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Pantech Duo Cell Phone Review

Mark Brezinski Published on November 15, 2007 Comment on this

Intro Making/Receiving Calls Software Other Features

Tour & Design Messaging Battery Life Value & Comparisons

Audio Quality Organizer Connectivity Conclusion

Imaging Multimedia Hardware Ratings & Specs

The Pantech Duo is AT&T's first dual slider; it has both a QWERTY keyboard and a full keypad. This isn't the first dual slider, though; the Helio Ocean has a similar design, and the Pantech Duo looks and feels like a more business-oriented version of the Ocean (both devices are manufactured by Pantech). But it's let down by a number of problems; the Duo has a plasticky design that is creaky and feels cheap, especially against the solidity of the Ocean. Also, the QWERTY doesn't slide out smoothly; the slider mechanism fees more like a toy than a $200 smart phone.

The phone runs Windows Mobile 6 Standard, but doesn't share the lag we've seen on other devices using Microsoft's OS.Unfortunately, Windows Mobile Standard has a few annoying aspects, especially for those used to the more fully-featured Professional version. The software has been purposefully crippled, removing features like the ability to create new Excel and Word documents. Some of these deliberate limitations have work-arounds, but are frustrating nonetheless. Even with downgraded software, Windows Mobile is a very capable operating system, and the simpler approach does make it easier to learn than the Professional version.

Though the Duo support AT&T's speedy 3G network, it doesn't have Wi-Fi. The Duo's 1.3 megapixel camera did not perform particularly well in our tests and audio quality for calls was erratic. Battery life also fell short of what we would like. The Duo is available from AT&T for $449.99 without a contract, or $199.99 with a 2-year contract, after a $100 online rebate.

Below you'll find a table of contents for the review with short descriptions for each. Clicking on a section heading will skip to that section.

Tour & Design - The Duo has a unique look to it, though that look is very plasticky. It also features two keypads and a dual-sliding design.

Audio Quality - The Duo has very inconsistent audio quality. It handles an incoming caller's voice much better than your own.

Imaging - The Duo's camera and album software is average.

Making/Receiving Calls - The Duo's excellent keypad and responsive OS mean it's a great phone for quick calls.

Messaging - While no BlackBerry, the Duo performs admirably in this section.

Organizer - The organizer exists in an area underneath full-featured business devices, but still far ahead of what can be found on typical phones.

Multimedia - The Duo has a mobile version of Windows Media Player, which offers a solid media experience.

Software - The Duo offers typical Windows Mobile Standard software, which is a bit more limited than the excellent Professional suite. Unfortunately, some of these limitations are fairly annoying like the inability to create new office documents.

Battery Life - Unfortunately, the Duo has fairly lackluster battery life across the board.

Connectivity - The Duo is a quad-band GSM phone that will support 3G where availabe. It also has Bluetooth 1.2, but doesn't support wi-fi.

Hardware - The Duo's keyboard is solid, but with problems. The rest of its hardware follows suit, but generally falls in the middle ground.

Other Features - The Duo supports

Value & Comparisons - Though a good device, there are many cheaper competitive devices out there that undermine the Duo's value a bit.

[page title="Tour & Design"]

Front Closed
At the very top of Duo's face is a small LED that will kindly let you know when the phone is charging. To the right of this are the three holes of the speaker. Underneath this is a strange textured portion that encompasses the screen and d-pad array. The d-pad array has soft buttons, which are represented by ellipses, a home and back key for navigation, the send and end keys, and a quick list key that provides a short menu of frequently-used options.

Front Open

You can open up the Duo in two different ways: by sliding down the keypad, or by sliding out the QWERTY keyboard. The keypad has a unusual design, with several keys being made out of one piece of plastic, but it works just like an ordinary 12-key array. The QWERTY is also  basic, but adequate; the keys are small but have some space between them. You can find the two soft keys in the top corners.

Left
The left side of the phone is where the volume rocker calls home.

Top
The top of the phone has the phone's MicroSD card slot.

Bottom
The bottom has a port for the proprietary charger/USB cable.

Right
The right side of the phone has a recorder button and a shutter button near the top.

Back
The back of the phone contains the 1.3 Megapixel lens. In the picture on the right  (with the phone in the keypad  slider position), you can see the micro SD card slot.

Battery Out
Removing the small 1320mAh battery will allow you to take out the SIM card. The battery is built into the back cover of the phone.

In the Box (4.0)
In the Duo's box, you'll find a manual, a packet with sync software, and a few cables, one of which is a wall charger. The other two are a  proprietary USB cable and an adaptor for a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. We prefer standard ports, but since the Duo actually comes with  adaptors that convert the proprietary port to standard USB and headphone sockets, we'll let it slide. Many phones with proprietary cords simply make you buy them separately.

Handling (7.0)
The Duo sits fairly comfortably in hand whether it's closed or opened in either direction. Opening up the phone will require you to shift grips, but never awkwardly; the weight of the phone always remains towards the back. The phone never feels slippery, although it does feel (and look) very plasticky.

Portability (6.0)
The Duo is relatively small, especially for a dual slider. It is very portable, and should fit into any pocket or purse. It is a bit on the thick side, so it might cause a bit of pocket paunch.

