Pantech Link II (AT&T)

The original Pantech Link (3 stars) was a decent stand-in for a low-end Blackberry, with its slab form factor, usable keyboard, and rock-bottom $9.99 price. The new Pantech Link II ($9.99) does little to change that, at least from the perspective of the handset itself. But there's one big improvement: AT&T has finally tossed its data plan requirements for low-end phones. You'll still need a texting plan, but if you don't need to browse the Web or check email, you can save plenty of money with this cell phone.?

Design, Call Quality, and Apps
The Link II looks almost exactly the same as the first version. It measures 4.5 by 2.4 by 0.4 inches (HWD) and weighs 3.3 ounces. That's actually thinner and lighter than most BlackBerrys, although the Link II gained a tenth of an ounce over the first model. It's made of matte black plastic, with a textured, rubber back panel that's comfortable to hold. (Pantech calls the color "dark blue," but I looked at it from every angle possible, in different kinds of light, and could only see black.) The 2.4-inch, 320-by-240-pixel screen isn't that bright, but it's fine for a low-end phone. The QWERTY keyboard is a gem; while it's a little clicky, the plastic keys are prominently raised and bubbled, and they're about as large as you'll find on a device of this size.

The Link II is a quad-band EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) and dual-band HSPA 7.2 (850/1900 MHz) device with no Wi-Fi. Call quality was very good overall, with a warm, clear tone in the earpiece, and smooth-sounding transmissions through the microphone. Reception was average. Calls sounded clear through a Jawbone Era Bluetooth headset ($129, 4 stars). There's still no voice dialing, Bluetooth or otherwise, which is kind of ridiculous. The speakerphone sounded tinny and distorted, and was too quiet to use outside even at maximum volume. Battery life was virtually identical to the first version at 5 hours and 54 minutes of talk time.

The excellent Opera Mini Web browser came with the first model. This version's browser has no branding, and some of the settings are now missing from the Options menu, but it appears to have the same, solid desktop HTML rendering engine as before. AT&T Navigator offers voice-enabled, turn-by-turn directions for $10 per month and AT&T Mobile E-Mail hooks into all the major Web portals for $5 per month. The Link II also works with AT&T's various parental controls, including its FamilyMap locator service (prices start at $5 per month for these). Just remember: The more extra-cost services you activate, the closer you are to affording the monthly fees of a real smartphone, which would let you run all sorts of apps at no extra cost. Keep it to a texting plan, and maybe one other service, and the Link II offers good value.

Multimedia, Camera, and Conclusions
This isn't the best multimedia phone. There's still no proper headphone jack; you'll need either microUSB headphones (which all sound terrible) or a separate Bluetooth set. Annoyingly, the microSD card slot is now underneath the stiff battery cover, instead of on the side. My 32GB SanDisk card worked fine, and there's 199MB of free internal memory.?Music tracks sounded fine through Samsung Modus HM6450 Bluetooth headphones ($99, 4 stars). The music player was sluggish to start up and index tracks, but fairly easy to navigate otherwise. Standalone 3GP and MP4 files played smoothly as long as they were encoded at 320-by-240-pixel resolution, though a 30-frames-per-second MP4 file at that resolution wouldn't play correctly.

The 2-megapixel camera is a slight improvement over the original model's 1.3-megapixel sensor, but there's still no flash or auto-focus. Test photos were average overall, with decent light balance and not too much grain on indoor shots. Shutter speeds were a little slow; I lost several photos to motion blur, but the rest were sharp. Don't expect much from the camcorder?the best it would do were jerky, blurry, 320-by-240-pixel videos that averaged eight frames per second.

Many consumers wouldn't see much difference between the Pantech Link II and, say, a BlackBerry Curve. Having said that, it's becoming tougher to resist smartphones, even on the low end?especially with Android devices like the Huawei Impulse 4G?($29.99, 3 stars) offering so much, and costing so little up front. Sticking with feature phones, the Pantech Pursuit II ($49.99, 3 stars) is a slider, and offers more multimedia power and a touch screen, at the expense of a larger, somewhat clumsier design than the Link II. If you don't like to text, and just want a phone to make voice calls, the Pantech Breeze III ($49.99, 3.5 stars) is a good candidate, with its traditional flip design and clear voice quality, although I'd hold out for a sale on that one.

Benchmarks
Continuous talk time: 5 hours 54 minutes

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