Design, Voice Quality, and User Interface
The Jest measures 3.7 by 2.5 by 0.6 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.1 ounces. It's made entirely of high-impact plastic, with a fingerprint-attracting glossy finish on the front, and a textured, matte back panel. Like other recent Pantech devices, the Jest feels well made, like it could survive a few good knocks over the course of its life. The vibrant 2.6-inch screen sports a sharp 320-by-320-pixel resolution, which led to crisp fonts and smooth lines.
The slider mechanism felt smooth and solid. The four-row QWERTY keyboard was cramped. At least the bottom edge of the front panel didn't get the way of hitting the top row of keys, like on many other vertical sliders, thanks to a small plastic ridge between the keyboard and the open panel. They keys are silent and have a nice grip, with just the right amount of resistance. Typing was reasonably comfortable as a result, though I'd prefer a roomier design.
Specifications
Service Provider
Verizon Wireless
Screen Size
2.6 inches
Screen Details
320-by-320-pixel, 262K-color, TFT LCD
Camera
Yes
Network
CDMA
Bands
850, 1900
High-Speed Data
1xRTT
More
The Jest is a dual-band 1xRTT (800/1900 MHz) device with no Wi-Fi. Verizon phones usually sound good on voice calls, but the Jest was a rare exception. I heard a loud but harsh sounding tone in the earpiece. Transmissions were clear, though, and external noise rejection was good. Reception was average. Calls sounded fine through an Aliph Jawbone Icon ($99, ) Bluetooth headset, and voice dialing worked over Bluetooth without training. The speakerphone was a little tinny sounding, but went just loud enough for outdoor use. Battery life was excellent for a compact Verizon phone at 6 hours and 46 minutes of talk time.
The home screen contains animated wallpaper and a hiding taskbar you can pop up with a shortcut button on the right side. The menu system consists of numerous, brightly colored option lists. These were easy to read, but the four-way circular touch pad was a misfire. It made navigation a royal pain, regardless of the sensitivity level I selected. Targeting the right option often took several tries. You know there's a problem when Verizon includes a separate pamphlet with the Jest that explains how the touch pad works.
Apps, Multimedia, and Conclusions
The bundled software compliment was pretty decent. Opera Mini served up sharp Web pages, although the 1X radio meant desktop HTML pages were out. VZ Navigator is on board for voice-enabled, turn-by-turn directions at $9.99 per month, and the Jest also supports Verizon Family Locator. Verizon's IM client works with AIM, Yahoo, and MSN, but dings each message against your texting plan. Verizon also includes a pair of mobile e-mail clients, both of which cost extra per month. The Social Beat app was actually quite nice; it aggregates Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter updates, and even includes an RSS feed reader, Gmail, and Google Talk tie-ins, though it took a long time to load and set up.
The non-standard 2.5mm headphone jack makes finding decent-sounding earbuds virtually impossible. There's a generous 975MB of free internal memory, 910MB of which goes to music, and the top-mounted microSD card slot accepted my 16GB SanDisk card. But the phone spit out strange error messages and couldn't find my media. It turns out the Jest expects music tracks to be in root\synched\music, because that's obvious. It didn't matter anyway, because the phone refused to play tracks through Motorola S9-HD ($129.99, ) Bluetooth headphones, despite several seemingly successful pairing attempts. On the plus side, you can buy music over the air with V CAST Music for Rhapsody.
The 2-megapixel camera lacks a flash and auto-focus. Test photos looked passable outdoors, but downright distorted and blurry indoors, thanks to slow shutter speeds. The only usable shots I got inside were right by a window with plenty of sunlight. Standalone video playback was out, as the phone couldn't even play videos I recorded directly with the useless 176-by-144-pixel camcorder.
Verizon has plenty of decent phones, so there's no need to goof off with the Jest. Two good choices: the LG Cosmos ($29.99-189.99, ) is a horizontal slider instead of vertical and lacks a music player altogether, but it offers similarly high quality construction, better voice quality, and a simpler UI. The LG Accolade VX5600 ($9.99-99.99, ) loses the QWERTY keyboard, but it's an excellent voice phone with long battery life. Both the Accolade and the Cosmos are also free with a two-year contract.
Benchmark Test Results
Continuous Talk Time: 6 hours 46 minutes
Compare the Pantech Jest with several other mobile phones side by side.
