Pantech Burst Review

Introduction:

Always been known as a budget oriented manufacturer, Pantech has tried desperately to no avail in producing a breakout smartphone for AT&T’s camp, as they’ve failed to establish their mark with devices like the Pantech Crossover and Pocket. Rather than letting the competition absorb the fruitful rewards associated with AT&T’s 4G LTE network, the Pantech Burst is exploding onto the scene in hopes of gaining some sort of visibility with its oh-so lovable on-contract price of $49.99. Instead of finding something watered down in the specs department, which might be the first thing to come to mind for most people, this handset isn’t messing around as it carries along some of the elements we’d expect employed by a modernized smartphone ready for war.

The package contains:

• microUSB cable
• Wall Charger
• Quick Start Guide
• Safety and Warranty Guide

Design:

Finally, Pantech has somehow managed to concoct a decent looking smartphone with the Burst, seeing it flaunts a design that’s quite modern and appealing. In its attempt to embody the styling of a premium priced smartphone, we have to give Pantech credit on this one as they obtain the look by utilizing a sturdy plastic casing that emulates the appearance of a metallic finish. Easily form fitting to our hand, thanks primarily to its average size, its bezel is bit sharp to the touch, but nevertheless, its slick feel provides for a confident overall construction.



You can compare the Pantech Burst with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

Although we’re not surprised to see the usual set of Android capacitive buttons below its display, they’re not that great with their response – plus, there’s the occasional accidental press too with them. On the opposite side, we find the handset’s earpiece and front facing VGA camera.

Regrettably, we’re not fans of the flat feeling volume rocker and power button, but at least their responses are satisfactory. All by its lonesome self on the right edge, we’re presented with the microUSB port for data connectivity and charging.

Finally, a 5-megaixel auto-focus camera is found sitting pretty in the rear with a chrome trim accenting its border, while its LED flash and speaker notch site nearby. Prying off its plastic casing reveals its 1,650 mAh battery, microSIM card slot, and an unoccupied microSD card slot.


Display:

Impressing us right from the onset, we’re astounded to find a 4” WVGA (480 x 800) Super AMOLED display gracing the Pantech Burst – now that’s hardly something we would’ve considered with a budget conscious smartphone. Nonetheless, it’s one of its more profound niceties thanks to the attraction power it has in luring our eyes with its eye popping luscious colors and wide viewing angles. Unfortunately, its weak brightness output makes it a nightmare to view under the presence of direct sunlight. As a whole though, we have to admit that we’re charmed and smitten by it all.

Interface and Functionality:

Although we’re not completely sold by Pantech’s customized UI that’s running on top of Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread, mainly because of its overall cartoony looking presentation, some people will obviously take a liking to it. Well, it’s actually the same thing we saw on the Pantech Pocket, which borrows some of the elements found with HTC Sense – like its useful lockscreen that provides quick access to certain apps. Beyond that, it obviously embodies all of the characteristics we love about any Android device with its deep level of personalization, but simply lacks the polish and pizzazz to come away as a memorable experience.


Having been spoiled by devices with gargantuan displays of late, our fingers require some time to adjust to the Pantech Burst’s smaller footprint with its on-screen keyboards. After establishing our rhythm, we’re able to knock out passages of text with good accuracy with the stock Gingerbread and Swype keyboards. Additionally, it boasts a responsive performance to keep up with our peppy rate.


Similar to any other Android smartphone on the market, the Gmail experience is naturally a joy since we’re given all the depth of features found with the desktop experience – but it’s in the palm of our hands! Moreover, setup is a painless process, as it requires only our email address and password for automatic setup.


Hardly a surprise to us, the Burst is preloaded with the usual staple of AT&T’s branded applications, which consists of AT&T Code Scanner, AT&T FamilyMap, AT&T Navigator, Live TV, and myAT&T. Aside from those carrier branded apps, we’re still presented with other third party apps that include Amazon Kindle, Facebook, Twitter, Qik Lite, and YPmobile.

Processor and Memory:

Even though it’s not something we particularly expect out of a $50 on-contract smartphone, the Pantech Burst continues to impress us with its 1.2GHz dual-core processor, which blindsides us even more with the immaculate scores it’s able to achieve in various benchmark tests. In fact, we’re astounded to find it hitting the same marks as the almighty Samsung Galaxy S II with the Quadrant and AnTutu benchmark apps. Aside from the synthetic tests, we’re amazed to see it performing admirably with most basic tasks – though, we’re irked by the choppiness seen while moving between its app panel screens. Simply, it’s the fastest Pantech device we’ve had the privilege of checking out to date.

