Pantech C630 (gray, AT&T)

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Pantech C630

We've seen simple Pantech phones like the Pantech C150 and the Pantech Breeze, and we've also seen more advanced Pantech handsets like the Pantech Matrix and the Pantech Duo. But it's rare to see a phone that combines a simple design with an advanced feature set. The Pantech C630 is one such device--on the outside, it looks like an ordinary candy bar phone, but on the inside, you'll find 3G, GPS, and a host of multimedia features that belie its simple exterior. Perhaps the nicest thing about the Pantech C630 is that it's one of a few 3G phones you can get for less than $40--it's available for $39 with a two-year service agreement.

Design
There's not much to say about the Pantech C630's design. It has a standard candy-bar shape, measuring 4.1 inches tall by 1.7 inches wide by 0.46 inch thick. The overall aesthetic is very simple without any frills. It has rounded corners and a soft-touch back cover, so it feels comfortable in the hand. The volume rocker and charger jack sits on the left spine while the microSD card slot and camera key are on the right. The camera lens is on the back, but there is no self-portrait mirror.

The Pantech C630 has a camera on the back, but no self-portrait mirror.

The C630 has a 1.76-inch 262,000-color display with a 176x220 pixel resolution. Even though the display is small, images look vibrant and vivid with color. You can adjust the menu type, the font style, the color theme, the brightness, and the backlight timer. The menu interface is similar to other AT&T phones and is simple to navigate.

Underneath the display is the navigation array, which consists of two soft keys, a four-way joystick that can be pressed down as a confirmation key, a Clear key in the middle, and the Talk and End/Power keys. In standby mode, the joystick acts as a shortcut to a new text message, the instant-messenger application, the contacts list, and the My Stuff menu when toggled north, east, south, and west respectively. Pressing the joystick down in standby mode will activate the Web browser. In standby mode, the Clear key also leads to the calendar application.

The keypad is gridlike and seems rather flat, but there are slight grooves between each key that make it easier to dial by feel. The keypad also feels roomy overall. As for the aforementioned navigation keys, we're not always big fans of the joystick as a toggle because it can be kind of inflexible, but the joystick on the C630 was fine.

Features
Even though the Pantech C630 has a rather dull exterior, its feature set is another story. It comes with 3G, GPS, and plenty of multimedia features. But before we get into that, let's start with the basics. The C630 has a generous 1,000-entry phone book with room in each entry for five numbers, two e-mail addresses, a Web URL, a mailing address, and a memo. You can then organize your contacts into groups, pair them with a photo for caller ID, or customize them with any of 16 ringtones and alert tones.

Other basics include a vibrate mode, a speakerphone, text and multimedia messaging, an alarm clock, a calendar, a notepad, a voice memo recorder, a world clock, a calculator, a unit converter, and a stopwatch. More advanced users will like the wireless Web browser, mobile web e-mail (Yahoo! Mail, AOL, AIM, Windows Live Hotmail, AT&T Yahoo, BellSouth, Comcast, Earthlink, Juno, Mindspring, and NetZero), instant messenger (AIM, Windows Live, Yahoo! Messenger), and stereo Bluetooth. The C630 also comes with A-GPS support, so it's fitting that it's packaged with AT&T Navigator, which is AT&T's own voice-guided turn-by-turn location service.