Pantech PN-820 Specs

My boss tells me im going to need a smartphone starting next month. i think to my self "A smartphone? I've been using my Nokia flip phone for years..." i thought it would be costy. But then I came to a Verizon Store and a service rep showed a bunch of smartphones... old, new, mostly over $300. But then, at the last shelf, there was this phone. it sat there, and i love the idea of flip phones. touchscreens are hard for me to use. i asked "how much?" and the guy looked at me and said "$9.99 with a two year contract." $9.99! WOW!!!!!! Unbelieveable! $10 [with a 2 yr contract] for a smartphone using windows mobile 5.0 [not new but good] and has a camera, plus an exceptional design compared to my Nokia. i was happy, and yep, it passed the standards for a smart phone. now, it takes a few extra minutes, but i surf the web, check my emails, send txts, all for just $10.

I bought this phone mainly because I cannot stand the Verizon red interface. I have flashed the last 2 phones I got from Verizon in order to make it into something pseudo useable, as they simply cripple the phones because of their greediness, and in turn make them absloutly awful. This phone doesn't have any of Verizon's apps on it, they did manage to lock putting on outside apps that wern't signed by them, but that was a very simple thing to override, and enabling OBEX in bluetooth is just a registry edit away.
This phone works great as a phone, it has pretty decent reception, not quite as good as my old V710 and perhaps a little worse than my RAZR v3m I had, but nothing too drastic, it connects whenever I need it to. The voice quality is not quite as loud and clear as my old RAZR was, and the speaker phone is not as good. The speaker phone was probably the biggest disappointment, for a bigger phone, they couldn't match the RAZR quality. The other curiosity is to why there is an antenna. I know with most phones, when you remove the antenna your service drops like a rock and the phone isn't usable. On this phone, you can remove the antenna and nothing changes at all. The signal stays where it is, you can make crystal clear voice calls, and everything seems fine. It seems like if that is the case, why would you put an antenna, as it only detracts from the phone. I only hope that someone comes out with an after market stubby antenna or plug to put in there so that I can be antenna free. Battery life is comparable to the RAZR, usually I have to charge it every other day, unless I am on the phone a lot, then it may be every day, I usually am on the phone 1-2hrs/day.
I must admit, I do not use this phone with data, because I refuse to pay $44.95 a month to get unlimited data, it is absolute extortion. I got this mainly because I can load my own apps onto it, and the ability to have a really good alarm clock, great organizer, and platform that can also run games is very beneficial to me. Going back, I would not buy another phone over this, as this is a really great phone and is a solid choice for someone who is looking to get away from the Verizon interface but doesn't want to give up the really great flip phone form factor.