Sanyo Katana DLX / Reviews

Sanyo's newest weapon in the mobile phone wars has a decidedly old-fashioned design. Looks aside, it's a passable multimedia phone: The interface is efficient, and built-in GPS serves up turn-by-turn directions that beat static, collision-inducing Google Maps. Support for Sprint's TV and music services means you'll never be bored at the DMV again. It also comes in pink, if that's how you roll.

WIRED: Easy-to-carry, 0.6-inch-thick design. Sharp QVGA screen. Sensible button layout. Keys have nice bounce. Included 128-MB microSD card is better than nothing.

TIRED: Kinda fugly. Uninspiring build quality. Mediocre 1.3-megapixel camera. No external music controls. Rather pricey considering what you actually get.

Read original review at Wired.

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Pro: the phone is cheap, and it gives a lot. MP3, videos etc.

Con: the micro sd covers are made of rubber so the stretch when you open them a lot and become hard to close.

Using experience: 1 years

i really like this phone i sometimes go on you tube and watch videos or rush hour 2 straight from the memory card

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Well, the battery power is bad. I had it for 1 months and only use it every once in awhile.

I turn it off to charge and let it charge for days but it keeps dieing on me. *NO I'm not on analoge roam*

I got this phone after the guy at the srpint store said it was 'illegal' for me to upgrade and he'll report b/c it was criminal to upgrade.

I know, I figured it was because he wanted me to get rid of my old plan and get a new one. My old plan has unlimited texing and internet.

I was given this phone.

So, as I had the phone for no more then several months, I noticed that when I charged it completely, the battery power would die quickly.

I'd text a few messages, it die. I made sure that I didnt leave any applications running and it still die. It was off when it charge and it didnt work.

I tried different charges for the phone and it wouldnt charge, yet when I placed other phones *of the same brand on it* they would charge.

Mine may be a defect but this was rediculous.

Not to mention, I set my purse down and it fell out, the battery popped out easily. I had to tape it on for it to stick.

Im taking it back but hope they dont report me b/c 'upgrades are illegal at sprint.' =S or so what they tell me at the stores here.

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This phone does email, really nice photos, fun random apps, streams TV well. Fits well in your pocket and is nice and flat. I have dropped mine several times on concrete and it works just fine and takes an amazing amount of abuse.

Standard bad things-

if you are looking at the internet, of course the screen is small. Also, and maybe (hopefully) they have fixed this bug- sending mail via Gmail tends to make the mail program crash, which makes the email program nice to read your email, but not so good to reply to.

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Best phone I have ever owned so far. Hate that Sprint quit offering it, because thier new Katana's can't hold a candle to this one.

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This is the second Katana I have purchased. The first one was the original. It was a wonderful phone but needing to chang plans I needed a new phone so the only choice was another Kat.

This one is pretty in pink. Has much of the same stuff as the first. More colors and tones. Just as fun.

Gotta love the KAT!

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Pro: I love this phone

Con: I have no cons

I have had several phones through Sprint and this has to be my favorite phone. It is easy to use and I can actually hear it ringing even when I have the ringer set low. The battery last for days before you have to charge the phone. I also like the bluetooth capability it works very well with this phone.

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I love this phone. It has everything I wanted on it. I get great reception. I have no complaints.Natalie from Ohio

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I recommend this phone. It works well and has some really nice features. However, I do not recommend Sprint. First, in addition to purchasing a package and phone from Amazon, Sprint charged me a $150 deposit. It's refundable, so I accepted it. However, in my area, Sprint coverage is very spotty. In my house, I have 3 bars with Alltel and either zero or one bar with Sprint. So I canceled my service after one day. Guess what? You have to wait SIX WEEKS to get that deposit back. And then, it's by check...they don't credit your credit card as they should. Their customer service folks are all in India and seem nice enough, if you can find someone who understands what you're asking. I'm sticking with Alltel.

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One if the primary reasons I bought the Katana DLX in September was the GPS feature touted in the amazon review (and others, all got it wrong).

The Katana DLX is not compatible with current offerings of the Sprint Navigation powered by Telenav. In fact, The phone is conspicuously absent from the supported devices on the Telenav website.

The Sprint support people were clueless. And the app can be downloaded to the phone, it just does not work.

I spoke directly with the Telenav support folks and they confirmed that the Katana DLX is not supported even though the Katana and the Katana II are supported devices.

That said, I'm mostly satisfied with the phone and really like being able to connect to the internet via bluetooth using my laptop and near broadband speed.

The camera feature works ok, but no flash.

Call volume is fine too.

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Pro: nice phone
Con: not user friendly
its a great upgrade from old phone of 4 years BUT its not user friendly, it takes some time to figure it out,

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