Horrible phone. February 25, 2013

Reviewer:  mellop 

I'm on my 3rd replacement in a year. The screen freezes all the time, I am constantly taking the battery out. It just turns off on it's own. They just keep sending me refurbished garbage.

I wouldnt want my worst enemy to buy this phone February 10, 2013

Reviewer:  Navin X. Albert 

I have owned this phone for 1 year now. My experience can be summarized is three sentences
- Battery starts dying after 6 months. I have to charge it every 4 hours.
- Buggy & slow.
- Useless Apps per-loaded by Verizon cannot be deleted. No space to put your own apps.
I have never left good or bad reviews for any product in my life, but I have never come across anything this bad.

Carol M January 31, 2013

Reviewer:  Royce Manwiller  (Temple, PA, US) -

I really haven't liked this phone since I got it. Due for an upgrade soon and I will not get this one. I keep getting a message that there isn't much memory anymore, so I deleted some apps and a lot of emails. Some of the apps I cannot delete. These are the ones that were installed by Verizon and I don't even want them. What else can I do to get more memory? I'm at my wits end. The phone is so slow because of the memory. How can I fix this until I get a new phone? I can't even answer my phone when it rings because the phone is not functioning the way it should because of the memory problem.

I have never wanted to crush a phone more than this one. December 22, 2012

Reviewer:  Vanessa Simerson 

I purchased this Pantech Breakout phone in October 2011. Since the first month of having it, I have had to replace the SD card, SIM Card, and just recently the phone itself. I have lost photos of my Daughter games, Dinner dates out with friends, and so much more. I patiently dealt with this phone for a year. I had to replacing the SD card about every month. It would just turn off at random times, which ticked my husband off AT ME. It would freeze in the middle of recording a video so I would have half of a final cheer that my daughter did , this is something that they practiced for MONTHS to get right , and thank to this phone I missed it all together just trying to get it to come back on the get the end of the cheer. Thanks goodness one of the other parents had a video camera. And before you rag on me for not bringing a video camera in the first place..... You would think if you purchase something that WORKED, it would have worked. Then when I call Verizon to make it better, The wouldn't give me any contact information for Pantech , the refuse to let me speak to a manager. And told me my options are replacing this phone with something else , but I still had to pay for the battery and the back of the phone .... I bought a phone intact .... Purchase an un godly amount of SD CARD's. Replaced the SIMS card's , Lost pictures you can't get back. Never once did I complain. I sucked it up and went on .... So now I am stuck with about 20 SD Cards.... Another phone coming to me that was my only option and additional 50 Bucks out of my pocket ... Oh yeah right here at Christmas. You want to buy SD cards ?? I have never complained not one time, Never and I feel like, because I didn't curse and act a fool I was just pushed around. Very VERY disappointed.

poor smart phone December 2, 2012

Reviewer:  mach 

1. Battery life is extremely short. In 4hrs without using it with good signal, 30% left. Must carry my charger all the time.

2. Alarm does not wake you up as you set. I set 6am but always wakes me up at 6:12am, 6:11am. Why?

3. Have to reboot at least once a week.

4. Camera without flash. I cannot take pics in dark.

If you can deal with above all, go get it. I won't recommend though.

Pantech Breakout October 4, 2012

Reviewer:  thefreeshow 

Worst smartphone I ever owned. Have to re-boot often and it is sometimes unresponsive and I have to close what I'm trying to do and start over. This happens when I receive texts mostly. It will take me one or two tries just to open the message. This will also always happen when I turn the phone off. It takes forever for the functions to start working after it turns on. It worked great for the first 3 months and then it has been all downhill after that. When I first bought the phone the Verizon salesman really tried to talk me out of it. I was just trying to save money. But like he told me, "You will be getting what you pay for".

Not a good choice for a phone August 26, 2012

Reviewer:  Mary Ann B 

The Pantech Breakout is a disappointment. The 4G is slow. Memory is not existing. Camera is poor. Battery life is horrendous. The extra money for an Apple would be more worth it.

