Any Opinions on Sanyo SCP 3100?

[skyemason]

I currently have an LG PM-225 which has become useless because I can hardly get a signal with it. I have 6 months until I can get a new phone with the discount and I didn't want to pay full price for an overpriced phone for my husband and I (we are on a shared plan). I called Sprint with my frustration and they actually offered me 2 new Sanyo SCP-3100 phones for $49.99 since I have been a Sprint customer for about 8 years now and they are sorry for my frustration. But since my 2-year contract and phone upgrade dates will reset, I want to know if this is a good deal and if this phone is worth it. I'd hate to reset everything over a phone that is not going to work any better.

My main concern is very good reception and good quality. I don't text much or go on the internet except to download, and I only use the camera for pictures to use as wallpaper on the phone. I just want to be able to talk without choppy reception or being dropped (which happens 90% of the time, no joke).

If there is another Sanyo phone out there that has kick-butt reception :headbang2 , please let me know what you think and maybe I could negotiate that phone instead of the 3100. I don't want to be greedy with the rep who is trying to help me, I just want to make the right decision. I've only had 3 phones in the past 8 years, so I'm not trying to get the latest and greatest phone for free, I truly need a good phone that will work.

Thanks for any help!

[shamefulzero]

do you pay insurance on the phone? i do and they gave me a brand new lg350! from a samsung a680. it will do ok for me until i get my 150 phone upgrade! except they tried using my 150 upgrade for that phone.

i told them if they took it id just go to retention and cancel. so they gave me a new phone for free! AND i didnt have to resign! SO WHEN THE dual modes come out i can get one of those! try that!

[Joann39]

I would not pay that much for the 3100. I don't like mine and plan to get an 8300. The 3100 has very limited options, ringtones, etc. I haven't noticed the reception to be better than the Samsung 640 that I sent back. The camera is junky. I can barely make out what the pics are of. (I use the camera for the same purpose you do). I think the lcd screen is low quality. I emailed a pic to my phone, and it's hard to tell what it is. I just don't think it's a good phone.

Maybe you can try to get a replacement online so that you don't lose your upgrade date. I once bought a phone on ebay. I checked the guy's feedback and made sure the numbers on the phone worked for my area and cell phone provider. The phone was great. Just an idea.

But I wouldn't recommend the 3100 if you could get something else. But you could try the phones and send them back if they don't work for you.

[umgrad]

I bought a Sanyo 8200 last summer right before the 8300 came out. Needless to say the 8200 didn't last long. I was up to my third refurb by August of last year. About a month ago my charger port stopped working on the 8200 - a known problem to sprint - although they'll deny that the 8200 has any known problems if you ask them. I noted that people on the internet had just traded out the circular charger for the flat one at the sprint store. I had all intention of doing that - but became angry that sprint phones break after a year of normal use. So I called sprint and told them that I planned to cancel my service since they hadn't recalled the 8200 or sent me a charger own their own. Quickly the cust. service rep offered to send me a brand new 3100 if I changed my mind. I have the pink one. Its slightly different from my 8200 and takes a while to get used to - for instance, the front screen has NO features and you cannot look at your pictures on the outer screen like you could on the 8200. And I find it really odd that the phone has a hole where the flash should be but no flash.
On the other hand: the sounds quality is GREAT, the key pad feels good (the keys are rounded for comfort and ease), and I've gotten a lot of compliments on the look of the phone. For a free phone its really not too shabby. And I wouldn't scoff at $25 per phone either.
Good luck with your decision - I'm happy with my new 3100.

[rjsommer]

I think if durability and call quality are your two biggest concerns then I think you'll be happy with the 3100. My parents each have one and they've had no issues with dropped calls. I've used the phone several times and found it to be on par with the rest of the sanyo flips. Camera is below average and memory for downloads is adequate but not spectacular.

[dm33]

I live in a poor coverage area so good reception is essential for me. I've recently been through a bunch of phones trying to find new phones with decent reception and upgrading phones on 3 lines. Here's my ranking of reception quality based on my subjective experience with them. Ranked from best to worst
1. Sanyo 7500. Excellent reception. Call does not drop or fade. Earpiece can't go very loud without distorting.
2. Sanyo 4900. Our old phone. Excellent reception, but frequent dropouts during the call. Sounds better to the other end of the call.
3. Sanyo 2400. This is supposedly the same phone as the 3100 with some firmware upgrade. Feels like a high quality phone. No complaints. Reception, although good doesn't seem as good as the 7500.
4. LG Fusic. Pretty good reception considering that it doesn't have an extendable antenna. Reception is acceptable for me, but not as good as the 7500. I've been dropped once even though the call sounded fine. Earpiece volume and clarity is very good.
5. Samsung a920. Not acceptable. I bought two of them originally. Neither could get decent reception. Sometimes couldn't hear anything on the call, yet it wouldn't drop the call. Not useful in my area. From that I decided that Samsung phones do not have good reception unless you're in a very strong signal area.

[k25]

Hi!

I just wanted to chime in about the 3100. I've had my pink SCP-3100 for over a month now, and I like it very much. It's a great solid-feeling "basic" phone with lots of features (I'm only 28 but I remember before CORDLESS phones were available let alone mobile phones so basic can be kind of relative). I've been with Sprint for 5 years (tried a couple of other companies before that) and have had lots of different phones, from the StarTac 3000 to the Treo 600. Ultimately, though I really enjoy the convenience and capability of the PDA phones, I think having a seperate phone and PDA tends to work best for me right now.

