"Luxurious yet simple design" is the name of the game for SKY's latest bit of mobile splendor, curiously named "Duke" of all things. For many of us, "Duke" conjures up images of rough-and-tumble sheriffs in the Wild West or gargantuan Xbox controllers, but one thing it doesn't necessarily bring to mind is "luxurious yet simple." No bother, we suppose it's the hardware that matters, so let's get to it: 2.4 inch QVGA display, 1.3 megapixel camera, document viewer, media player, Bluetooth, and built-in subway maps (Korean subways, that is) all grace the rather plainly styled slider. Look for it on your favorite Seoul retailer's shelf for something in the range of 400,000 won (about $404).

[Via Unwired View]

In its domestic Korean market, the IM-S300 slider from Pantech's SKY division is apparently being touted as the "Romantic Wave," and we guess we're hard pressed to disagree. The wavy buttons front and center look really cool -- usability aside, of course -- though the 1.3 megapixel cam leads us to believe that physical design is where the high-endedness ends on this one. If you happen to be around Seoul, grab it for something in the range of 400,000 won (about $430) in black or white (with pink accents, no less).

[Via Just Another Mobile Phone Blog]

There's not much going on here in the way of nifty tech (unless you count the 1.3 megapixel camera or the fact that there are several of them seemingly orbiting the woman in the picture), so Pantech's SKY-branded IM-U200 flip for SK Telecom tries to make up for that little indiscretion with visual appeal. It's cool, we guess, but we can't imagine the thing feels too great stuffed in a pocket; Pantech calls it the "Shooting Star," but we think "Wedge" is a little more fitting. Look for it to hit for about 500,000 won -- $543, give or take.

[Via Unwired View]

It's hard to be shocked by a domestic market Korean phone these days. After all, we know they're going to rock; that's a given. The IM-S200K is the latest from Pantech's upmarket "SKY" brand, and needless to say, there's nothing too shocking here: 1.3 megapixel cam, media player, voice recorder, and some sort of "dual UI" for business and personal use. Oh, one more thing: the S200K's claim to fame (we saved the best for last, naturally) is going to be its rather sizable scroll wheel (taking the place of a traditional d-pad) with EL backlighting. Look for it on your next visit to Seoul for €328 (about $430).

Some of our readers might remember this high-style flip better as the W51PT for KDDI's au network in Japan; it looks like Pantech wisely took note that au runs CDMA just like the overwhelming majority of Korea, rebranding it as the IM-U170 for home turf. The spec sheet is typical Korean superphone fare: 2 megapixel cam, microSD slot, HSDPA for high-speed coverage outside of EV-DO territory, a front-facing cam for UMTS video calling, WiBro (!), and a crazy looking mirrored keypad that we'd kinda like to try. We'll look into it next time we're chilling in Seoul.

The quickest route to finding the hottest Pantechs (in Korea, anyway) is to direct your attention to its fashion- and feature-conscious SKY brand. International Forum Design seems to agree, blessing the new IM-S150 (picture right) with an iF Design Award for 2007 -- the same award LG's mysterious KE850 received. The glossy black 80 gram piece put an emphasis on style over power, offering 1.3 megapixels of picture takin' action and a media player but not much else. The IM-U150, on the other hand, rolls deep with a touch wheel, surround sound, and a full gigabyte of internal storage. Don't expect either of these on American shores -- unless Helio wants to work something out, of course.

When you've finally managed to saturate your home market with digital TV-packing cellphones, what is there left to do but take it widescreen? That's the question Pantech is posing with its new IM-U160, a rather distinctive member (if you call eerily similar to an LG Chocolate "distinctive") of its high end SKY line. Besides the 2.6 inches of 15:9 ratio goodness on which to view DMB programming, the rectangular slider offers a touch sensitive set of buttons on the top side (ring any bells?) that can be set to vibrate when pressed, 184MB of Flash expandable via microSD, a 2 megapixel autofocus cam, and the typical potpourri of multimedia support. A Korean launch appears to be imminent, and expect it on US networks -- oh, that's right -- never.

