The Pantech Element - My Surprising Final Analysis

PANTECH ELEMENT TEST RESULTS FROM THE GADGET MAN!

I spent two quality weeks with the Pantech Element tablet, provided by AT&T Wireless. It has warped my traditionally negative view of tablets. I've officially been softened. Here's why...

The Pantech Element is an 8" HD tablet device that has every possible feature you would want, and I would put it squarely on the same level as an iPad 3. That's a bold statement, but it is fact.

Size-wise, I'm loving the smaller 8" diagonal display. It's about as big as I would want a tablet device to be. I have never been comfortable proping up a huge iPad with it's 9.7" dipslay. There is just no comfortable way for me to use it other than lying flat on a table.

But the 8" Pantech Element is small enough to hold without discomfort, and big enough to really enjoy multimedia content with its rich display.

A few of the things that I enjoyed on the Element that you won't find on the iPad 3 are Adobe Flash support, a fantastic haptic response on the display, and full waterproof casing. Those are 3 things that I find quite useful that add to the functionality and user experience.

I enjoyed using the Pantech Element to surf Facebook, watch YouTube videos, Netflix, and for reading articles on the Pulse News application. Even reading emails was a fun task on the Element.

The multimedia content viewing was further enhanced by the rich, full sound eminating from the speakers within the device. It was quite a suprise to hear the sound quality coming from the Element. I did not expect such a full sound, but something more "canned" and shallow.

If I were to spend the money on a tablet, which I am now considering in the future, it would be something on the order of a Pantech Element or smaller. I would mainly use it for consuming multimedia content, and for checking emails on the go.

With its 4G LTE radio service, you can download content at blazing fast speeds. When testing this unit in St. Louis, was achieving download speeds upwards of 37Mbps, and upload speeds of 12.4Mpbs. That was truly unexpected. This could almost cause a problem with rapid data consumption and blowing past the download limits!

In the final analysis, I would have to say that Pantech is a serious competitor on the market with the Element tablet and also the Burst smartphone. Both devices scored super-high in my testing, and I'm seriously impressed with the quality of their build and the ease of use.

Pantech is a sleeper. If they continue making great devices like this, I think companies like Apple, Samsung, and HTC better watch the back door... because Pantech could be in position to kick it in and grab center stage!

Carlton Flowers
Avid Gadget Tester