Pantech Breakout review

That pool looks cool and refreshing, and all the kids are having the time in their lives. Problem is, it’s in an exclusive club, leaving you to stare at it longingly from the other side of a chainlink fence. We all know the sensation, and it ain’t fun — yet, the state of LTE within the US over the past year has had only a pinch of elitism because of its high cost of entry and exclusion from most rural areas. Devices running at the near-miraculous speeds haven’t exactly been cheap, with handsets just like the Samsung Droid Charge and Motorola Droid Bionic at an asking price of $250 to $300 on contract. Obviously, a lot of customers have felt the underlying feeling of inadequacy because their wallets may arise a Benjamin or two short.

The Pantech Breakout is the fifth phone in Verizon’s LTE lineup, and the primary clear departure from the piggy bank-busting prices that its predecessors command. With Big Red boasting a 4G lineup filled with monotonous 4.3-inch behemoths, we’ve been anxiously awaiting something different. Something — anything — which could likely appease a special set of consumers desirous to make the most of this speedy network. The 4-inch Breakout certainly is in a position to appealing to a much broader demographic, but with an uncharacteristically low $100 price ticket with a two-year commitment, does it ooze cheapness or is it an excellent bargain? Follow us after the break to determine.

Hardware

What’s this — Verizon’s LTE selection has now grown to incorporate a handset that does not offer a 4.3-inch display? ‘Tis true: the Pantech Breakout appears like the correct name for the primary device to damage from the 4G mold by featuring a smaller screen and a miles cheaper price. We all know, it is not too often that we gush a couple of phone that takes benefit of less screen space, but we feel strongly that loads of different options in a lineup is usually a terrific thing; the common customer likes having a chance to make a choice from a large choice of devices.

The Breakout’s also the lightest choice within the lineup, weighing 4.9 ounces (138g). Measuring 12mm (0.47 inches) thick, it sizes up well against the Samsung Droid Charge and is solely a millimeter bulkier than the Motorola Droid Bionic. Despite landing within the budget category, the Breakout doesn’t feel all that cheap — it isn’t more likely to shatter right into a million pieces if dropped on concrete, though it’s not really the foremost durable option inside the lineup, either. If nothing else, it’s easier to carry within the palm of our hand comfortably, via its smaller size, gently inward-sloping sides and textured back.

Despite its bargain-price status, Pantech managed to toss in a WVGA display — kind of like the Thunderbolt and Revolution. The sole difference here’s a slightly higher pixel density a result of smaller screen, and consequently our viewing experience was never interrupted by pixels attacking our eyes. Not shying faraway from performance, either, the Breakout has a modest but fully usable 1GHz single-core CPU with 512MB of RAM. Moreover, the device comes with a 5MP shooter within the back, a VGA front-facing cam, an 8GB microSD card and a 1,500mAh battery.

Interestingly, the Breakout crams all of its ports and buttons onto the left and right sides. We typically see several features on top or bottom, but these were likely moved to assist maintain the body’s smooth curves without disruption. The microUSB port, power / lock button and dedicated camera button are all found at the right side, while the left side houses voice activation, the amount rocker and a three.5mm headphone jack at the upper left — though forcing the headphones to shoot out the side of the telephone isn’t our top design choice.

At the front, we’re greeted by four physical navigation keys — the normal setup of menu, home, back and search apply here. Very similar to the Samsung Conquer 4G, the buttons offer just the correct amount of give without sticking too far out of the device itself. We also felt they enhance the Breakout’s overall design, causing this budget phone to exhibit a costlier aura. Above the display we discover front-facing cam, sensors and contact speaker. Giving the telephone a whole 180-degree turn, the 5MP camera and external speaker grille sit atop the textured back. The obligatory Verizon 4G logo is emblazoned at the battery cover, which hides the battery, SIM card (for LTE, not GSM — sorry travelers, this phone won’t facilitate your overseas) and microSD.

Software

Pantech’s decorated Android 2.3.3 with its own proprietary skin, which we’ll dive into in additional detail because the company’s only released an additional device within the US that runs off of Google’s mobile OS: the Froyo-based Crossover on AT&T. The UI has grown up substantially within the last four months in relation to look and functionality, adopting select features from other Android skins and bringing them into its fold.

We’re happy to report that the lock screen’s graduated substantially from the sooner days of “peel off the sticker,” opting instead for a straightforward slide to unlock option at the left side and throwing in several other helpful features. At the right side, you may slide your finger to the left to toggle your device between ringer and silent modes. Because the battery gets low, a subtle percentage indicator pops up slightly below the date and time within the middle. Also, Pantech’s borrowed some inspiration from HTC’s Sense 3.0 lock screen by offering three shortcuts on the bottom — phone, messaging and email — that you should drag and drop into the center that allows you to quick jump to that respective app. We adore that the choice is included, though we’d prefer the facility to alter the shortcuts to whatever app we would like. Sadly, the lock screen also lacks any variety of music playback control, which grows frustrating once we wish to quickly skip to a different hot track.

Upon entering the house panel, you’re treated to a touch cartoonish look, however the UI seems clean otherwise. Pantech has its own “wheel of widgets,” so that you can speak — it is a set of home screen widgets separated from the common Android collection, splayed out in a circular fashion on the very bottom of the screen. In the event you don’t see the only you are looking for, there is a handy “Android” button underneath so one can can help you switch over to the quality list of widgets while not having to leap out to the major screen and hop back in.

