Pantech today announced plans for the launch of IM-8700 F2F ('face-to-face') telephony handset, in Korea. The launch is part of Pantech's strategy to reinforce its status as the technology leader in the mobile communications sector, in Korea and globally.

The IM-8700 F2F telephony handset is a major step forward, in making real time, high quality video communication by phone a reality. It features an exceptional 10 frames per second (fps) imaging speed, with a sizeable 2.2 inch screen, allowing users to have a faster, more interactive communications experience with other callers, without any interruption of the conversation.

"These new phones will strengthen our presence in the premium handset market, in Korea and globally. The new applications we develop for camera phones and F2F telephony handsets will ultimately be rolled out to mobile phone users across all of our regional markets," said Sung-Kyu Lee, President & CEO, Pantech.

The IM-8700 incorporates a 2.2 inch 260K QVGA TFT Main LCD, to facilitate the quality of the video interaction between callers. The handset also includes a fun, easy to use Auto Rotary Telephony function that recognizes the user's location. When calls are received, the 2 mega-pixel camera or earpiece automatically faces towards the user for convenience.

IM-8700 features include:

• Slider type phone, F2F telephony function
• 111 x 50 x 25.2mm, 146 g
• Talk time 156 min/Standby 218 hours
• 2Mega Pixel Camera with internal flash
• Live screen, music video, jukebox, karaoke, movie & TV
• IrDA for phone book, animation, melody, images, etc
• VOD/MOD(Live screen, music video, jukebox, karaoke, TV), MP3 player
• SPAM SMS filtering, Moneta(mobile banking) services

The IM-8600 and the IM-8700 handsets will retail at approximately USD700 and USD600 respectively and will be launched in Korea this month.