Sanyo 4900 - Great Phone!!
Written: Jun 17 '03 (Updated Aug 28 '03)
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Pros: Great battery life, good speaker phone
Cons: Screen TOO dark during sleep mode,
The Bottom Line: If you are trying to decide between this and the Samsung N400, it's no contest; This is the one to get. Great battery life!!!
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| krus54's Full Review: Sanyo SCP-4900 |
The Sanyo SCP-4900. What a great phone compared to the Samsung N400 that I traded in. See my review of that one at http://www.epinions.com/content_101505404548.
Some basic info:
Full Color Screen: Pretty, but not nearly the clarity of the dreaded Samsung N400.
Weight: 4.6 ounces a little heaver than the Samsung, but not noticeable to me.
Battery Life: (drum roll, please) STATED 4.5 hours talk time, 16 days standby. I can’t believe those numbers, but this phone goes into sleep status very quickly to save the battery. This is SOOOO much better than the Samsung! My battery ran out yesterday and I didn’t even remember when I had charged it last.
Speakerphone MUCH sharper than the Samsung
This phone is SO much better. It is also menu driven and very similar to the N400.
Here’s what is on the phone:
Press the ‘Menu’ key press down on the navigation button (it has “OK” stamped on it) and you’re given the menu:
1. Call History: (Outgoing, Incoming, Missed Calls, and Erase History lists)
2. Phone Book: (Find, Add New, My Phone #, Speed Dial #’s, Long Phone Numbers, Services)
3. Messaging: (to send emails via web)
4. Web: (to connect to the wireless web)
5. Downloads: (to connect to Sprint to download games, ringers, screensavers, etc)
6. Voicemail: (connect to listen to voicemail or clear the vm notification from the screen)
7. Settings: (Sounds, Display, Internet, Location, Roaming, Messaging)
8. Calendar
9. Voice Services: (Voice Memo, Screen Call, Voice Dial)
10. Tools/Extras (PC Sync, Calendar, World Clock, Crab Catch)
·Keyguard: (set to prevent phone from dialing by accident)
Here’s explanation of some of the features of the phone (without going into basics like explaining call history, how to turn the phone on and off, etc).
Phone Book
The phone book can store up to 500 numbers in 300 entries (multiple numbers per entry) and each entry can have up to 16 characters which doesn’t truncate names like the Samsung did.
This phone also has abbreviated dialing where you can dial entries from your phone book with only the last four digits of the phone number.
Speed dial is only available for digits 2-9 which is much less than the Samsung which allowed 2-99 but, as I said in my review of the other phone, I can’t remember that many speed dial numbers anyway so 2-9 is fine for me.
This phone has something called 'Secret Internal Phone Book' entries. You can use this option to hide a phone number though the NAME will still be displayed. To edit the entry you need to enter a 4 digit lock code that you create.
Downloads
I don’t play games on the phone and other than a couple of ringers I haven’t really downloaded anything. I think it can be confusing to download ringers. If you want to pay for a ringer from Sprint, go to their web site, pick one out, and after you’ve paid for it, it will be put in “my vault” where you have access for a limited amount of time (30-90 days depending on the license agreement that you’re shown with each ringer or game). You can download it as many times as you want during that period and after it’s on your phone it’s yours. If you get a new phone after the expiration period, you’ll have to buy it again.
To download a ringer or game, you must go to the menu: WEB->More->then scroll to 'My Vault’ and click. You will then be shown the current list of ringers or games that you’ve paid for. Highlight and choose the one you want and the rest is intuitive. I’m telling you this because I kept going to "Downloads->Ringers->Get New" which is another time consuming way to look for, pay and download ringers but doesn’t show you the ones you already bought.
Calendar
You can use this to manage your schedule and set personal holidays and other appointments. I don’t use this feature because I have a Palm Pilot on which I carry my life! :-)
Voice Services
This setting is used to set up and use voice dialing (appears to be an extra charge from Sprint), record Voice Memos, and set up Call Screening. The phone allows you to record up to 8 recordings with a max of 18 seconds each. Screen call allows you to answer incoming calls by using a pre-recorded or customized announcement. Now only if you could program that to happen at home for telemarketing calls!!
Tools/Extras
PC Sync is another way of downloading data into your phone. I don’t understand it all, but it appears you need to purchase some extras to do this.
The World Clock shows you various times around the globe based on the current local time. Press the left and right arrow keys to scroll through a number of cities from around the country and around the world to see the time.
What don’t I like?
I can’t get the ringer volume up as loud as I’d like. You can set it on vibrate and high volume, but it’s still not as loud as the ringer was in the N400. Also, when the phone is in SLEEP mode and if you have keyguard on (to prevent calls from being made by accident), you can’t see the screen until a call comes in or you press the “Back” key to turn off keyguard. And oh yeah, the other thing I hate about this phone…hmmm well there is NOTHING else!
I highly recommend this!!
An Update 8/28/03
Well, I've had this phone for a while now and there are a couple of things I thought should be in this review but I didn't know earlier.
First of all, I still like this phone more than any of the other phones I've had over the years but, there's some things that I wish they would improve on.
1) The ringer is not as loud as I'd like. As much as I hated my old Samsung phone, when I was in a crowd I could always hear it and for some reason, the vibrate function on the Samsung seemed better. I have had a difficult time hearing the phone ring. I keep the ringer set on "High/Vibrate"
2) Almost every other phone I've had 'beeps' when the charger is plugged in. This phone does not. It would be nice to hear that sound so I know the phone is correctly connected. I thought my phone was charging in the car the other day but then when I got out I noticed that the battery didn't charge. It turns out that the charger was not completely plugged into the cigarette lighter. OK, I COULD HAVE actually LOOKED at the screen of the phone to see if it was charging, BUT the screen stays dark in SLP mode and also when the keyguard is on, so it's hard to see.
3) I'm beginning to notice that the battery on full charge is not lasting nearly as long as it used to and it's only a few months old. I was told that with this battery there was no memory meaning I could charge it before it was depleted, but I'm finding that talk time is decreasing dramatically now after being fully charged from the wall charger.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 150.00
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Epinions.com ID:
krus54
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Member: Dave Schwartz
Location: Richmond, VA
Reviews written: 133
Trusted by: 95 members
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