Pantech’s notification bar is well unlike any we have seen before. At the beginning it seems that one row of toggles is obtainable at the top, but that’s just the “easy setting.” Pressing a tiny button at the top right corner will elevate a second row with more shortcuts. Music playback options are limited at the notification menu; in place of offering the normal set of controls, it simply throws in a shortcut to take you on to the music app. Apart from this, there are no other significant changes.

When searching through the appliance menu, it grants a sense that you are using TouchWiz. The menu is gifted in a left-right orientation and uses panels, similar to Samsung’s proprietary UI does. It also features some flexibility in organizing the apps here, letting you progress them around to suit your personal style, and here’s the correct part: again, similar to TouchWiz, there’s an approach to tuck certain apps away in a dedicated “Hide” folder that disappears once you exit the editing mode. Unfortunately, you can not make your personal custom folders, but a minimum of we found pleasure in throwing the hoardes of bloatware pre-installed at the phone into its own app purgatory.

Bloatware at the Breakout is rampant. Together, Pantech and Verizon have doused the interface with more pre-installed apps than is critical. We make no secret of the indisputable fact that we discover this a nuisance, especially when there’s at the very least 30 of them. And we might likely find exception to this in the event that they were not less than uninstallable — problem is, none of them are. We are hoping you like Let’s Golf 2, since it — kind of like some other single piece of carrier-mandated programming — is there to remain. We’re glad to have the Hide folder to tuck them away into, but it’s unfortunate to have all of those programs taking over valuable space at the handset which may be used for other things.

Camera

The Breakout’s camera seems to be one area that was victimized by cost-cutting measures. While a 5MP sensor continues to be commonplace in devices at this funds, its loss of an LED flash is unfortunate, in addition to the camera’s basic UI. We appreciate having a dedicated shutter button, but movements are rather difficult to capture since it’s unable to fasten in focus or exposure beforehand as you normally can with two-stage (double detent) buttons. Instead, pressing the shutter will initiate the camera’s autofocus, which adds three to four seconds to the method of taking an image — leaving you prone to potentially missing a Kodak moment.

We expected a standard showing from the camera, and that’s the reason precisely what we got. As anticipated, images ended up reasonably crisp and bright, though colors had a knack for buying washed out in direct sunlight. We gave up on taking close-up shots, as our subject would end up fuzzy usually. Macro focus isn’t available at the Breakout, so we just needed to give objects more distance before photographing them — albeit, without as much detail as we’d prefer.

The user interface was surprisingly minimalistic compared to most Android cameras. In the event you first enter the app, the one visible icons are the touchscreen shutter button, camcorder and front-facing toggle switches and a GPS indicator at the right side. Upon pressing the menu key, however, a sidebar appears at the left and the correct sidebar’s icons develop into options for gallery and random settings. At the left, we discover four icons: zoom, exposure, shot mode and a miscellaneous icon that opens as much as lighting, white balance, timer and focus (auto, manual and notice) settings. In more settings, we will change resolution, scene mode and anti-shake, in addition to a pair other random choices.

The video capture resolution on most traditional smartphones is now drifting into high-def territory, which means that the Breakout’s 720p HD camcorder is par for the course. We found the performance to be average, with only minor amounts of lag scattered about. The videos were slightly choppy when capturing sudden motion, but was smooth otherwise. Audio quality turned out great, as our voice might be clearly heard above the noise of a hectic street.

Performance and battery life

Similar to Verizon’s first three LTE phones, the Breakout sports a predictable 1GHz single-core CPU. It doesn’t feel way back that this kind of processor speed was considered foremost, and now it’s bordering on low-end. However, that is not a reason to discount the phone’s real-world performance. Provided you are not seeking to overload your device with graphics-intensive games or attempt to do 50 things straight away, you could look forward to finding buttery-smooth performance. We experienced a slight amount of lag when bogging down the CPU with a laundry list of tasks, but otherwise it ran just fine. Hard as we tried, the telephone didn’t crash or shut down on us. In case you are a numbers fan, however, we ran our standard benchmarks and compared the consequences with comparable LTE phones below.

We also came away with admiration for the Breakout’s little speakers which may. While media playback through our headphones wasn’t anything to jot down home (or a review) about, the speaker grill at the back of the telephone held up all right when watching movies or being attentive to music. Likewise, we had an enjoyable time using the speakerphone — the opposite line came through loud and clear, and it’s great to exploit a phone that we’ve got to show the amount down as a way to hear comfortably in preference to vice versa.

In terms of LTE handsets, we’ve already come to expect less-than-stellar battery life. The Breakout’s 1,500mAh juicepack doesn’t depart from those expectations, though it’s in any case bearable for anyone who doesn’t plan to make use of their phone for constant video / music streaming or gaming. In our standard video rundown test, the battery lasted for four hours and 50 minutes before taking its final electronic gasp and closing off. We were ready to get during the full workday with moderate usage, but it surely will not be a nasty idea to have a charger with you when you’re stepping into some heavy emailing, internet browsing or media playback.

Wrap-up

7

All said, Pantech’s done a commendable job of cutting corners in all of the right places. It still contains a CPU with an identical clockspeed because the Thunderbolt and Revolution, carries a competitive amount of RAM to accompany it, has an above-average display and exudes a design more elegant than its ticket would routinely suggest. Aren’t getting us wrong: it’s no Droid Bionic, nevertheless it doesn’t you need to be. Even then, however, we were expecting much worse from a handset that undercuts its 4G counterparts by no less than $150. Instead, we found a tool that does well at maintaining with its older brothers (with the glaring exception of the Droid Bionic, needless to say). It’s unfortunate news for the members of that exclusive club, because we now have a sense the pool’s going to get much more crowded very soon.

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This post is tagged: asking price, chainlink fence, predecessors, rural areas, screen space