Pantech announced the launch of its S100 handset, a sleek and simple candy bar phone as part of a bid to increase its market share in the high-growth mobile phone market of Mexico.

The sleek-designed candy bar phone is mounted with a full-featured digital camera with digital 4x zoom(credit : Pantech)

The new phone will be made available through Telcel, the largest service operator in Mexico, which commands 80% of Mexican mobile phone market with around 38 million subscribers.

The sleek-designed candy bar phone is mounted with a full-featured digital camera with digital 4x zoom and video recording function as well as an MP3 player and Bluetooth connection.

Ji-Kwan Kim, President, Pantech Mobile Mexico said, "Mexico, one of the rapidly expanding mobile phone markets, is integral to our efforts to further expand in Latin America. Thus, Pantech has built up our operations in Mexico including the establishment of a dedicated subsidiary in the region in 2005. The introduction of the S100 is in line with our goal to position ourselves as a leading mobile phone manufacturer."

The S100 includes a voice memo function, allowing users to keep a record of their thoughts any time without having to grapple for a pen and paper. Its flight mode function allows users traveling by plane to use handset applications without transmitting a wireless signal, meaning they do not have to turn off the phone while in flight, as is normally required.

Other highlights of the S100 include a 1.8-inch TFT LCD with 260,000 colors, 64 polyphonic ringtones and a speaker phone.