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Pantech Impact now available on AT&T for $100

That trick Impact -- the better half of Pantech's two-phone combo for AT&T this fall -- has finally hit AT&T in the past couple days after we had a chance to play with it way back at CTIA at the beginning of October. Though it's not much of a monster on paper, the Impact has one of the more unique looks of anything currently in AT&T's lineup thanks to a touch-sensitive "hidden" external keypad paired with an internal color display and full QWERTY keyboard. That all matches up nicely with 3G capability and a 2 megapixel camera -- and buyers of all genders, tastes, and moods are welcome to this party thanks to availability in blue and pink. Grab it for $99.99 on contract after rebate, if you're so inclined.

Pantech Reveal and Impact revealed with impact

We've just checked out Pantech's new pair of messaging-friendly phones for AT&T, the Reveal and Impact; one of them left an "impact" on us, and we'll let you guess which one (hint: it's the one that would result in a pun occurring). Yeah, the Reveal was a pretty cheap-looking set -- and we're not sure we understand the value of eating of screen real estate with a dedicated numeric pad just so you don't have to slide the phone open to dial -- but the Impact (pictured above) was a genuinely intriguing phone. Up front you've got a glossy black surface that lights up to reveal a basic monochrome display and a numeric pad; pressing buttons on the pad triggers haptics so you can sorta feel your way around. Opening the phone up produces a full QWERTY keyboard with dedicated buttons for key functions (messaging, for example) and a color display with stereo speakers on either side. It's not a huge widescreen like you might find on something like an enV Touch, but it's still pretty big, plenty vibrant, and serviceable for the full HTML browser that AT&T's touting in these new devices. Pantech tells us that the Impact will go for "under $80" when it ships next month, so we'd argue that makes it a heck of a bargain in light of the unusual, slick design and the dual displays.

AT&T touts Opera-powered full web browsing with new phones from Samsung and Pantech

AT&T wants you to know that you don't need a smartphone just to get a rich, full web experience from your handset -- theoretically, anyway -- with the introduction of four new models from longtime partners Samsung and Pantech alongside a new featurephone browser. First up from Samsung comes the Flight (pictured left), billed as a "next-generation messaging device" on account of its full QWERTY portrait slide paired with a full touchscreen up top; it'll be available next month for $99.99 on contract after rebate -- that is, if you didn't buy it on Craigslist already. That silvery slate in the middle that's more likely to be catching your eye is the Mythic, rocking TouchWiz on a 3.3-inch display along with AT&T Mobile TV, making it a fitting successor to the Eternity and big brother to the Solstice; like the Flight, it swings onto retail next month, but you'll be paying a stiffer $199.99 on contract after $50 rebate.

Turning our attention to the Pantech side of the table, we've got the Reveal (pictured right) that lets you have it both ways with a numeric keypad up top twined with a QWERTY slider underneath. It's 3G-capable, AT&T Navigator-equipped, and available for your enjoyment on October 18 in red and blue. Finally, the Impact (not pictured) has an OLED touchscreen up front, but when the texting gets hot and heavy, the phone opens up to reveal a second display along with a QWERTY keyboard. It'll be available in pink and blue, though neither pricing nor availability are being announced just yet.

Gluing everything together is AT&T's new mobile browser, described as "a rich hybrid experience that gives you a HTML experience similar to your PC browser at home" that "works really well on a feature phone." Additionally, users visiting att.net from their PCs will be able to send bookmarks to their phones' mobile portals -- kind of a neat trick, especially when you're trying to minimize the number of URLs you have to mash out on an on-screen keyboard. Of course, featurephone browsers have a reputation for generally sucking, so considering that AT&T bills its new line of devices as "full web browsing phones," it'll be interesting to see how close they actually come to delivering on the claim; it's said the phones use "advanced data compression from Opera Software," which we're thinking is very likely some variation of Opera Turbo -- not a bad start.

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