AT&T is out with a nifty new smartphone from Pantech called the Flex. The entry-level device seems like a typical smartphone with average specifications, but it has one feature in particular that helps it stand out and targets a specific market: an “easy experience” mode. We’ll just call it easy mode for short.
While easy mode — which I’ll explain more in a bit — on the Pantech Flex is clearly aimed toward people who are buying a smartphone for the first time or just aren’t very tech-savvy, what impresses me the most is that Pantech didn’t sacrifice too much on specs even though this is considered a low-end handset. The Flex has a 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED display and runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. It has a 8MP camera on the back also capable of 1080p HD video, a 2MP front-facing camera, and a 1.5GHz dual-core processor on the inside. It’s, in my opinion, a wise move on Pantech’s part to assure potential buyers that while the phone is incredibly easy to use, it’s still packed with a lot of the latest technology.
Now we get to the easy mode, “which prioritizes customers’ apps on the home screen in a clearly organized and easy-to-read format” according to AT&T. It also just makes the entire experience far more intuitive than the standard Android UI. I love that Pantech is using this strategy on a good chunk of its handsets lately. The Pantech Ease had a similar easy mode for beginners except the Ease wasn’t even a smartphone. I ended up buying it for my mother, who calls WiFi “Wi-Five,” and she loves it.
The Pantech Flex comes in at a pretty reasonable $49.99 with a two-year contract and qualifying monthly voice and data plans. It goes on sale exclusively with AT&T starting September 16th.
[via AT&T]