In a world where mobile technology is improving so quickly, and certain companies are leading the pack, it’s hard for other OEMs to really make it big. Samsung and Apple really hold the highest echelon, while HTC and Motorola could be said to hold the lower echelon. With the competition so fierce and the battle so heated, it’s easy to lose sight of other manufacturers that are really doing some great stuff out there. In fact, some of those manufacturers are actually finding success in other markets instead of our own. Such is the case with Pantech.
When you think about South Korean OEMs, the companies you undoubtedly think of are probably Samsung and LG. But Pantech is another one that is doing quite well in its native country. It has made a few shy attempts at entering more markets, the United States being one of them, and it appears that they have no intention on changing their plans for 2014. Maybe that will change in the future, as we have been waiting for Pantech to make a big push overseas for so many years. We’ll see what happens.
Around the same time that Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S4 and HTC unveiled the One, Pantech unveiled the Vega Iron. Running Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, the handset featured LTE connectivity, a quad-core 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor, 13MP rear camera, and eye tracking technology. Not a bad flagship, despite its 720p resolution. It did pretty well in South Korea, and competed favorably with the S4 and One, as well as other handsets. Now, Pantech is prepping for a return of their Flagship device in April, adapting the number system with the name Vega Iron 2. It comes at around the time that Samsung’s new flagship is rumored to be unveiled, so it appears that Pantech isn’t too worried about the competition.
All we know right now about the Vega Iron 2 is that it will retain its predecessor’s previous body material make up (It will have a 100% metal frame, that also incorporates all the necessary antennae for LTE and all the rest), and it will also feature one of Pantech’s finger-print scanners, which were on its Secret Note device series. Pantech says that the scanner has been improved for increased security, so we’ll see how that goes.
Interested in a device like this? Would you buy one if it came to the States, or your country? Let us know!