Aesthetics (5.0)
The Duo does have a unique look to it. It doesn't so much cause wide-eyed "this is a sexy new phone" astonishment as it elicits a quizzical "this phone is obviously fancy and new, so why is it made from such cheap plastic" brow furrow. The Duo has a mild case of Samsung Blast syndrome, where the phone is so plastic it doesn't really feel like a phone; it certainly doesn't feel like a fully functional smart phone with advanced functions. In its defense, the Duo doesn't suffer from the poor construction the Blast did; it just looks really, really plasticky. We'll file this one under "distinguished".

Durability (4.0)
The Duo has some durability strikes against it. First of all, it's made of plastic, which doesn't inspire confidence in its longevity. Furthermore, it slides every which way and moving parts tend to break down quickly. The sliding seems especially detrimental in the case of the QWERTY keypad, as you can hear and feel the friction as the face slides. Aside from these criticisms, however, the Duo still seems like a relatively solid phone. The plastic seems sturdy enough, and the phone didn't creak when we twisted it around.

[page title="Audio Quality"]

When we test audio quality, we use same equipment used by manufacturers in their production lines. Our hardware is a head and torso simulator, or HATS, which is like a cross between a mannequin and bucket of sophisticated audio equipment. The software we use is SoundCheck, which is an electro-acoustic analysis program we use to measure the outgoing and incoming frequencies against industry standards. To find out more about our methods, click here.

Sound Receive Frequency Response (7.26)

The Duo handles received frequencies (i.e. an incoming caller's voice) fairly well. It does have two areas that are a bit off. The lower frequencies are bumped just slightly outside of the limits (red lines), which means that lower frequencies are slightly exaggerated. Conversely, the graph drops off sharply at the higher frequencies, clipping the edge of the limits. This combination means voices will sound a little boomy, but also somewhat clipped. However, these are both relatively minor issues, so incoming voices should generally sound okay.

Cell Phone	Pantech Duo	Helio Ocean (on Helio)	BlackBerry Curve 8320 (on T-Mobile)
Score	7.26	7.88	8.30
Received Sound Frequency Response Graph (click to view)

Cell Phone	Palm Centro (on Sprint)	HTC Tilt (on AT&T)	Nokia N95 (Unlocked)
Score	6.24	8.04	6.46
Received Sound Frequency Response Graph (click to view)

Sound Send Frequency Response (4.94)


The Duo has some problems handling its user's voice. As you can see by this graph, the Duo hits cruising altitude a good distance above the desired limit. Towards the end, it takes a nose dive back into acceptable territory before continuing its descent and clipping the bottom limit on its way out. Suffice to say, this isn't what the ideal graph would be; your voice will sound overly clipped at the higher frequencies.

Cell Phone	Pantech Duo	Helio Ocean (on Helio)	BlackBerry Curve 8320 (on T-Mobile)
Score	4.94	6.45	7.51
Received Sound Frequency Response Graph (click to view)

Cell Phone	Palm Centro (on Sprint)	HTC Tilt (on AT&T)	Nokia N95 (Unlocked)
Score	7.82	7.44	6.81
Received Sound Frequency Response Graph (click to view)

Handset Side Tone (2.94)


Side tone refers to the amount of your own voice the phone plays back to you. We use side tone to judge how loudly we sound on the other end. The ideal measurement is -18 decibels, but the Duo measured a bit lower, at -25.06 decibels. This is a bit low, and might make you talk louder than you need to to make yourself heard.

Cell Phone	Sidetone Measurement	Score
Pantech Duo	25.06	2.94
Helio Ocean	22	5.50
BlackBerry Curve 8320	17.88	9.88
Palm Centro	17.86	9.86
HTC Tilt	20.29	7.71
Nokia N95	19.61	8.39

[page title="Imaging"]

Resolution (1.09)
We test resolution using an industry standard chart and photo analysis software. What we do is take a series of pictures of the resolution chart, which consists of alternating black and white lines of varying widths, then run the image captures through our software. The software determines the point at which the camera becomes unable to distinguish the individual lines. This result is measured in the number of line widths per pixel height the camera was able to discern, or lw/ph. The higher this number is, the better the camera's resolution.

As you might have guessed from the score, the Duo doesn't have the best camera. While it also doesn't have the worst, it is fairly bad. The Duo only scored 512 lw/ph horizontally and 457 lw/ph vertically. This is not very good; most newer phones score above 1000. Of course, most newer phones also typically have 2-3 Megapixels behind them where the Duo only has a lowly 1.3. Though these pictures are good enough for a cell phone screen, don't attempt to enlarge them in any regard if you wish to maintain some semblance of picture quality.

Cell Phone	Pantech Duo	Helio Ocean	BlackBerry Curve 8320
Score	1.09	2.18	5.25
lw/ph horizontal/vertical	512/457	701/476.6	1087/933
Image of Resolution Chart (click to view)

Cell Phone	Palm Centro	HTC Tilt	Nokia N95
Score	1.41	4.80	8.32
lw/ph horizontal/vertical	581/596	1039/1057	505.9/698.8
Image of Resolution Chart (click to view)

Color (2.34)
We test color in much the same way, only we snap pictures of a different chart. The chart we use for this test has different swatches of color on it. When we analyze the captures, it tells us how far the colors are off from what they should be.



Again, from the score you've probably deduced the Duo didn't capture accurate color. Typically phones will under-saturate color, which leads all the lines to radiate outward from the center, with the ideal color (the square) towards the outside and the represented color (circle) towards the inside. Overall, the lines tend to be fairly organized. The Duo doesn't show either of these trends, however, instead skewing everything towards red or yellow and overemphasizing colors. Though the Duo isn't the worst phone we've reviewed, it's in the bottom five or so.

Cell Phone	Pantech Duo	Helio Ocean	BlackBerry Curve 8320
Score	2.34	6.66	4.92
Color Checker Chart (click to view)

Cell Phone	Palm Centro	HTC Tilt	Nokia N95
Score	8.08	5.50	6.95
Color Checker Chart (click to view)

Noise (1.07)
We test noise by taking pictures of the color chart from the above section in varying light levels. Usually phones with higher Megapixel counts have more noise than those with lower resolutions, simply because they capture more information. This isn't the case with the Duo, however, as it scores fairly low for a camera with only 1.3 Megapixels. This means that the images it captures have lots of noise in them, which will show as spots of color in darker areas of images.

Cell Phone	Score
Pantech Duo	1.07
Helio Ocean	1.14
BlackBerry Curve 8320	1.41
Palm Centro	0.91
HTC Tilt	1.23
Nokia N95	1.42

Live Preview (2.5)
The live preview on the Duo is terrible. The images are both blurrier and more pixelated than the final capture, a combination we've not seen before. Though the final images were pretty bad, they were nowhere near this bad. Panning with the live preview is also atrocious, as even slow panning in medium light creates motion blur. Also, the huge black toolbar at the top doesn't seem to use screen space efficiently; it could easily be scaled back a bit to give the live preview more room. Given the resolution of the preview, however, perhaps the huge toolbar is there to limit the display area.

Unlocked Standby to First Shot (3.00)
As evident in the title of this section, this score is based on how quickly the phone can take a picture. We begin with the phone in a closed, unlocked standby, and take a picture of the timer. The captured image will show the total time the process took.

The Duo could get a picture off in about 6.67 seconds. This is somewhat slow, especially for a handset with a dedicated camera button. The reason for this is the camera button only functions as a shortcut to the application as a secondary function. You therefore need to hold the button down for a few seconds before the application begins to launch. Also, we noticed there appears to be a lag of nearly a second between us hitting the shutter key and the final image. Don't expect timely pictures with the Duo.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Pantech Duo	6.67	3.00
Helio Ocean	4.1	4.88
BlackBerry Curve 8320	2.9	6.90
Palm Centro	3.8	5.26
HTC Tilt	3.7	5.41
Nokia N95	6.5	3.08

Shot to Shot Time (2.43)
For shot to shot time, we start a timer, then take five shots of it as quickly as we can. If there is a burst mode available, we enable it. We go by the time captured in the fifth photo to get a time result for the task.

The Duo has burst mode, which is normally very beneficial for the score. The Duo's burst mode, however, is fairly slow. It took about 6.16 seconds to take the batch of pictures, which is only about .81 frames/second. Typically phones with burst mode score between one and two frames per second. There are also two additional knocks against the Duo in this category. First of all, burst mode can only be enabled in the lower two resolutions, meaning your pictures won't look that great. Secondly, the viewfinder isn't updated in between pictures, meaning you'll just have to remain still and hope your subject remains in frame.

Cell Phone	FPS	Score
Pantech Duo	0.81	2.43
Helio Ocean	1.25	3.75
BlackBerry Curve 8320	0.35	1.05
Palm Centro	0.28	0.84
HTC Tilt	1.36	4.08
Nokia N95	0.42	1.26

Shutter to Shot Time (1.94)
Here we simply measure how long it takes the phone to actually capture an image after you've pressed the shutter button. We do this by taking a picture of a timer the instant we start it. We then look at the resulting image to discern the total time it took.

The Duo is a slow phone for taking pictures. It took an average of 1.03 seconds after we'd pressed the shutter button. Typically smart phones are slower, simply because they're slower at performing most actions. Over a second, however, is where that excuse starts to wear a bit thin. We wouldn't trust the Duo very much with important image capturing.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Pantech Duo	1.03	1.94
Helio Ocean	0.6	3.33
BlackBerry Curve 8320	0.43	4.65
Palm Centro	0.88	2.27
HTC Tilt	1.64	1.22
Nokia N95	1	2.00

Interface (5.5)
The interface for still capture is basic. The center button or shutter key will snap the picture. The left soft key pulls out your album and the right one opens the menu. The menu places all the pertinent options within easy reach, and lets you fool around with shooting settings, resolution, and white balance. Everything has a shortcut key, so navigation is simple. Though a bit sparse on extras, what the Duo does have is laid out intelligently and succinctly.

Photo Album Software Internal (3.0)
The photo album software on the Duo is a bit basic. The screen shows the contents of the folder in a 3x3 grid of thumbnails. You can make simple slide shows that will scroll through pictures in a given folder. You can create folders and move pictures around using cut and paste. We wish there was a way to move multiple pictures, however, since moving large groups of pictures is tedious.

Manual Control (0.0)
The Duo doesn't have any manual controls.

Zoom (1.0)
The Duo doesn't include an optical zoom lens. Instead, it supports digital zoom, which only gets one point. Digital zoom is virtually useless; all it does is crop and enlarge an area of the picture. This means each time you zoom the resolution decreases. This feature is especially redundant on the Duo, as it gives you the ability to zoom and crop pictures after you've taken them.

Focus (0.0)
The Duo has a fixed focus lens, which we don't award points for.

Flash (0.0)
The Duo doesn't have a flash.

Metering (0.0)
The Duo doesn't provide any options for metering.

White Balance (2.0)
There are three preset options for white balance in addition to the default automatic setting: sunny, cloudy, and incandescent.

Image Handling (6.0)
There are a few options for image handling on the Duo. You can rotate, crop, and enlarge images. There's also an autocorrect feature that attempts to correct for common problems such as underexposure. Most phones don't contain any of these options.

Video

Overall Video Score (4.0)
The software for video capture is, on the whole, about the same as that for the camera. The live preview is still bad, there are only three options for resolution, and there aren't any capture format options (though it does provide a list of capture formats you can choose from, there is only one item in it). The video captures is 320 x 240 pixels, which is pretty decent for a cell phone. The overall quality of the video is pretty bad, any movement or panning will cause serious blurring. If you only want to take video of still items you should be okay, but of course why not take a photo in that situation?

Video Resolution (5.31)
We test video resolution in much the same way as still resolution. We use the same chart, only we take video of it. We then take random frames from the video and run the same gamut of tests on them.

Surprisingly, the Duo takes fairly decent video. It's almost never the case that a phone's camera excels at video over still capture. The test showed the Duo was capable of 247 lw/ph horizontally and 215 lw/ph vertically. While these numbers are significantly lower than the typical still capture scores, they're nothing out of the norm. While this resolution is decent, it doesn't really mean your cell-captured home movies are ready for the TV screen. The N95's video score is through the roof, and we only barely recommended the phone's video make the transition onto a larger medium.

Cell Phone	lw/ph horizontal/vertical	Score
Pantech Duo	247/215	5.31
Helio Ocean	283/160.1	4.53
BlackBerry Curve 8320	N/A: can't capture video	0.00
Palm Centro	249/274	6.82
HTC Tilt	183.2/177.3	3.25
Nokia N95	336.5/428.1	14.41

Video Compression (2.0)
The Duo is limited as far as video compression options; you can only record MPEG4 files.

Interface (5.5)
The interface for video capture is the same as still capture. As such, it will provide the same simple, organized layout. The menu list is a bit shorter and won't let you change capture format. There is an option to change resolution (176x144 or 320x240). You can set a capacity for the videos in the settings menu. All in all, it's a great layout for what's available, but it isn't anything outstanding by itself.

Manual Control (0.0)
The Duo doesn't offer any manual control for video capture either.

Zoom (1.0)
Again, digital zoom is supported, but not to the extent that it is with still capture; you can only zoom in or out in four jumpy steps. Again, we don't award many points for digital zoom since it's a simple crop and enlarge operation and doesn't actually zoom.

Editing (0.0)
The Duo doesn't contain any video editing software.

Modes (0.5)
The Duo gets a half point here because it allows you to change resolution to allow your videos to fit in MMS (176x144). You can also limit the length of your captures, though the lowest setting is one minute and typically 30 seconds is the max MMS will allow.

[page title="Making/Receiving Calls"]

Dialing Speed (6.92)
We test dialing speed exactly how you'd think we would: we start a timer, dial a number, and stop the timer when we hit send. We do this in order to showcase how quickly a user could expect to make a call. We do several different trails with different numbers in order to better approximate the user experience. We do a set of trials and average the results.

The Duo was able to sprint through this test with an average lap time of 2.89 seconds. This is fast, and due in part to several factors. First of all, the keypad slid out quickly, and sliding it out put our thumbs right over the keypad. Secondly, we were able to start dialing the instant we had access to the keypad, without any sort of lag. Third, the keypad itself is big enough to ensure accuracy, but not so big that thumb travel time slows you down. The Duo is a great phone for quick calling.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Pantech Duo	2.89	6.92
Helio Ocean	3.1	6.45
BlackBerry Curve 8320	3.16	6.33
Palm Centro	3.62	5.52
HTC Tilt	5.57	3.59
Nokia N95	4.62	4.33

Talk and End Buttons (4.0)
The talk and end buttons are located in the lower left and right corners of the d-pad respectively. The buttons themselves have decent play and provide adequate tactile feedback when pushed. None of the keys on the d-pad array (with the exception of the d-pad itself) have any differentiating quality to them, however, as only the slight dips between them serve to alert you that you're touching a different key. We would've liked a bit more differentiation between the keys. We found the send and end keys were saved a bit by their location, simply because there's nothing below them you could accidentally hit.

Call Management (6.0)
Call history can be found in the start menu, and lists phone numbers along with an icon to indicate if they were incoming, outgoing, or missed. You can also choose to filter calls based on those three criteria. Clicking on a call will allow you to view the duration and time the call was made. In the call history application, you can also choose to view timers, both for calls and data.

When you're getting a call, a splash screen pops up that gives you a choice to either answer or ignore the call. Once you've decided the caller is worth talking to, the soft keys change to mute and menu. The menu will let you perform conference calls easily and also provides access to pertinent applications such as your contacts and calendar. There were also options for more basic operations like speakerphone, but no option to record the call.

Startup to Call (2.29)
This test is the same as the dialing speed test, only we begin with the phone powered down. Though the Duo scored well on the dialing speed test, it didn't fare as well here. The Duo took an average of 43.67 seconds to boot up and place a call. Smart phones usually take a long time to start up simply because they have more complex software. The Duo definitely falls into this category.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Pantech Duo	43.67	2.29
Helio Ocean	9.5	10.53
BlackBerry Curve 8320	7.12	14.04
Palm Centro	42.66	2.34
HTC Tilt	64.55	1.55
Nokia N95	36.4	2.75

Ring Volume (8.57)
We measure ring volume with a sound pressure meter. We hold the phone a couple inches away from the meter and cycle through ringtones, noting the maximum recorded decibel level. The Duo measured 85.7 decibels at its loudest. This is about average, and should suffice to alert you of an incoming call.

Cell Phone	Volume (decibels)	Score
Pantech Duo	85.7	8.57
Helio Ocean	85.4	8.54
BlackBerry Curve 8320	85.6	8.56
Palm Centro	85.5	8.55
HTC Tilt	85.7	8.57
Nokia N95	105.3	10.53

Ringtone Customizability (0.0)
You can purchase ringtones off of AT&T's ringtone store. You can't use your own songs as ringtones, which is preposterous; in other similar devices with Windows Mobile 6 Standard this option is available.

Non Audio Alerts (6.0)
The Duo has adequate non audio alerts. We were able to barely feel it vibrating in our pocket, but we would've liked it to be slightly stronger. The splash screen that appears to inform you of an incoming call is certainly noticeable if you're looking at the phone, but otherwise it isn't particularly eye- catching.

[page title="Messaging"]

Supported Email Services (8.0)
The Duo is very supportive of any email service you want to use. It automatically looks up settings for popular email providers such as AOL and Gmail. It also supports IMAP and POP accounts.

Push Email (3.0)
The Duo supports Direct Push, which means your Duo will have access to push email as long as you have access to an Exchange server. It doesn't support other services out of the box like BlackBerry but  you may be able to install software to enable this.

Multiple Email Accounts (10.0)
The Duo supports at least five email accounts, which should suffice for most users.

HTML and Attachments (7.0)
The built-in email client supports viewing HTML emails, but does not do so by default. You'll have to select a few "yes, I do in fact want to see the HTML and pictures" options first. This is good for security but a bit annoying if you frequently receive HTML-laden newsletters or similarly embedded emails. Clicking on PDF, Word, or Excel file attachments will automatically start up a file viewing program. Downloading attachments is a bit complicated, since you need to select them for download, then select send/receive again in order to get them.

Email Customizations (5.0)
The email client gives you a few options or customizing your inbox. You can set a priority for email, opt to show the date and time, alter how messages are sorted, and sundry tweaks to the interface. You can also create signatures and rules for when a signature should be included. You can't change fonts or increase the number of emails that fit on-screen (only 5 will display at a time). Those serious about email won't like the 5 emails per screen limit, as there aren't any quick ways to scroll through emails.

Time to a New Message (8.70)
For this timing test, we again start with the phone closed and unlocked. We stop the timer when we have a new email message dialogue on screen. The Duo took 2.33 seconds to complete this test, which is pretty speedy, but not as fast as a BlackBerry, as you can see below.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Pantech Duo	2.33	8.70
Helio Ocean	2.1	9.52
BlackBerry Curve 8320	1.7	11.76
Palm Centro	1.86	10.75
HTC Tilt	6.45	3.10
Nokia N95	4.4	4.55

Email Usability (4.0)
The email client on the Duo is incredibly basic, but should be adequate for most users. If you're a power email user, then the Duo simply won't compete with a BlackBerry. If you want better than average email, however, the Duo will provide you with solid functionality.

Supported IM Services (0.0)
The Duo has versions of the big three clients: AOL, Yahoo!, and Windows Live. We didn't award points for these services, however, as they're charged against your messaging account as well as your data account. We would have awarded points if they were only charged as a data transfer.

MMS Support (6.0)
MMS is supported pretty good. You can send an MMS message straight from the camera or camcorder, or from either album. MMS messages are kept separate from SMS messages, however, which we find a bit backwards. Many phones are beginning to integrate MMS and SMS messaging. MMS and SMS messages arrive in the same inbox, however.

SMS Smiley Face Interpretation (0.0)
The Duo is all business all the time, and therefore doesn't support smiley faces.

SMS/MMS Ease of Use (4.0)
The new text message dialogue is the same basic design as the new email dialogue. It is therefore just as easy to create and send an SMS or MMS message. Again, however, only five messages will appear in the inbox at a time, which can be frustrating for texting power users.

Time to a New SMS Message (4.18)
On our timing tests, the Duo was able to get a new text message dialogue up in about 2.39 seconds. This isn't the fastest time, due mainly to a bit of cumbersome menu navigation. Even if the messaging icon is amongst the shortcuts at the top of the screen, accessing your text messaging inbox still requires more user input than most phones. Even though we're only talking about a little over a second separating the Duo from the front runners, even slightly more navigation than you're used to can easily turn tedious.
 

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Pantech Duo	2.39	4.18
Helio Ocean	3.1	3.23
BlackBerry Curve 8320	4.22	2.37
Palm Centro	0.86	11.63
HTC Tilt	0.79	12.66
Nokia N95	0.9	11.11

[page title="Organizer"]

Synchronization Ease of Use (6.0)
As with all Windows Mobile devices, synchronization is done through ActiveSync on XP machines and Windows Mobile Device Manager on a Vista machine. The software CD is graciously included in the box. Once installed, all you need to do is connect the phone via the also-included USB cable. The software itself is easy to navigate and use. ActiveSync shouldn't stump anyone.

The Duo uses Microsoft’s ActiveSync to synchronize data with the PC (or the Windows Mobile Device Center if you’ve upgraded to Windows Vista. Contacts, including photos, calendar appointments, tasks, notes, files and media can all be synchronized.

The Duo is a Windows Mobile device, which means you'll be synching up with Outlook or the basic Windows PIM managers. This also means that no other programs are supported out of box. If you wish to use a different program, you'll have to either purchase or download additional software.

Alerts (3.0)
Alerts on the Duo are very basic. You can set the time, recurrence, snooze timing, tone, and jot down a note. Recurrence is a bit unintuitive. You can set it to none, every day, every day except Saturday, and every day except Sunday. We're not sure why you can only sleep in one day over the weekend, but the Duo will certainly enforce this rule.

Over the Air PIM Sync (2.0)
Over the air PIM synchronization is done via Exchange. This again means you'll need to have access to an Exchange server. Contacts, Calendar appointments and tasks are all synchronized, but notes are not.

Address Book

Adding Contacts (8.53)
The Duo was able to add a contact in an average of 11.72 seconds. This is a quick time. The Duo gets to use its namesake dual-sliding form to get the optimal time here, as we used the keypad to type in the number initially, then used the QWERTY to type in the contact's name. Once you've typed in the number, the left soft key will allow you to save the number as a contact right off the bat. Adding contacts is very easy with the Duo.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Pantech Duo	11.72	8.53
Helio Ocean	21.24	4.71
BlackBerry Curve 8320	14.1	7.09
Palm Centro	12.22	8.18
HTC Tilt	19.74	5.07
Nokia N95	25.42	3.93

Looking/Sorting/Search (6.0)


There are a few ways to sort through your contacts. You can simply start typing out their name (it uses T9 automatically) or scroll around with the d-pad. We were happy to see the T9 search could pick up on either the first or last name, but we wish the search extended to company or email address. There are also filters for category, and you can opt to list entries by either their name or company.

Fields (8.5)
The Duo has 43 different fields, which is quite a lot. It's capable of storing multiple numbers addresses (email or physical) and also some random fields like Government ID. Overall a good batch of fields, though we miss the custom fields of Series 60 Symbian devices.

Speed Dial/Voice tags/Voice command (6.0)
The Duo will let you assign a speed dial to any contact or application, which we though was a nice way to expand speed dial functionality. There are 98 available slots for speed dialing values (1 is assigned to voicemail). The phone couldn't assign voice tags, but it did have good voice command software that was capable of picking up all of our test names.

Calendar

Adding Calendar Items (10.78)
For this timing test we begin with the phone closed and unlocked and end once we've saved our test calendar item.
The Duo was able to create our test calendar item in about 9.28 seconds. Times for adding calendar items tend to fall onto a huge spectrum, but the Duo finds itself solidly on the quicker side. It was helped out greatly by automatically adding a 15 minute reminder and having noon as its default appointment time. In spite of these luck-based factors, the Duo got its calendar application open quickly, and was easy to navigate. Scrolling through fields could use some sort of a jog dial, but for simple appointments users probably won't notice.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Pantech Duo	9.28	10.78
Helio Ocean	24.2	4.13
BlackBerry Curve 8320	6.04	16.56
Palm Centro	4.8	20.83
HTC Tilt	7.46	13.40
Nokia N95	18.64	5.36

Calendar Views (4.67)
The Duo's calendar is similar to other Windows Mobile calendars. There are three different views: agenda, week, and month. Switching between views is assigned to the left soft button, allowing the user to cycle through them with ease.

The month view isn't very informative. The standard six weeks are displayed, and days with appointments receive a colored triangle in their corner. Highlighting the day won't divulge any additional information, but clicking on a day will switch to the agenda view.

Checking out weeks will also be a familiar experience. Hours line the the left side and the days run across the top. Chunks of alloted time are highlighted purple. Moving the cursor over an appointment will display its start and end times as well as its title.

Agenda view is the best view, but we were a bit disappointed because it was actually a day view. Agenda usually means a list of all scheduled events, past and present, while the Duo's agenda view simply displays the appointments for that day. Regardless, it's a great view. We especially like the bar at the top that displays free/busy time, this was a new addition that came with Windows Mobile 6.

Fields (10.0)
The Duo has 13 fields. These encompass basic items like a title, location, and start/end time. Some more advanced options include an all day event toggle, recurrence, and attendees. There are also fields for status and sensitivity, but as you can't sort by them they don't add much functionality. Just about the only important field we thought was missing was a group or category field for filtering appointments. This is especially disappointing as categories are implemented elsewhere, such as in tasks and contacts.

ToDo/Tasks

Adding ToDo/Task (5.16)
Adding tasks was a bit awkward.Tasks are located in the Organizer folder in the start menu, and you must open the task application's menu in order to create a new task. Just getting the new task dialogue to pop up requires 7 button presses, assuming you use the keypad shortcut to open the task application itself. In all, it took 19.37 seconds to enter in our simple task. This is a bit slow. As alluded to, the task application isn't the easiest to browse to, but tasks themselves could stand to be laid out a bit better. For example, the priority field is located above the start/due date entry. Though it has its problems we were helped out by the phone's responsiveness, both when navigating and when switching between the QWERTY and keypad.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Pantech Duo	19.37	5.16
Helio Ocean	N/A: can't create tasks.	0.00
BlackBerry Curve 8320	14.80	6.76
Palm Centro	11.52	8.68
HTC Tilt	17.77	5.63
Nokia N95	12.38	8.08

ToDo/Task Sorting and Prioritizing (7.0)
There are a few options for prioritizing and sorting tasks. You can assign one of three priorities to your tasks: low, normal, or high. Categories can also be assigned, which a user can filter by. Options for sorting include status, priority, subject, start date, and due date.

Fields (10.0)
The Duo has a good set of fields, which most users should be satisfied with. In addition to the basics, you can assign a category, set up simple recurrence, and jot down notes.

Notes

Adding Notes (5.09)
Adding notes is a similar process to adding tasks. The note application is also located in the organizer folder. Once in the notes application, however, a new note was assigned to the left soft key. Also, since this is a notes application, we didn't need to deal with fields. The Duo was able to get our test note completed and saved in about 9.82 seconds. This is on the faster side of things, but it is always slightly annoying when you have to use a mix of keypad shortcuts and d-pad scrolling to reach a destination.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Pantech Duo	9.82	5.09
Helio Ocean	16.06	3.11
BlackBerry Curve 8320	12.2	4.10
Palm Centro	8.46	5.91
HTC Tilt	13.79	3.63
Nokia N95	17.7	2.82

Note Interface (2.0)
Note interface is very simple. There is only one option under the menu initially, which is "My Word". If you click on this you can make shortcuts to phrases you commonly use. This means no clutter, but also no options. You can't change the font at all, or add any kind of style change.

Once you've saved a note, it will appear under the main notepad screen. Notes are sorted by the order they were created, and there are no additional options for sorting.

Note Formatting (0.0)
You can't format notes in any way.

Voice Memo (8.0)
Voice notes receive quite a bit more attention on the Duo than we typically see. Voice notes can be found in the Organizer folder under the start menu, and also have a dedicated shortcut key on the right side of the phone. The interface is simple: left soft key starts the recorder, and the right soft key opens up a menu. You can rename voice notes or set them as ringtones via the menu in addition to the basic play/record/delete options. While recording a voice note, your current time is displayed on the screen in gigantic bold letters. Notes can well exceed the normal one minute mark, and are really only limited by the space available on the phone. We were very impressed with the voice note support on the Duo.

[page title="Multimedia"]

Accessing Music Software (5.9)
This timing test begins with the phone closed and unlocked, and ends as soon as we are able to get a song playing. We were able to get the Duo to start singing 3.39 seconds after we'd started the timer. This is a good score, especially for a phone that isn't music oriented. The music player is located in the AT&T Music folder in the start menu, right near the top, so it doesn't require much of a menu crawl to get it open. There was a bit of lag involved, but less than what we usually see when loading music.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Pantech Duo	3.39	5.9
Helio Ocean	5.2	3.85
BlackBerry Curve 8320	7.62	2.62
Palm Centro	3.22	6.21
HTC Tilt	5.47	3.66
Nokia N95	11.82	1.69

Dedicated Music Controls (0.0)
Dedicated music controls refer to a key that only performs a media control function, or one that's remapped to perform a media control function once music is playing. In the latter case, we will only count the key as dedicated if it performs media functions outside of the media player application, such as on the home screen.

As such, the Duo doesn't have any dedicated music controls. Even the volume keys, which are usually a given in this category, only affect the phone volume; music volume is handled by the media player software.

Music Software Functionality and Organization (6.8)

The mobile version of Windows Media Player (WMP) is simple to use. It still won't automatically add songs to your library, however, which was a bit annoying. It will perform a scan when prompted, however saving you a drag and drop job. WMP will support playlists, but only if they were created or previously imported into your PC's Windows Media Player. You can also create a playlist on the device, which is fairly simple to do.  You can sort your music by title (all music), artist, album and genre. There is no active search. Your files do inherit their ratings, as given by a PC version of Windows Media Player, but you can't edit it while on the device or sort by them.

There is also no equalizer or visualization, though these are uncommon features even amongst music-oriented handsets. One interesting feature is the ability to map or remap shortcut keys for many different functions. You can play music in the background, however this isn't the default. You'll need to go into the player's settings and uncheck the "pause playback while using another program" box. While a nice option to include, we really disagree with the choice to make it the default. We can see many beginner-level users not finding this setting right away.

Online Song Downloading (0.0)
The Duo does not support online song downloading, although you can download ring tones via AT&T's store.

Streaming (2.0)
The Duo supports streaming WMA files. This is the only type of streaming file the phone supports.

Podcast Support (0.0)
The Duo doesn't have any podcast software.

