Pantech Crux (Verizon Wireless)

-I'm Nicole Lee, Senior Associate Editor for CNET.com, and this a first look at the Pantech Crux for Verizon Wireless. It is a simple touchscreen feature phone. On the front, there is an interesting sliding lock mechanism that turns the screen lock on or off. It slides down to turn the screen lock on, and slides up to turn it off. On the back is the 3 megapixel camera, as well as a self-portrait mirror. The Pantech Crux comes with 3 different home screens: one is the main menu; one is for Social Beat, or social networking apps; and the third screen is for your favorite media files. The social media skin is up to 2 layers: one layer is for your Gmail, YouTube, Google Talk, and news feeds; and the other layer is for your Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter apps. The favorite media screen is fairly self explanatory. You can add and remove files from your music, video, or pictures library. At the bottom of each home screen are shortcuts to the voicemail feature, recent call history, the phone dialer keypad, as well as the contacts list. Features of the Pantech Crux include the aforementioned 3 megapixel camera. Users get the usual text and multimedia messaging features, and e-mail. Other features include GPS with VZ Navigator, stereo Bluetooth, and the aforementioned music player. Because the Crux has EV-DO Rev 0, you also get access to Verizon's broadband services like V CAST Video and V CAST Music. We like having the external media keys so we can easily access the music player by pressing buttons. We did feel the touchscreen was a little bit sluggish when transitioning between screens. The Pantech Crux is available for $50 with a new 2-year service agreement from Verizon Wireless. I'm Nicole Lee. This has been a first look at the Pantech Crux.