Proclaimed to carry 16GB of internal storage, it turns out to be 12.33GB out of the box, while 740MB is strictly reserved for apps. Then again, if that’s not sufficient, you can always pop in a microSD card into its available slot.

Internet and Connectivity:

No doubt it’s the most alluring thing, we’re excited to know that this budget handset offers 4G LTE connectivity – though, we’re unable to test it our since we’re not located in an area with AT&T 4G LTE. Instead, we’re simply left to using its HSPA+ connection in our area, which so happens to be sufficient for our needs. Loading up complex web site like ours in no time at all, we’re very content with the handset’s web browsing performance – even more when it runs fine with Flash content present. However, we do experience some levels of choppiness with its navigational controls every now and then, but it’s never to the point degrading enough to ruin the experience.


Taking this smartphone abroad isn’t a problem considering it’s a GSM device, but strangely, we find its HSPA+ download speeds to be slower than other models. Still, it thankfully puts out upload speeds that are similar. Much like its siblings on AT&T’s lineup, the Pantech Burst features aGPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and mobile hotspot functionality.

Camera:

Sadly, you can’t win them all, as we know all too well. Specifically, the smartphone’s 5-megapixel auto-focus camera fails to capture any reasonable looking photos, but even more annoying is the lengthy time it requires to snap a shot. Previewing the results, its details are profoundly soft in tone, but for some reason, it constantly exhibits a prominent greenish hue with its color reproduction.  Shots taken in low lighting tend to look very grainy, though, we’re appalled by the very weak LED flash that fails to even illuminate subjects that are 3 feet away.

Sadly, it doesn’t get any better in the video recording department seeing its 720p videos are disappointing. Again, we’re presented with faint looking details and inaccurate color reproduction, but it’s further tarnished by its ridiculously choppy 19 frames per second capture and distorted audio recording. So yeah, it’s far from exhibiting the qualities of something deemed as high-definition.

Pantech Burst Sample Video:



Multimedia:

Neither ugly nor attractive looking, the Pantech Burst comes at us with a very conventional looking music player, though, we do like the option of browsing through our collection with its swipe friendly carousel. With its single speaker, it emits tones that are pleasant to hear, but there’s a slight hint of hollowness with it. Still, it can be remedied by selecting the appropriate equalizer option.

Tantalizing us with its poppy looking colors, our eyes are unable to overlook the sluggish playback of our test video that’s encoded in MPEG-4 1920 x 1080. Well, it’s not terrible per se, but highly recognizable enough to capture our attention. Of course, it’s not an issue with lower quality videos.

Performance:

Calling quality could’ve been improved, but for the most part, we’re able to hold conversations down without being bogged by its imperfections. For starters, its earpiece’s volume output is on the weak side, while voices tend to have crackly tones. On the other end of the line, our callers are faced with a slight hiss with our voice. And finally, its speakerphone is reasonable, but plagued by the same crackly tones from before.

Never once showing any signs of fluctuation during our testing, the Burst maintains a solid connection to the network in nearly all places – and it didn’t drop any phone calls too!

Under HSPA+ connectivity, the handset’s battery life is very average, as it’s able to reel in at least a solid day of normal usage with a full charge. Of course, 4G LTE connectivity will impact its results even more, but in any event, we’re content with the battery life we obtained connected via HSPA+.

Conclusion:

Sound the alarm people, but we believe that Pantech has finally produced a winner in our books for AT&T, seeing that the Burst offers a ton of value for its $49.99 on-contract price. Barely skipping a beat, we’re enamored by the arsenal it’s packing along for the ride, and beyond that, it’s also able to match its allure by flaunting a pretty decent design too. Simply factoring its Super AMOLED display, dual-core processor, and 4G LTE connectivity, these three items alone would deem it as a premium priced smartphone, but rather, it bucks the trend by surprising us with something totally different. Sure it might not hit the high marks in all categories, but it’s balanced enough to warrant some recognition as a great solution for those on a budget.

Android Version: 2.3.5
Build Number: GRJ90
Kernel Version: 2.6.35.11-perf

Pantech Burst Video Review: