Ask anybody here in the states if they’ve heard of Pantech and the answer will most likely be no. Pantech isn’t really a major player in the smartphone market over here, despite being a reasonable competitor to Apple, Samsung and LG over in South Korea, where the headquarters of the company is situated.
However, it seems as if Pantech is no longer satisfied with just being a competitor. The company is looking to push its way to the number one spot in the Korean smartphone market with its latest quad-core smartphone, the Vega R3. The smartphone is definitely a powerful device and is already being described as the “best existing quad-core smartphone” by Pantech.
On paper the Vega R3 definitely looks solid, though it may not be enough to deem it the “best”. The device, which comes with a 5.3″ screen, could be the first ever smartphone powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor to actually begin selling, even though the LG Optimus G is already planned to start selling in Korea this week.
The Vega R3 and the Optimus G both share the same CPU, an APQ8064 clocked at 1.5GHz, and even feature 2GB of RAM and a 13MP rear-facing camera. The display on the R3, however, is much larger than the Optimus G, measuring 5.3″ and coming with a 1m280 x 720 HD resolution. Pantech calls the screen technology “Natural IPS Pro LCD”, which is a new one for the smartphone market.
In addition to that, the R3 also comes with a 2,600mAh battery, which is a pretty powerful battery for a smartphone. However, when you take into consideration how much power will be needed to work that huge screen, it all makes sense.
Connectivity wise the R3 comes with 4G LTE as well as WiFi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, a microSD card slot, microUSB 2.0 slot and GPS. NFC support is also included, though Pantech was unable to increase the software tremendously, meaning that this phone will be running Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich instead of Jelly Bean.
Pantech has yet to unveil pricing details for the Vega R3, even though the device is expected to start selling within the next day or two in Korea on all three of the country’s major carriers. There also isn’t any information as to when, or if, this device will hit American or European shores.
Source: Android Authority – Pantech unveils S4 Pro-powered Vega R3, “the best existing quad-core smartphone”
