Pantech Discover (AT&T)

Best known for entry-level feature phones, Pantech has been making quite a different name for itself lately with powerful, budget-priced smartphones?like the $49.99 Pantech Discover for AT&T. We really liked Pantech's last smartphone, the Flex, but we wanted a better video camera and NFC support. The Discover adds NFC, along with a bigger, sharper display, better battery life, and a 12.6-megapixel camera. Video capture still disappoints, but in every other way, the Discover competes with phones that cost up to four times the price, like the popular Samsung Galaxy S III. It's our new Editors' Choice for budget smartphones on AT&T.

Design, Connectivity, and Call Quality
You'd never guess this is an inexpensive phone by looking at it. Made of textured, rubberized black plastic with a silver accent band around the middle, the Discover cuts a sleek, attractive profile. It measures 5.28 by 2.70 by 0.36 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.76 ounces, which makes it a touch more manageable to handle than the Galaxy S III, though it's also a smidgen thicker and heavier. Also, don't confuse this with a small phone. Any device with a screen this big can be difficult to handle if you have tiny hands.

The 4.8-inch, 720p HD TFT LCD looks rich and sharp. It isn't quite as saturated as the Galaxy S III's AMOLED display, but it also isn't PenTile, so it looks clearer. All of your buttons are on-screen, which helps reduce the size of the bezel, and looks pretty snazzy. There's a Power button and 3.5mm headphone jack on top of the phone, Volume controls on the left, and a micro USB charging port on the bottom. The top quarter of the phone bumps out a little bit more than the rest, to accommodate the 12.6-megapixel camera sensor and stereo speakers on either side. More on those in a bit.

The Discover runs on AT&T's EDGE, HSPA+, and LTE networks. There's also 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, with support for both the 2.4 and faster 5GHz bands. You can also use the phone as a hotspot to connect up to 10 additional devices with the proper service plan. Reception is solid, and the phone turned in typically excellent speeds on AT&T's LTE network in New York City. If you take a look at our?Fastest Mobile Networks survey, you'll see AT&T's LTE can exceed Verizon's LTE speeds, though Verizon's LTE is more consistent and covers more of the nation.

Voice quality on the Discover is average. Voices sound full but fuzzy in the earpiece, with a faint hissing sound in the background. Calls made with the phone sound better; voices are very clear, with just a faintly hollow quality to them. Noise cancellation is average. The speakerphone sounds good, and is actually loud enough to be heard outdoors. Calls were fine over a Jawbone Era?Bluetooth headset and standard Android voice dialing worked accurately. The Discover's 2100mAh battery was good for an impressive 14 hours and 53 minutes of talk time. It's also removable, so you can always carry a spare.

Hardware, OS, and Apps
The Discover is powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 processor, which is the same processor that was in the Flex. It's also the same chip that powers the Galaxy S III. It should go without saying that benchmark scores were solid, and you won't have trouble running any of the 600,000+ apps in the Google Play store.

The Discover runs Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich), which is a little disappointing. Pantech promises an update to Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), but won't say when. In the meantime, you get Pantech's heavily skinned interface, which lets you choose between Standard or Easy Experience, the latter of which simplifies the phone's UI for inexperienced users.

(Next page: Multimedia and Conclusions)

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