The flood of new device announcements at CES 2013 continues, this time with the Pantech Discover for AT&T. The Discover touts a 4.8-inch 1280x720 display on its face and a 12.6-megapixel camera around back, and sandwiched in-between them in the Discover's body is a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, NFC, 16GB storage and a 2,100mAh battery. Unsurprisingly, the Discover also includes support for AT&T's 4G LTE network.
The Discover also has the honor of being the first AT&T smartphone to come with the carrier's DriveMode app preloaded. This app aims to help stop users from texting while driving by automatically responding to texts and emails with an out-of-office-like message once it's inside a vehicle that's going 25 mph. It'll also route incoming calls to voicemail, though users can also create an "allow list" to allow calls from certain people, and it can also be manually turned off if the user needs to make a call. Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich will also come preinstalled on the Pantech Discover.
Thankfully, we won't have to wait long to get the Pantech Discover in our mitts, which is a nice change from some devices announced at past CESes that've taken months to arrive. AT&T says that the Discover will be launching on Jan. 11 for $49.99. That's not a bad price considering the Discover's large, high-res display and its 12.6-megapixel shooter, though we'll have to put the new Pantech handset through our normal paces before making any final judgments. Stay tuned.
