We weren't terribly impressed during our First Look at the Pantech Duo, but we're willing to give the little guy another chance (stay tuned, should be fun). We're hearing from a few sources that it's actually more popular than we expected.

Given that, it's not a gigantic surprise that it's joining the red phone bandwagon next week. The price for a red Pantech Duo is still going to be $99 after contract.

[via Crave]

The Pantech Duo is fully announced and available now, so the above is your first look. I said that “I am happy it's inexpensive” in the video, but somehow in my mind I was thinking (as opposed to thinking out of my mind, which also happens sometimes) that it was $99 after contract, not $199:

The Pantech duo is available now in the U.S. exclusively from AT&T for a special introductory price of $199.99 at AT&T retail stores nationwide, online at www.wireless.att.com, at select national retailers and through AT&T's business-to-business sales organizations

Read: AT&T- News Room

I suppose that the Duo might be more approachable than a Blackjack to some people, but I doubt there are a lot of those people. Pantech gets points for jumping into Windows Mobile and for introducing a pretty-cool dual-slider format. But for my money, the form factor simply isn't compelling enough to make it more desirable than the many other options out there at similar price points. My opinion: pass on the Pantech and getcherself a Blackjack.