Pantech’s role as a smartphone manufacturer is a bit unusual. It doesn’t have quite the low-end stigma of manufacturers like Huawei or ZTE (not that those two haven’t made some pretty nice handsets, as well), but it’s certainly not bringing any of its high-end devices to the US, either. The company’s latest Android to come to our attention is a QWERTY slider for Verizon, and it appears to fit with the growing trend of mid-range handsets to offer some high-end chips that almost feel out of their league.

The Pantech Star Q 4G LTE is supposedly on its way to Verizon, already showing up for some benchmarks and in the leaked press shots above. Like some of the mid-range Samsung Androids we’ve also been hearing about for the carrier, the Star Q runs a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4; that’s quickly becoming one ubiquitous chip, and we’re glad it is, as it’s quite the capable performer. While some of the Star Q’s other specs are a bit less impressive, there’s no doubt that it should have all the processing power it needs.

Those specs include a four-inch WVGA display, a three-megapixel main camera, as well as a front-facer. The smaller screen keeps the phone compact, and while a qHD component would offer more fidelity, we’re not sure it would be worth jacking-up the price for. The choice to go with a low-res camera also suggests hardware decisions made with budgetary concerns in mind, leaving us curious just how much the Star Q will run when it finally launches. Somewhere around $100 on-contract has been suggested as a possibility, but we’ve got the feeling Verizon could end up pricing this handset quite a bit lower.

Source: Android and Me
Via: Engadget