AT&T Pantech Element 8-Inch 4G LTE Tablet Review

Pantech Element External Thoughts

For connectivity, the Pantech Element supports Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, and AT&T 4G LTE wireless network access. Strangely we found that it is missing mobile hotspot connectivity, so that might be a deal breaker for some. The Pantech Element doesn’t have a ton of sensors internally, but it does have an accelerometer inside. Let’s take a look around the Pantech Element 4G LTE AT&T tablet and see what the external features are.

In terms of screen size the Pantech Element boasts an 8-inch display (measured diagonally) with 1024×768 (XGA TFT) screen resolution. This means that the Pantech Element uses a 4:3 aspect ratio much like Apple uses on the iPad series. The Pantech Element is 10.67mm thick, which is on par with most tablets and thinner than the Kindle Fire. The full dimensions of the Pantech Element are 212.3 x 155.4.3 x 10.7 mm and the tablet weighs in at 469.75g.

The second we started using the Pantech Element we noticed two things
right away. The first being that the screen is recessed down inside the
tablet enclosure. This gap or ledge around the unit helps keep it from
slipping out of your hand, but it’s strange to us after using dozens of
tablets and all of them being flush.

We also noticed that with the 1024×768 resolution you get black areas above and below videos as you watch them due to the aspect ratio of the screen since it’s not wide screen! Not a deal breaker, but on an 8-inch tablet it would be nice to use all the pixels that you have!

The back of the Pantech Element is fairly simple with the highlight being the 5.0 megapixel rear facing camera that does have a flash. Pantech says this tablet supports 720p video capture and 1080p video playback (despite not having a 1080p panel).

As you can see, the back of the notebook does get scratched up. We were sent a loaner tablet that was obviously used by other sites. Under the cover is the 6400 mAH battery that is rated to last up to 25 days on standby or up to 12 hours during normal use.

Along the top edge of the Pantech Element you’ll find the power button and the volume control.

The left side of the tablet has a 3.5mm headphone jack. Notice that the speakers of the Pantech Element are not located on the sides or the back of the tablet. There is one large speaker on the front of the tablet on the left hand side. This location has the speakers pointed right at you, so the sound volume is excellent. The Pantech Element has great audio! The little circle above the speaker is the front-facing 2-megapixel camera. As you can see it is in a really bad place as when you hold the tablet in landscape mode this is right where your thumb rests.

The right side of the Element doesn’t house any features, so let’s skip to the lower edge.

Along the bottom edge of the Pantech Element you’ll find a pair of covers that keep water and dirt out of four ports located under them.

Starting from the left you have the SIM card slot, microSD slot, micro USB and HDMI ports. Notice that there is a moisture sticker located behind each door here. Usually when these turn colors it means you got the device wet and voids the warranty. While this tablet is waterproof it appears to only be so if the bottom covers are closed.

The one thing that we would like to hammer home here is that the Pantech Element uses a standard micro USB cable for charging and transferring data. This makes it extremely easy to use as most cell phones use a micro USB port for charging!