Pantech’s New Burst Smartphone To Run On AT&T 4G LTE

January 10th, 2012 by Dan Howley, LAPTOP Staff Writer

LAS VEGAS — Pantech announced today at CES that it is teaming up with AT&T to bring its first 4G LTE smartphone to market in the form of the 4-inch Pantech Burst. Powered by a 1.2-GHz dual-core processor and offering 16GB of internal memory expandable up to 32GB, the Burst sports a gorgeous Super AMOLED display.

At launch, the device will being running Android Gingerbread, however Pantech says the Burst will get an upgrade to Android Ice Cream Sandwich at a later date. Fans of video chatting will be happy to hear that the Burst features a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, while the back of the device sports a 5-MP camera.

Like Pantech’s “waterproof” Element tablet, the Burst runs a nearly stock version of Android. The sole changes the company made to the operating system include custom soft buttons on the homescreen and a proprietary lock screen from which users can jump right to the Burst’s camera, email, messenger, contacts list, web browser or music player. And while six different icons sitting on a lock screen may seem a bit over the top, Pantech’s execution made it feel natural.

Despite its price, the Burst still felt like a quality product in our hands. The plastic backing was sturdy and had a faux metallic feel to it. One point Pantech representatives made sure to point out was that the Burst’s back cover could be taken off and its battery removed.

Pantech and AT&T are also offering a $249 bundle package for both the Burst and Element, when you sign both up for two, two-year contracts. The Element on its own costs $299. And while that may seem like a bargain, the two contracts will ensure that you end up paying far more than the $50 you would save with the bundle in the long run.