The touchscreen craze hasn't taken over only Europe and the US, but also South Korea, where Pantech (the third largest Korean handset manufacturer, after Samsung and LG) has released today a new touchscreen phone, named SKY IM-R300.

This new Pantech handset is a slider that comes with an elegant design, looking good both when closed and when its large alphanumeric keypad is slid. The device weighs 111 grams and, despite the fact that it's a slider, when not open it measures only 102 x 51 x 13.9 millimeters.

The features of IM-R300 include: a 2.6 inch TFT display with a WQVGA resolution (240 x 400 pixels, just like Samsung Omnia), internal GPS, pre-installed maps, built-in DMB receiver for viewing TV programs while on the go, multitasking capabilities, eWallet, Music player, Video player, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, a 2 Megapixel camera with video recording, secondary camera for video calls, document viewer, electronic dictionary, embedded games and 260MB of internal memory, expandable with a microSD card slot.

For the moment, the new Pantech IM-R300 is available only in South Korea and only from SK Telecom, the largest mobile operator in the country. That's why it was named SKY IM-R300, as all of Pantech's handsets released by SK Telecom come out under this brand. The handset was released in two colors (black and white) and its retail price is somewhere around $580 (370 Euros) - not that much considering its look and features.

Knowing that Pantech is also present on the US and the European markets (although with less handsets than in South Korea), chances are that, sometime in the future, the manufacturer will roll-out handsets like the IM-R300 outside Korea too. Most mobile users will probably want this to happen, as more good handsets means they have more chances to buy a device that really suits their needs.