Music Sync with PC (7.0)
Synchronizing music with the PC can be done two different ways. The ubiquitous method is connecting the phone and using Windows Media Player to sync. You can also use the included software, but we believe you're better off just sticking with WMP.

Music Formats and DRM (3.0)
The Duo can play both protected and unprotected WMA files. The phone also supports Mp3 files. It won't support AAC or Real files, though these can be converted to WMA with Windows Media Player on your PC.

Music Interruption (10.0)
The Duo behaves well with music interruption. When a call comes in while you're listening to music, it will automatically pause. When the call is over, the music will resume. We would've liked to see the music fade back in a bit, but presently only a few phones like the iPhone does this.

Video

Video Software Access (3.45)
Like the music timing test, this score is based on how fast the phone can get a video playing. The Duo was able to do this in 5.8 seconds. This is quicker than most phones we review, although it's slower than we would've expected, given the music access score. After all, we're accessing the same application for both. The video took a relatively significant long time to load and play, however. Again, compared to other phones, the Duo still performed well.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Pantech Duo	5.8	3.45
Helio Ocean	5.5	3.64
BlackBerry Curve 8320	8.08	2.48
Palm Centro	3.16	6.33
HTC Tilt	10.18	1.96
Nokia N95	10.22	1.96

Video Controls (5.0)
Since the Duo uses Windows Media Player for both music and video playback, the video and audio controls are the same. You can skip around with left and right on the d-pad, up/down is volume, center is play/pause, the left soft key will bring up the "Now Playing" list, and the right soft key will open the menu. The menu key will let you access the library and a short options list.

Video Software & Organization (4.0)
Although music and video use the same application, they don't receive quite the same treatment. The most notable difference is the absence of sorting options, as videos can only be grouped by title or genre. Also, the library update. Regardless, Windows Media Player is still a better video player than the average. Videos do receive tags, but again, you can't sort by a majority of the information.

Video Sync with PC (7.0)
Video syncs up the same way as music: via Windows Media Player.

Video Formats (3.0)
Windows Media Player supports 3GPP, MP4, and Windows Media files. You won't be able to play any other files, however, such as Flash or Real.

Video DRM (5.0)
The only DRM the Duo supports is Windows Media DRM. Any other DRM, such as iTunes files, won't be recognized.

Video Playback Smoothness (10.0)
We had no problems with playback smoothness. We were able to play all our test files -- up to 768 kbps -- without any skipping or freezing.

Online Video Downloading (0.0)
The Duo doesn't support any online video downloading service.

Video Streaming unscored
We don't score video streaming because there's no set standard yet to score them against. The Duo does support some streaming video, but only streaming video offered from windowsmedia.com, which means video in the Windows Media format. It doesn't support streaming 3GP video from services like Youtube Mobile.

[page title="Software"]

OS (8.0)
The Duo runs Windows Mobile 6 Standard. Windows Mobile is typically a slow OS, but the Duo handles it admirably. Those familiar with Windows Mobile Professional will find it's a bit lacking on the software end, but will also be those who notice the speed the most. Windows Mobile Standard has an easier learning curve than Windows Mobile Professional does.

Home Screen Score (6.0)
The Duo's home screen will be familiar to Windows Mobile users, but also appear similar to the home screen of Series 60 Symbian devices. The very top bar contains general phone info, such as your current profile, battery life, and signal strength. Below this is a visual history of applications you've opened. Next is the date and time. Below this are a few shortcuts, including a link to get Xpress Mail, a reminder of upcoming appointments, a shortcut to the inbox (with a running tally of its contents), and links to the IM clients. One part of the home screen we missed was the Windows Media Player plugin, which essentially was a tiny working version of the player. This is a more common inclusion in Windows Mobile Professional.

Extensibility (7.0)
As part of the Windows Mobile lineage, the Duo is extensible. It comes with many different third-party applications for extending functionality. This is especially useful on Windows Mobile Standard, as many of the included programs are fairly basic.

Customizability (3.0)
The Duo offers a few options for customizability. You can change the home screen's layout, which can alter display significantly. You can also change the background image or color scheme to further beautify your phone. You can edit profiles and power settings as well. There really aren't any options for changing the font; while there is an option under the home screen menu for large font, it only applies to the home screen, and limits home screen functionality drastically by only displaying the time and "AT&T".

OS Responsiveness (5.0)
The Duo's responsiveness is really best appreciated by those familiar with Windows Mobile devices. Those who are will find the Duo to be significantly faster than what they're used to. Those who are used to basic phones or BlackBerry devices might find it average, or slightly slower on load times. Newer users will also be a bit put off by menus that load in pieces, as it looks a bit glitchy. Overall, however, the Duo is incredibly responsive, especially when switching from normal view to profile. This is especially impressive when you take into account the phone's paltry 64 MB SDRAM compared to the 128 MB found in other recent Windows Mobile Phones.

Browser Features (7.0)
The Duo comes with a mobile version of Internet Explorer. Overall, mobile IE is an adequate browser, but it can't compare to the Series 60 Symbian browser. The Duo can handle both WAP and HTML sites. It has Javascript, but we encountered some problems with our test applet. We also encountered some issues with images loading correctly, but for the most part everything was fine. The Duo supported cookies, as well as encryption. You can actually choose your encryption from a list of different methods.

Browsing Interface (6.0)