Pantech's high-end SKY division is up to its usual antics again, doing its best to humiliate the remainder of the telecommunicating world -- this time with the be-all, end-all IM-R110 pivoting candybar. The handset touts support for just about every conceivable acronym in the cellphone industry, with DMB mobile TV and SK Telecom's GXG gaming portal topping the list. Other features include a 2 megapixel camera with autofocus, the typical suite of media support, and microSD expansion. As usual, this one is destined to be confined to Korea for all of eternity, but hey, things are looking up -- we've got our own mobile TV to look forward to, right?

Vodafone already has a partnership with the UK's Sky TV to bring live television to handsets via 3G data; it must be going pretty well, seeing how this here LG KU950 will apparently be one of the first handsets to bring Sky to Voda customers via DVB-H. Unlike UMTS, DVB-H is a downlink-only technology, suggesting that Vodafone might be a bit... shall we say, concerned at the long-term implications of customers getting their TV fix via the traditional data pipes. We don't have any solid details on the KU950, but the pivoting slider features a front-facing cam (meaning 3G is a sure thing), the screen apparently clocks in at a TV-friendly 2.4 inches, and it'll apparently run €99 when it hits next year -- not a bad first foray into the brave new world of digital mobile TV for Vodafone, if we do say so ourselves.

[Thanks, Tony]

Is it just us, or does this look vaguely like an LG CU320 before it got smacked with the ugly stick? As you might guess from the SKY branding, Pantech's IM-S130K won't be making it to the States -- or anywhere outside Korea, for that matter -- but our Korean friends will benefit from a 2-megapixel cam, integrated GPS, and multimedia support. Given that this hot little slider is better looking than just about anything Pantech's dropped so far in the US, we can only hope some of these design cues trickle down to their other offerings before too long.

If for some reason we lived in a world without highly-configurable, QWERTY-fied smartphones, our next choice on the cellphone tip would be a feature-packed multimedia handset, and Pantech has delivered just that with its new IM-U140. The most prominent feature of this new model is its SideKick-like form factor, although the U140 eschews the swivel screen for one that slides up to a 30-degree angle at the touch of a button -- all the better to watch programs from its integrated satellite DMB receiver (complete with TV-OUT). At 2.6-inches wide and 262,000 colors, the QVGA touchscreen is no slouch, either, and even throws in a vibrating function so you know that your every command has been acknowledged and received. Other goodies here include a three megapixel camera (a nice bump over the two megapixel shooters found on the IM-R100 and IM U-MU110), PictBridge support for PC-less printing, MP3 playback enhanced by four-channel stereo speakers and an FM transmitter, plus that popular Korean add-on, the electronic dictionary. Curiously absent from the spec sheet are any mention of Bluetooth or memory card support, but with the music and imaging functions, we imagine that there's at least a microSD slot tucked away in there somewhere. Expect the U140 to land in Korea sometime this month, although the presumably hefty pricetag has yet to be announced. To get the full overview of what you'd be stuffing in your pocket everyday, keep on readin' to peep this rather chunky number from the side...

Okay, okay, maybe we went a little rough on Pantech's SKY IM-R100 on the first go around, panning it for offering nothing of particular value in its bizarre pivot-slide form factor. It turns out we missed one important detail: the IM-R100 will be Pantech's first handset to integrate Oki's FaceSensingEngine, a relatively lightweight face recognition system that's supposedly well-suited to devices with limited memory and processor power. Oki claims that faces can be locked onto in 115 milliseconds and tracked in just 35 in a variety of indoor and outdoor lighting situations. For their part, Pantech is initially using the system to automatically center the camera when taking pictures, but we have to assume there are some gaming applications to be found here as well. So again, IM-R100, we're sorry for beating up on ya the first time around; lesson learned.

[Via Slashphone]