While the Droid Bionic is the most powerful 4G LTE and most expensive smartphone on the Verizon wireless network, the Pantech Breakout will be the cheapest when it is released on September 22, this Thursday for $99 after a rebate with a contract.
The Pantech Breakout will have the same expected download speeds of the other Verizon 4G LTE smartphones with expected download speeds of 5 to 12Mbps and upload speeds of 2 to 5Mbps in 4G mobile broadband coverage areas.
The Pantech Breakout ships with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, 1GHz processor, 4"(480x800) touchscreen, mobile hotspots (up to 10), 5MP camera, front-facing camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 8GB preinstalled microSD. It has added Pantech widgets allow it to be connected to the DLNA devices such as TVs via DLNA.
We checked with Pantech, the battery is 1500mAh which puts it with 100mAh more than the first Verizon 4G LTE smartphone, the HTC ThunderBolt that has 1400mAh battery but a slightly bigger 4.3" touchscreen, 8MP camera and kickstand. With a smaller screen, the Pantech Breakout will likely use less battery power.
The only feature missing form Verizon's smartphone lineup is a smartphone with a QWERTY keyboard, many believe that will be be the Samsung Stratosphere which may have October 6, release date. If you want a keyboard with 4G LTE it is worth waiting for. However, new customers who trade in any kind of phone can get at least a $100 gift(more if the trade-in value is higher) with the Verizon online exclusive trade-in deal while current Verizon customers can only trade-in a basic phone for the $100 gift card which would make the Pantech Breakout a breakout deal for free after the gift card.
If you already have smartphone with an unlimited data plan on Verizon Wireless you will be grandfathered for a 4G LTE unlimited plan otherwise new customers can opt for $30 for 2GB or $50 for 5GB per month.