I tend to be a little critical yet optimistic when playing with phones and PDAs. Some of the many things I really like about the 3100 are...

-The speakerphone is WONDERFUL! If you use speakerphone much, buy it for that alone.
-The reception is excellent for me
-Offers Vision
-Offers ReadyLink
-Has the handy camera
-Nice big external screen and displays even when backlight is off
-Feels pretty durable so far


I was looking for something with both ReadyLink and a camera if possible and hoping to find pink. So this one was a cood choice for me nad has been working out well. My best friend just bought a matching one and is still exploring it but likes it also. The only thing I'd really like to see is a longer battery life (not bad but ok) or na extended battery, amd infrered. But, I'm happy with it, especially for what I paid ($0), I am very very happy.

Have fun! :)

[coachpelkey]

...needless to say I didnt get the pink one, but the phones itself are pretty good. I should of gotten the chocolate one. I got the blue one, my wife the silver one (although looking back she wanted the pink one!).
I agree what people have posted about the reception and speakerphone.
I havent tried the readylink, most of the people I talk to are on the sprint network so we just use pcs-pcs.....but we paid $29 for both phones through retentions and then got a $50 rebate of sorts put on our bill......so sorta made 31 bucks in the deal. I definately wanted a katana, or a 920, but in the mean time I think these phones will do what I need them to do. Anyone get accessories for the 3100's yet?

[CorkyG]

Got a pair of 3100s on the same basis as yours - mine is silver and the wife's blue. :) IWe had an older pair of Sanyos, the all of the accessories for them work on the 3100s. That includes the Sanyo to USB cables, and the car charger.

So far, the Sanyos are very good - at least as good, if not better than our 8100 and 4900.

As for camera - could care less. I use a Canon 5D SLR. As for ringtones? Could care less. We never turn our phones on unless we are making a call. They are not for people to call us. :)

The 3100 does an excellent job as a modem with my laptop - gets a tested 252 kbps here in Tucson.

[dm33]

The 3100 does an excellent job as a modem with my laptop - gets a tested 252 kbps here in Tucson.
How did you test this? The maximum on 1xRTT is supposed to be 140kbps and this phone does not support EVDO. I usually use http://speakeasy.net/speedtest

[CorkyG]

My mistake! That was the wrong result. I just ran it on Speakeasy.net/Seattle - and it gave me 128/83. What happened is, I have two hard drives. One set up for the 3100 as a modem, and the other for the Sprint 5740 Aircard. The number above was for the Aircard. Sorry!

But - for some places on the road, 128 or thereabouts is very acceptable. Beats 36 through a motel switchboard. :)

[Bookworm]

I wanted a camera phone, so I used the $150 upgrade credit to get the Sanyo 3100 for an additional $49.99. Part of the deal was to try the internet connection free for 1 month. The earlier poster was correct. I really didn't like the ringtones that came loaded on the phone. At the suggestion of a Sprint *2 representative when I complained about the $2.50 ringtone download fees on the Sprint website, I visited 3gforfree.com. Ringtone and screensave downloads were free there, and found plenty that would work for me (loved the Disney stuff).

For 29.5 days, I enjoyed that phone, and would have kept it except for having to keep the internet service (at $15/month) to get the pictures out of the phone. If you plan to just use them as phone screensavers, shouldn't be a problem for you. I expected to be able to buy a data cable (~$27) and transfer jpg files from the phone to my computer. Sprint service apparently doesn't work that way. I found this site while searching for way around having to keep internet service on the phone. So far I haven't found it, unless you count the $500+ PDA phones, so I said goodbye to the camera phone and just kept my old one. :-(

[SammyM500]

I got two A640s for an upgrade for $30 total (buy one get one free).

[jaytv]

I got two A640s for an upgrade for $30 total (buy one get one free).

This is a Sanyo 3100 thread, Tuo. Once a thread crapper...:rolleyes:

[jaytv]

skyemason, I would personally take a look at the Samsung A640. Compared to the Sanyo, it has better build quality, a smaller design, no antenna, much better voice dialing, and most importantly (to me at least), it has a TFT display, making the UI function much faster. The RF and battery life on this phone are amazing. They replaced an A620 and 8200 and so far, so good. Very stylish, good performance, and very great price:)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v298/tuolumne/mya640s.jpg

Yuck. Tuo, next time you're sadly attempting to be incognito, don't post photos shared from a photobucket account with your name in the URL, genius. :deal:

Take your medicine and seek help in the morning.

[jaytv]

Can we please keep this thread on track? No hyjacking please. If you have nothing constructive to offer other than flaming, please look elsewhere;) Thanks:)

OP, you should be aware that the Sanyo 3100 has a much better speakerphone than the Samsung. It gets louder and is cleaner. The downside is, it is only half duplex. The Samsungs, from my observations, is full duplex.

I "hyjacked" the thread? That's rich!

You crapped your 640 nonsense into this thread...not me...

How can you be in the airline industry, and not know how to spell "hijacking"? That's so sad!:clap:

[Matt]

This thread is done. It's going to lead to more flaming and chaos.