Pantech Swift Review: Cheap Now, But Expensive Later

The Swift is cute. The rounded shape and lavender touches give it a softer, bubbly look -- ideal if you're a teenage girl. At about a half-inch thick, it's fairly compact, but the six-plus ounces will give you a bit of a workout to lug around. But don't be fooled: looks better than it performs, and you'll be hard-pressed to find a teen that'll willingly carry it around.

The 2.8-inch screen is rather irritating -- it's not very sensitive, so you'll have to press hard, and the size is too small for gaming, Web browsing and pretty much anything aside from texting. The 320-by-240 pixel resolution, meanwhile, is okay for messaging, but even then, text looks jagged. But one good thing: the screen is angled, so it's easier to see in direct sunlight.

The slide-out four-row keyboard is definitely one of the highlights. I found the plastic buttons well-spaced and responsive, and easy to type on, but it's not attractive. The keys are a little too flat for my liking -- typing without looking is a bit harder than using domed buttons -- but it works. I kind of wished there was automatic spellcheck -- it's missing -- so type accurately, or you'll look like you lost every childhood Spelling Bee.

The 2-megapixel camera is shoddy, to say the least, and the lens seemed permanently stuck in "grainy and out-of-focus" mode -- at least that's how all the photos look. There's no flash, either, and the shutter speed also seemed stuck on "elderly woman shuffling painfully slowly across the street" mode. If you're trying to take an impromptu photo, you'll likely miss it. You get a timer and brightness and white balance controls, but trying to fix these photos is like trying to put out a fire with a thimble of water. Frankly, the awful camera is only suitable when you forget the point-and-shoot.

Since the Swift is a feature phone, Pantech didn't bother with an operating system, so you're left with basic -- but very serviceable -- proprietary software. I thought the three home screens weren't half-bad -- you can customize the simple and streamline interface. And, in particular, I love the message threading, which groups texts into a convenient conversation-style layout -- it's easy to read. It comes with a basic Opera browser, which means you'll get crow's feet from squinting while browsing WAP and HTML pages. But a word of warning: again, expect to pay $10 to $15 a month for data. At those prices, just get a smartphone. The Swift isn't exactly super-cheap with a two-year contract -- you can pick up an iPhone 3GS for around the same price. And, of course, you'll get apps.

There are two big problems: one, it's not swift at all. The name is misleading because the 600-megahertz chip is slow as molasses and makes everything take twice the time to load. When you open programs, you'll think the phone froze, but don't despair -- it's just moving at a sleeping snail's speed. The other issue is that it's a huge rip-off. AT&T charges insulting pricing for games -- if you download Frogger, for example, you'll pay $7 a month. A month -- for just one game. Outrageous. If you want to use the GPS, that's another $10 a month. Just turn everything off. In addition, there's no Wi-Fi, so you'll have to, conveniently, download apps over 3G. You won't have the treasure trove known as the Android Market, but there are about a thousand others that can put a dent in your bank account.

If you don't listen and still download programs, you'll have a measly 180-megabytes of storage plus a microSD slot for up to 32-gigabytes. Why you would buy an extra card? I don't know. I guess you could store MP3s for the music player, which is surprisingly good -- but it won't be for your photos. Meanwhile, one of the benefits of a no-feature phone is a long batter life. And the 1,000 mAh battery is amazing. You'll get around five hours of talk time, and if you use it infrequently, you'll last just short of a week on standby. Outstanding when you think how smartphones barely last a day.

If you plan to call and text, the Swift will do -- especially if you're averse to data plans. It's a decent for messaging, if you can deal with slows functions. And call performance is good, even though the speakerphone is tinny. But if you're even remotely considering a smartphone, just get one. You'll end up saving money in the long run. For a cheap option, take a look at the Burst -- not only will you get an operating system, but also 4G and a better display. ♦

Other Reviews From Around the Web:

• CNET
• PC Mag

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