, however they appear uneven and grainy.

The Pantech Hotshot could've been a strong characteristic phone, if not for that sluggish processor.  because it stands, you're possible higher off with the Samsung Brightside ($99. 99) or the LG Extravert ($79. 99).  We haven't examined each cellphone yet, however each function contact screens in addition to bodily keyboards, and we anticipate each to carry out extra responsively than the Hotshot.  If you're keen to drop the contact screen, the Casio G'zOne Ravine 2 ($179. 99, four stars) is our favourite voice cellphone on Verizon, and is tremendous rugged to boot, however it's quite a bit extra costly.  The LG Cosmos 2 (Free, three. 5 stars) is one other solid, inexpensive choice for Verizon customers that wish to textual content however wish to avoid wasting cash.

Benchmarks

Continuous speak time: 6 hours fifty five minutes

Pantech Hotshot Price when release is $99.99

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