Gadget freaks take heed! Great features, great phone (even a few secrets!)
Written: Mar 04 '03
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Pros: Good camera with you at all times, great features
Cons: A little bulkier than other phones out there, pricey
The Bottom Line: With an incredible array of features, great web integration, and an onboard camera, the SCP-5300 is the next generation phone we have been waiting for.
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| aspenbordr's Full Review: Sanyo SCP-5300 Cell Phone |
A month or so ago, around my birthday, I decided that my old Motorola Startac just wasn't cutting it anymore. I had friends that had recently purchased new phones, and I wanted features other than the very basic phone book and simple calling that my trusty startac provided. My first impulse was to go with the Samsung A500. It was the phone my friend had, and it seemed pretty nice. At $300, it was a little more than I wanted to spend, but I'm definitely a sucker for gadgets, so it was easily justified.
When I went to Best Buy that day, just to look, I first laid eyes on the Sanyo 5300. The BUILT-IN camera immediately drew me to it, and the big, bright, beautiful color screen dazzled me. Whats more, the $400 phone was being offered for only $300 ($250 if I was a new customer). What began as a recon mission ended with me carrying my brand new phone home.
Interface
As soon as I got it out of the box, I started to play with it. My first reaction was the quality and depth of the interface. The buttons are laid out very well, and do what you would expect each one to do. The menu is very good, and is categorized by pictures. Soon, I was navigating solely by picture, without even reading. I found it very intuitive. The web browser amazed me, as it can navigate NOT ONLY WAP (mobile phone) sites, but also just about any site on the web. Granted, many sites are painless to use on such a small screen, but I would much rather cope with a hard to use full-site than not have that functionality at all. I found that the start page of the phone was good, however, I chose to replace it with the start page created by sprintusers.com, which I found to be even more helpful.
Cool Features
For a gadget freak like me, this phone is a dream come true. It has all the goodies that have now become standard, such as voice dialing, custom ringers, phone book, etc. However, I was impressed by the extension of the standard things.
Phone book - Has room for 6 numbers, email address, personal ringer, label, and photo. You can set the phone to automatically display the photo when that person calls, effectively creating photo-caller id.
Ringers - I don't know if this is the case with other phones, but the ringers used by the 5300 are nothing more than standard MIDI files. Yes, that means that the musically inclined can create their own ringers, and the not so musically inclined can download (assuming you check on the legality of such) just about any ringer for your phone. No longer are you limited to the few ringers available for purchase. In addition, I discovered a new, extremely cool thing about this phone. If you download certain tools, you can even turn MP3 files into ringers! Right now, I have actual songs, with lyrics, as my ring tones. See a full tutorial on sprintusers.com.
Voice dial - Nothing new here, but you are about to select ANY number from a person's entry in the phone book (many phones ONLY allow the first or home number to be used.) In addition, I have found that this is an excellent system. I have had problems with other phones before, but the 5300 voice dial works just about anywhere, regardless of background noise.
Calendar/Alarm - The calendar/alarm feature is very much like any phone would have. T9 input makes entry very quick. Unfortunately, the alarm only goes off for 5-6 seconds. Not a problem for me, but maybe for the hard-to-rise types.
Email/shortmail - This is a feature I use extensively. When you are in a movie or meeting, friends or co-workers can simply email you, and you will silently receive it instantaneously on the phone. You can then respond, all from the silent and discreet location of your lap.
Camera - Finally, the feature everyone buys the phone for. The camera is very well implemented on this phone. It has a good resolution (obviously, you are not going to be hanging these pictures on the wall) for what it is (640x480), and the ability to zoom (digitally) up to 16x. However, perhaps the best feature of this camera is the integration with SprintPCS Vision service. I have had an EXCELLENT experience with this service. The camera feature allows you to take several pictures on your phone (16-20), and, if desired, upload them directly to Sprint's site, effectively giving you unlimited capacity. Alternatively, you may choose to shrink them down to the size of your phone's screen (which makes the file much smaller) and save them in the photo wallet. I have not filled this yet, but I have heard capacities up to 70 pictures in the wallet.
Final Thoughts
Although the price may be steep for some, the potential of ALWAYS having a camera with me, in a very compact size, was very attractive. I have found the picture quality of the camera to be very good, and the quality of the phone overall to be outstanding. The screen is the best on the market, the interface is exceptional, the integration with PCS Vision is remarkable, and the possibilities are endless. Free services such as 3upload.com and Sprintusers.com allow you to easily upload data (pictures, ringer, and games) onto your phone, providing a very customized and useful experience. Certainly, I have no regrets about purchasing this phone. My one suggestion to those that tend to keep the phone in the pocket with keys and change is, however, to buy a case for the phone. I immediately got one, because I am paranoid about change or keys scratching the lense. Other than that, the phone is near perfect.
Best Buy
Sanyo SCP-5300
$300 with $100 instant rebate
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 300.00
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Epinions.com ID:
aspenbordr
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Member: AJ
Location: Chicago, IL
Reviews written: 12
Trusted by: 3 members
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