Could be good if Verizon didn't force apps you can't delete August 6, 2012

Reviewer:  Fishnchip 

The phone itself was a replacement for a cracked screen Samsung Stratosphere. This phone is NOTHING like my Samsung which was fast, fast, and didn't let me down. Both phones suffered from the Verizon garbage apps that I'd like to uninstall to give me more memory on the phone. Again, memory was not a problem on the Samsung but with less than 100mb free for what I want to do with the phone, its very limited. If you are a heavy text person or someone who wants to take a lot of pictures or video with your phone, pass on this one. With so little memory, your e-mail, pics, and texts are very limited, so limited in fact that if you don't take the time to delete the old e-mails or texts, you won't get any new texts coming in on this phone. No memory = no texts!!! Overall, the operating system is OK but although the Stratosphere and the Breakout have the same operating system, they are worlds apart. Turn off the GPS and Wi-Fi when not in use and you'll add a little more to the battery life. GPS on = very short battery life. I can't wait until my contract is up to switch to a better, hopefully bloatware free phone and carrier.

Disappointing Phone July 17, 2012

Reviewer:  stuckagain 

I got the Pantech Breakout through Verizon. This thing will drop my ear piece for no apparent reason (my iphone never does!), it'll go into silent ring mode on it's own, but the most annoying feature is the alarm. Sometimes the screen is black when the alarm is going off (at 5:00 a.m.) and the only way to get it to turn off is to take the battery out. I've been on the phone with Verizon support several times, each time for more than 20 minutes, and it still isn't fixed. They asked for a call back number while they had me do this-and-that to my phone. The first time I used my business cell as a call back number and now the Verizon marketing knumbskulls keep calling my business cell! Even after repeated requests to stop! Between the Breakout and Verizon, it seems I made a poor choice.

Awful phone July 14, 2012

Reviewer:  Lindy5 

I had high hopes for this phone, but it's the worst ever. This is actually my 3rd Breakout because it keeps dying and they replace it with a refurbished one. Obviously something wrong with all of them. Now this 3rd one is doing the same thing, force closes everything, can't text or email. I will take it back tomorrow. They better give me a new phone this time or I may switch carriers.

You get what you pay for. June 29, 2012

Reviewer:  Jacob A. Nash 

I'm surprised of so many 5 star reviews on here... this is definitely not a 5 star phone.

I've never seen a "loading" screen on a phone before (loading messages mind you). It gives me a "message sent" confirmation, which is actually annoying. It seems this phone can't handle a quick series of commands.

Power button is on the side. wtf? it's like they just randomly chose a spot and stuck it there.

camera takes forever to start, and forever to snap a pic. quality is pretty good though.

driving around town, streaming music on spotify, suddenly I wasn't connected to the network. no data whatsoever. not sure if this was verizon of the phone... also other users have reported static, i as well have gotten this from the headphone jack. really really strange.

all in all, meh. there's much better phones out there. just spend the money, you'll be happier.

Good, but with some maddening flaws March 13, 2012

Reviewer:  Thomas 

Battery - Lasts about a little over a day for me, as a moderate to low user
Flashiness - Nice size, vivid screen colors, easy menu navigation
Phone - It takes a couple extra taps to dial the last number called. My old phone was a double click and it called the last person, this one you have to pull up the call list, make the selection, then press the call button. It gets a little warm on long calls. I set up dedicated ringtones for different people, and it occasionally uses the default ringtone for them. Quirky.
Speaker phone - I can set it on my lap when I drive, and people hear me fine, and I can hear them. I wish the speaker phone tap to activate it was bigger.
Camera - I thought the camera was sub-par at first, but the pictures are actually more clear then they look on the screen. Once you transfer them to a computer, they're much better.
Keyboard - Im not sure if it's my fumble fingers or what. I came from a blackberry with raised hard keys and I typed fine. With this one, I am horrible. I had to turn off auto correct, and set the keyboard accuracy/speed slider all the way to accuracy, and I'm still using backspace several times per sentence.
Accessories - I have the rubberized hardshell, it's awesome, a must have.
Apps and stuff - The built in weather app is a bit lame, you have to update whenever you open it. You would think it would figure since you opened it, you were curious about the most updated weather forecast. The phone also comes with a ton of apps pre-loaded, most of which I never use, but to each his own.
Wall paper screen - Has some cool wallpapers which move. The main screen has a clock on it. If you happen to tap anywhere around the clock it sends you to pick a new city for the current time. Inevitably, your main screen will be the one waiting for you to input your city for the current time, not the cool motion wallpaper you selected.

