Pantech Breakout review

Will Pantech's first CDMA phone be their breakout device?

Pantech Breakout
Fast, sturdy, and cheap - what could go wrong?

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Upon opening the messages app for the first time, the Breakout displays a tutorial for swype, and it's on by default. It's obvious that the Breakout is championing the alternate keyboard - almost to a point of fault.

The keyboard can't be turned off by long-pressing the always on-screen Swype button. So what does that do? Brings up tips, and tutorials. Maybe it's just because Swype doesn't feel that new to us, but we're not sure why a tutorials button should eat up keyboard space at all times.

Pantech Breakout

This might be what your first Swype conversation looks like.

Another "feature" of messaging on the Breakout is the noise it makes during each key press. It's not much of an exaggeration to say this noise is likely the single most grating typing noise we've ever heard on a phone. The fact that it happens every time you tap, will insure you use Swype (less key presses), or you head to settings and shut it off immediately.

Email

All the common criminals are packaged in the Breakout. The messaging app sends both texts and emails, but real emailing will almost indubitably be sent from the Email app or Gmail app.

The Email app works the same as past Gingerbread clients, and the familiarity is nice. The familiarity doesn't stop there however,

Other than those exceptions, messaging is pretty standard fare for Gingerbread devices. Emails can be sent from the messages app, the Email app, or the Gmail app.

Online Editor

Nic is a former Online Editor at TechRadar in San Francisco. He started as a games journalist before becoming an editor at Mac|Life magazine. He holds a degree in English Literature and English Writing from Whitworth University.