The Pantech Impact is a pretty unique offering in the cell phone department. The impact is a feature phone with an emphasis on texting. This phone is designed for those who do a lot of texting and those who want a cell phone featuring some of what a smartphone has to offer without the smartphone price. Pantech is somewhat new to the cell phone business but brings some innovative ideas with its phones to make a name for itself. So how does the Impact hold up?
Phone Overview:
The Pantech Impact is a flip phone with a twist. At first glance the phone looks like a standard candy bar phone design, but on one side is a hinge, and the impact actually flips open to reveal a full qwerty keyboard and a 2.6 inch screen. The outside of the impact is touch screen and can be used to make calls, read or send messages, etc, but the more interesting aspects of the phone are found when it’s opened.
While the outside of the Pantech impact is a somewhat boring lit up display, the inside screen features a really great display with excellent screen resolution. More important is the full qwerty keyboard. This is the phone’s main selling point. The keyboard is great for anyone who sends a lot of texts and especially for the clumsy texter. The keys are large and well spaced, raised enough for ease of use, and lit well for good visibility. For texting, the Pantech Impact is a pretty good phone, but let’s look at some of the other features.
The impact features a 2 megapixel Camera/ video camera, micro sd slot, and bluetooth. The camera is not great, but it is good. Some people have reported an issue with lag in video mode, but this does not seem to always be a problem. The still pictures come out pretty well if they are taken in good lighting, but not so well otherwise. The photos taken with this devise are not going to be anything amazing, but the camera is decent. As far as video, the quality appears to be a little more lacking then in still cam mode, but still the quality is ok. The micro sd slot is a nice feature for expanding memory to store larger files and greater numbers of images, music, and video. The features of the Impact are pretty good, but there are some downsides to this phone. let’s look at the pros and cons.
Pros:
Qwerty keyboard – The keyboard in the impact is really great and stands as one of the larger ones on the market.
Record your own ringtones – The voice memo feature allows you to record audio; any recording you make can be set as a ringtone, so you can record from any audio output and use part of your favorite song without paying AT&T; even more money.
Large, clear screen display – The inner screen of this flip phone is pretty impressive
Call Clarity – In most calls the sound quality is very clear.
Cons:
No USB connectivity – This is almost standard on phones these days, but Pantech missed this one.
It’s through AT&T; – enough said.
The Camera doesn’t zoom – another pretty standard feature pantech skipped out on with the impact.
Horrible placement of the camera lens – To use the camera, the impact has to be flipped open and the lens is placed on the right side where you would naturally place your finger over it. To use the camera, you are required to hold the phone in a very awkward way.
Battery life isn’t great – It really isn’t horrible, but it could be better.
In the end the Pantech Impact is a pretty good phone with a lot of positives, but it also has its share of negatives to consider before buying. What it comes down to is what you’re looking for in a phone. If you want something like an iphone, or you are looking for a great camera phone, the Impact is not your best bet. However, if you want a good messaging phone, this one is a good option.