Great potential crippled by major dealbreakers and poor customer service. February 27, 2012

Reviewer:  Dastardly Deeds 

I got this phone two weeks ago, and today (Feb 27, 2012) I am choosing to exchange it for another, hopefully less problematic phone. I'm not entirely happy that I have to do this, as the Pantech Breakout has many positive qualities as a phone, but the few major problems it has are just too much to deal with.

In brief:
Pros
-Good call quality
-Inexpensive for a 4G smartphone
-With the exception of the audio problem detailed below, it works well for the things I use it for: email, document reading, texting, using the internet, etc.

Cons
-Battery runs out quickly: I have a spare charger that I would bring with me, but be aware that this phone runs out of juice over 24-36 hours, very rapidly indeed.
-Bloatware: the Breakout comes loaded with an excessive number of applications that can not be removed. Besides the obvious security issue of everyone having the same applications, the Breakout suffers even further from this due to a very low amount of internal memory. You are therefore stuck with a large chunk of your space being used up by programs that you don't necessarily need or want.
-Phone wide audio bug: bizarrely, whenever a podcast is prepended by an advertisement, the phone will only play the ad, and then skip the rest, as if it doesn't realize that the rest of the podcast is there. I tested this with several programs including the pre-installed music player, as well as Google Music and Google Listen, and the problem consistently surfaces among the sound files I tested. It's a totally strange bug, and it completely cripples my ability to listen to certain programs.
-Poor customer service: After discovering the above audio bug, I emailed Pantech's support with a description of the problem and a request for an update. I received an email back asking me to call a different support number, which I did, only to find myself stymied by an uncooperative and very unhelpful employee. I consider this a fair criticism, as the support offered by the company is a fundamentally important aspect of a smart-phone.

A more detailed description of my experience follows:

Bloatware is a problem that all smartphones seem to be guilty of these days, but this certainly does not excuse it. I think it's completely fair to consider this a con on any phone that has it, if you are prevented from uninstalling the apps in question. On the Breakout in particular, you have the additional aggravation of a rather low amount of internal storage to begin with. Although I have only downloaded a few apps and have not yet had any space problems, it's still very frustrating to see and know that those apps are there, and any security problems with them are just one more way the phone can fall victim to malware.

The above problem was already a major frustration with the phone, but the audio bug was what made me start to consider returning it. I tested with a variety of podcasts, some that started with an ad and some that did not, and even some that had an ad only if downloaded from a certain feed. In all cases, on all of the apps, the problem lined up exactly with the ads being present. I like to listen to podcasts while doing chore tasks like cleaning dishes or folding laundry, so this was a rather disappointing bug to discover.

Worse however, was Pantech's response. Although I was pleased to receive a prompt reply to my first email detailing the problem, I was less impressed with the way things went after there. Their reply asked me to call a certain support number. The representative I spoke to listened to me explain the problem, and immediately began the typical useless checklist (have you tried turning the phone on and off, have you tried a factory reset, etc.). As the conversation wore on, it became clear that they were not going to help beyond the advice of "try another hard reset," and that they did not understand the problem explanation I gave. Which is fair, I was brief and I don't expect everyone to know what a podcast is. BUT: when I asked if there was any way I could submit a detailed bug report, I was flatly told no, and in a masterpiece of circular reasoning they informed me that they haven't been hearing about this problem from anyone, so there's no reason to look at it (and of course they never WILL hear about the problem, because the representative didn't even take the time to understand it!). It became utterly clear that Pantech will not be fixing this bug any time soon, and quite possibly won't ever know of it.

After this experience, my opinion of the phone had soured significantly, and I chose to exchange it. Even if the bug was fixed, I would not look forward to having to talk to their customer service again.

Really good phone i love it!!!!!!!!!!!!! December 12, 2011

Reviewer:  JG 

I love this phone i had the lg ally and it has nothing on this phone i have always been an lg fan but i went out on a limb and got this phone and it was a good choice!!!! if your looking for a smart phone for good money this is the phone its a good one!!! I dont have 4g yet but the phone is still fast all i can say is i love this phone!!!!!