Features & Specifications
The Pantech Matrix is a dual slider phone that features a full QWERTY keyboard that slides out horizontally and a vertical number pad for making calls. The camera is a 1.3MP unit with video capture and playback capability. Music formats supported include MP3, MIDI, iMelody, MMF, WAV, SMAF, and AAC+.

Subscription music services are supports including eMusic Mobile, Napster Mobile, and XM Satellite Radio. MusicID is featured to ID songs you are listening to. The phone allows users to insert video and images into text messages and can use IM services like AOL, Windows Live, and Yahoo. Mobile email is supported via AOL, Windows Live, and Yahoo. The handset also includes games and supports graphics and MP3 ringtones. The Matrix operates on AT&T's 3G network.

In Use
The first thing you notice about the Matrix is the dual slider design. The keyboard slides out horizontally and the screen rotates automatically when you open the keyboard. My review unit was green and the keyboard features green trim and keys that looked very nice.

Tactile feel for the keyboard is very good and typing is fast and easy. It may take a bit of getting used to if you are coming from a device with a different keyboard or an onscreen keyboard. The number pad slides out vertically and offers the keys you need to make phone calls.

Messaging on the phone is easy to do and fully featured. As you expect on lower-end camera phones, the images aren’t that great. With 1.3MP resolution and video recording capability, the device functions well, but the camera lacks a flash so images tend to be dark and grainy.

The buttons to answer and end calls are on the face of the phone so you don’t have to open the keypad to answer or end calls. MP3 ring tones are supported and you can set pictures taken with the camera to the wallpaper background and mount ringtones for specific callers.

I did have a bit of trouble binding some ring tones to individual callers for some reason. I'm not sure if the issue was with the phone or the ringtone itself, in either case the issue is certainly not a deal breaker.

The keypad and 3G speeds make sending and receiving email easy to do and the music player functions well. Storage capacity on the device can be expanded with a microSD card. The handset is also compatible with AT&T's turn-by-turn navigation system.

Call quality is very good with the phone. The microphone and speaker are well positioned. Some handsets have strange position making it hard to get ideal call quality, but the Matrix doesn’t suffer from that issue. You can hear and be heard clearly and the speakerphone functions well.