My 5th phone with Sprint...
Written: Feb 13 '03
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Pros: Sleek, Feature-rich, Stylish, Easy to use, extra battery
Cons: Price, difficulty hearing, heats up, games, basic features
The Bottom Line: It's easily worth the money if you're a gadget-head. The camera feature is just a novelty though and you may want to go for a more sensible phone.
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| Trigger's Full Review: Sanyo SCP 5300 Cell Phone |
I've had this phone for a few months now. I upgraded from the Sanyo SCP4500 which I was quite happy with. I think Sanyo makes excellent phones. This is no exception. I'll do my best to avoid commenting on things that you can see for yourself if you simply walk into a Best Buy or Circuit City to see one in person and focus on the stuff you only know once you own it.
As a phone, it does its job. The phone comes with 2 batteries. One is slim and compact and the other is beefy and holds a longer charge. So far I've used the sleek one the most and even that one lasts a really long time. I'm not a huge talker (about 600 minutes a month), but I leave it off the charger for 4 or 5 days at a time. That's pretty impressive to me. I thought it would be a battery drainer compared to the 4500, but it's really not that bad. If I use it for games or playing with the camera alot, I have to charge it after 3 to 4 days. Basically what I'm saying is the batteries are great.
Basic features - the interface is easy to navigate through - it's the same as on other current Sanyo vision phones. The keypad is very easy to use - and I don't have small hands either. The screen is nice and big and bright. There's a smaller screen on the front when you close the phone that is also in color.
The camera - it's a simple built-in camera. There's flash and digital zoom and you can close the phone and take a picture of yourself (seeing what the camera sees in the mini screen). It's really nothing more than a novelty feature... however, it does take decent pictures - even in low light. It's a nice ice-breaker and if you like, you can assign photos to phone numbers. This might be useful when out at a bar meeting people ;), or when meeting clients, or when shopping for homes or cars. There's endless uses for such a thing really if you put your mind to it, but don't expect to eventually print out these photographic masterpieces - the quality isn't THAT good.
The flash works well, but not great. If the subject is close to you, it's fine. Once you start taking pictures of someone from 15 feet away in a dark area, the flash simply isn't powerful enough. Oddly enough, I haven't experienced any red eye. The zoom feature is rather useless. Well, I do use it. It's just that since it's digital and we're talking low resolution to begin with, things get pretty pixelated. The camera menus seem to drag their feet at times as well.
A few complaints - The charger that comes with it is just the kind that plugs into the phone - it would've been nice to get a stand-up charger so I could charge both batteries at once... that's not too much to ask for a four hundred dollar phone. The earpiece isn't very loud and it's difficult to get it aimed just right at my ear canal. It's really easy to muffle the speaker with my ear. Trying to listen to someone while in a noisy area is quite difficult. The SCP 4500 didn't have this problem at all. That's not to say it isn't clear as a bell because when I am in a normal environment, I can hear people very clearly. People I talk to say that I come in loud and clear as well, so the mic seems to work well. The keypad lights up a dull green which is pretty lame since blue is the new green.
The games that come with the phone are all nothing more than demo versions, and the backgrounds and ringers that come with the phone are dull and boring. You can download plenty of ringers, backgrounds and games though, so this is hardly a problem except that downloading stuff costs money... I expected at least one or two full games to come with my phone at that price. I guess that's what my Xbox is for though. ;)
The phone heats up after 20 minutes or so of talking. It's not scorching hot, but it does get a little warm against my face. I've had worse. Another possible caveat is that you lose the ability to receive calls while you're using the camera feature. This may be a big turn-off for some people, but it doesn't bother me.
The instructions tell you not to touch the antenna while in use and I try not to, but it does seem to get in the way a little bit. I urge you to handle a flip phone for yourself to make sure it will be something you like. They're not for everyone. I went from a candybar phone to this tiny flip phone. The fact that this one is so much easier to carry around more than makes up for it being a bit more uncomfortable to use.
I'll admit that I seem to have alot of complaints about this phone, but they're all really minor to me. Overall, this phone is the best I've ever owned. I'm glad I bought it. I traded away a speakerphone feature (on the 4500) for a compact phone with a vivid color screen with a built-in camera.
This phone is for people who like to have the newest-latest technology... people who are into gadgets and gizmos. This phone is alot of fun to own. If your phone is your life or your business, then I'd suggest waiting for the next generation of camera phones because they're only going to get better... for now though, this is the best.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 350
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Epinions.com ID:
Trigger
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Location: Arizona
Reviews written: 34
Trusted by: 4 members
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