Pantech Ease Review

Introduction:

Sometimes the only way to get your name out there is to simply saturate the market with numerous handsets that play to the strengths of a wide range of demographics. Pantech is no stranger on AT&T's lineup as we've seen them relentlessly dishing out handset after handset that doesn't look to recede any time soon. It wasn't too long ago they entered the touchscreen game with the Pantech Pursuit P9020, but this time around, they intend to introduce the Pantech Ease P2020 as an introductory handset geared towards the specific needs of the elderly – or those who simply want a phone that has a short learning curve. At the same time, the Ease aims to strengthen Pantech's growing line of touchscreen enabled messaging phones.

The package contains:
•    Pantech Ease P2020
•    Wall Charger
•    microUSB Cable
•    User Manual
•    Interactive Tutorial CD

Design:

Upon first gazing at the handset, the Pantech Ease follows closely to the Pursuit, although it's a little bit more oval looking in shape and narrower, the design is typical to things we see from Pantech's camp – nothing too awe inspiring. The all plastic constructed handset feels pretty good in the hand, especially with the somewhat rubberized feel of the rear, as its light weight (3.5 oz) does well in making it feel balanced. It's difficult to say which demographic Pantech tried to appease more, the text messaging savvy youths or the laid back simple style of older adults, but it would seem that Pantech attempted to craft a handset that would appeal to both.



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

The Pantech Ease has an ample sized 3.2” display which has a resolution of 240 x 400 pixels with support for 262k colors – which is easily larger than what's offered on the Pursuit. Although the display manages to show text and colors decently, we still rather found the resistive touchscreen to be somewhat unresponsive in trying to move in-between home screens. We also found ourselves having to shield it from direct sunlight as it's difficult to view items on-screen – even when setting the brightness level to the maximum setting.


There's a healthy amount of dedicated buttons littered throughout the handset – which we feel is more appropriate for those who are in tune with technology. However, we feel it can prove to be too much for those older individuals who prefer a more simplistic handset. Despite this, you've got the send, end, back/clear, volume rocker, voice activation, camera, quick contacts, and lock/unlock buttons at your disposal – all of which are decently sized and offer a good response.




Sliding open the phone is accompanied with the usual snappy mechanism and presents you to the roomy landscape style QWERTY.  Buttons are almost flush to the surface and oval in shape, however, there is a subtle response when you press down on them. It may not be as good as the QWERTY in use with the Pursuit, but it should prove to be usable too – plus the strong back-lighting makes it very recognizable in almost any lighting condition.


If there is one thing we're excited to see the Pantech Ease introduce, it's easily the microUSB port found on the left side which replaces the traditional proprietary one the manufacturer has long been using. Aside from that, everything else is where you expect it to be – like the 2-megapixel camera and speaker phone on the rear. Finally, removing the dot patterned rear cover will give you access to the battery, SIM card slot, and microSD card slot.

Software/Features:

If you haven't checked out our Pantech Breeze II review, we'd recommend looking at it as the interface on the Ease follows to it similarly with its advanced and easy modes. When setting it to the latter, the handset will have a straightforward appearance with its large sized fonts, contrasting colors, and simplified main menu to get you into all of the core functions of the phone. Pressing on the dedicated quick contacts button will allow you to assign up to three contacts to quickly call or text at any time. Additionally there are tools like the pill reminder or pedometer that play to the needs of some of the older users out there. On the other hand, the advanced mode is more fitting for those who are well established in phone usage – plus the interface is a bit more animated and in-depth like the Pantech Breeze. You can even customize the three home screens with various favorite items, shortcuts, and clock types – which does go a long way in making it look a tad more personalized.



Even though it focuses on the needs for the older population, there are still some elements that make the Pantech Ease just like other contemporary handsets – such as text messaging, email, instant messaging, and PIM functions. Sending text messages can be accomplished either by using the portrait style on-screen keypad or simply opening up the phone to use the QWERTY. Email setup is a breeze as it's no different from other AT&T handsets by simply providing your email address and password. Finally, there are a decent amount of the standard AT&T applications preloaded on the device such as AT&T Navigator, MobiTV, AT&T Social Net, and My-Cast Weather to keep you busy.
 



Multimedia:

Coming in with a below average 2-megapixel shooter, images produced by the Ease tend to look a  bit over-exposed in outdoor condition with good lighting. Conversely, photos lacked detail and had plenty of noise when taken in low lit areas – which made them look somewhat muddy. In the advanced mode, there are a bunch of icons on-screen to provide you some options, but switching to easy mode will present you with a barren interface. Evidently it's clear that taking photos isn't one of the strong points of the Pantech Ease.







By no means is the QVGA video capture of the Pantech Ease pleasing to the eyes when it lacks any solid detail and fine colors to make it passable. To make matters worse, things look even more jerky with its 14fps shooting rate.

Pantech Ease sample video at 320x240 pixels resolution.

Sporting the same music player from the Pursuit, the Pantech Ease is more than capable of playing some tunes, but unfortunately the sound from the speaker phone was more relaxed to our liking. Although it may seem ample to some, tones had a sharp tone to them when placing the volume to the loudest setting – still, it didn't seem as too vibrant to our liking.


Thanks to the ample display, watching videos is pleasant on the phone as we were able to play videos coded in H.263 320x144 and H.264 320x136 with no instances of stalling.


Media buffs will want to purchase a microSD card seeing that the handset only has 55MB of internal storage out of the box.

Data/Connectivity:

You'll be able to chat away in almost any part of the globe with this quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) phone, but for data usage, the dual-band UMTS (850/1900 MHz) radio will only provide 3G speeds domestically.

Since the Pantech Ease packs on Opera Mini, the web browsing experience is a little bit tolerable, but we still find scrolling to be a monotonous process on the phone – it just isn't as fluid as we'd like. And just like the video playback experience, the app will only work in landscape mode. Despite this, the overall experience is passable when you consider its ability to load pages quickly and render everything almost exactly like what you see on a desktop.

Performance:

Going into voice quality, we assumed that the handset would be more in line with the hard of hearing that affects some with age, but thankfully the Pantech Ease doesn't disappoint in this category. Voices were more than clear through the main speaker as tones were audible with plenty of power attached to them. As we switched to the speaker phone, voices were still distinguishable, but we find its lack of power to be a blatant eyesore when you think about how the handset is geared towards the older population. In addition, for something that can come in handy in certain emergency situations, we were surprised to find some of our calls dropping.

Battery life with the handset was on par with the manufacturer's expectation – we managed to pull out 5 hours of talk before the handset was completely drained. The manufacturer has it rated for 5 hours of talk and 360 hours of standby time.

Conclusion:

Pantech has been relentless in pushing handset after handset out of its doors as AT&T holds an eclectic mix of quick messaging devices from the manufacturer. Design might not be one of its highlights as it's more focused on functionality to both the younger and older generations, but fortunately the Pantech Ease manages to find a common balance. Youthful individuals will like its combination touchscreen and QWERTY form factor as it hold a decent mix of features for them, but at the same time, the easy mode is straightforward enough for older adults. In the end, the Pantech Ease continues in being a decent offering that won't be too much of a burden when it comes down to purchasing it – while functioning properly like other quick messaging phones.

Pantech Ease revew unit software version: JIUS05172010R

Pantech Ease Video Review