19 Mar 10 Pantech Reveal Cell Phone Review–Way Too Small

I know that the push is on to make cell phones so tiny that they can actually be implanted directly into your skin, but still–I prefer a cell phone with just a bit of substance to it.  Thus, I’m a little bit nonplussed by the Pantech Reveal, a phone that’s really pushing the envelope on small.

The Pantech Reveal comes with a number keypad and QWERTY keyboard, mobile web, mobile email, 3G access (which in turn allows access to an array of AT&T specific features like AT&T Video Share, AT&T Cellular Video, Napster and eMusic, among others), GPS, a phone book with capacity for a thousand name and number entries (plus email addresses, street address, web page address and a note about them), alarm clock, world time clock, stopwatch, basic calculator, timer, notepad, speakerphone capability, game demos, Bluetooth connectivity, 1.3 megapixel camera and a battery capable of yielding four and a half hours of talk time on a single charge.

The biggest problem with the Pantech Reveal isn’t in the features–which are pretty good (who needs an FM radio when you’ve got XM Mobile Radio?), but rather in the design.  This thing is SO TINY that it actually manages to get in its own way several times.  The controls are great and the features are plentiful, but they’re crammed into a package so very small that it’s hard to fully appreciate them.

Thus, the Pantech Reveal goes down as one of those phones that’s a great idea, just not executed very well.

The Good

Loads of features

Terrific controls

The Bad

Entirely too small to be fully effective

Score: 6 / 10

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Tags: 3G, At&T, design issues, Pantech, Pantech cell phone, Pantech Reveal