Review: Pantech Laser
Browser
AT&T and Pantech have clearly stuffed a browser not optimized for touch handsets in to the Laser. The on-screen buttons and controls are microscopic. They are far too small for fingers to find accurately. The URL bar, for example, can't be more than 5 pixels wide. The AT&T.net home page has a number of built-in shortcuts, such as weather, sports, CNN, etc. Four out of 11 of these shortcuts are to sports-related content. These all route the user to the mobile versions of these web sites. The browser can't handle HTML. Even the WAP version of Phone Scoop looked terrible in the browser.
The browser's tools allow users to perform searches both across the web and on the current live web page. Users can also add and manage bookmarks, set behaviors for images and text size, and so on. The browser certainly works, and lets users skate around the mobile web, but it's barely user friendly.
Customize
Users can make the typical adjustments to the Laser for personalization. There are five different themes on board, which really only adjust the wallpaper settings in the main menu. Users can choose between about eight different fonts, and even control the size for some of them.
Two of the home screens can be completely customized with application and contact shortcuts. There are five ringer profiles for controlling the sound of the Laser for different settings. It's a shame that users can't take more control of how the main menu is laid out, nor make any adjustments to the central home screen.