There’s a good chance if you’re reading this that the Pantech Discover is not for you. And that’s cool. It’s for your mom. Or your granddad. It’s a first-timer device, with a first-timer price of $49 on contract with AT&T. And you know what? Pantech’s done a pretty good job with it.
Think of this as a large smartphone for someone who doesn’t want, well, a Galaxy S3 or HTC One X on AT&T. But that doesn’t mean it’s not stylish. Start with a large, 4.8-inch 720p display. Nothing wrong with that. And Pantech blissfully diverges from the typical black-slap design, bringing some graceful curves to the textured back of the phone, with speakers tucked on either side. Haven’t seen Samsung do that, have ya? (And those speakers sound pretty good, even in a crowded room.)
But the more interesting part of the Pantech Discover is the work that’s gone into the custom user interface. It’s built on Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, and there actually are two UIs. Samsung’s done this already, of course, but Pantech takes simple to a whole new level. Multiple home screens are pared down to one. The main home screen is nearly idiot-proof. Gone is the app drawer. Even the settings menu is hidden from where you’d normally expect it. And it’s still pretty full of features, all things considered. It’s got NFC, and AT&T’s improved DriveMode is built-in, to help cut down on texting and driving.
This one’s worth a quick look in the store if you’ve got a first-timer looking for a phone and who doesn’t want to spend a lot of dough doing it.
We’ve got more pics and video of the Pantech Discover after the break.
