Is it a camcorder or is it a phone? Well, both; Jørgen Sundgot previews Pantech's L-4000V camcorder phone, sporting all sorts of nifty features.
What is it with Korean companies and consumer electronics? First, Samsung set its sights on world domination in every market from mobile phones to refrigerators, with LG following suit shortly thereafter - not to mention the myriad of companies not ranking in the behemoth class. Rising up from this seething pit of overachievers is handset maker Pantech, the latest Korean manufacturer to gain the attention of the media.
If you haven't heard of them, that's nothing to be ashamed of as their cutting-edge gadgets are only on sale in Korea - but the specifications of these have won over gadget lovers from near and afar. Take the L-4000V, for instance: it's the bastard love child of a camcorder and a phone which already has an IF design award under its belt.
 | | Pantech L-4000V |
One of few handsets that appears to place equal weight on the two tasks it fulfills, the L-4000V is a clamshell CDMA handset with an absolutely astonishing 262K colour, 2" TFT main display, which depending on its orentation either functions as a camcorder viewfinder or phone user interface.
Equipped with a 2.1 Megapixel CCD and 3x optical zoom, the L-4000V shoots stills and records video with auto focus and 3x optical zoom like there's no tomorrow, relying on memory cards for storage. On the ergonomic side of things, I found the L-4000V to be surprisingly balanced; granted, it's small for a camcorder and large for a phone, but Pantech has struck a nice compromise between size and features.
 | | Pantech L-4000V |
What's more, using the L-4000V in either mode is quite intuitive, and although the options available are more limited in either case than in a dedicated device, there's more than enough to keep the average user happy. In fact, Pantech has also thrown in a few unexpected surprises, such as the ability for the L-4000V to output NTSC video and even transmit FM audio; I suspect there's an MP3 player tucked away in there somewhere, but I must have overlooked this during my time spent with this little chameleon.
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