prwood
05-07-2003, 10:22 AM
I just purchased my Sanyo SCP-8100 at Best Buy. My previous phone was a Samsung A400, so I moved up to a whole new class of phone (2g Ringers&More vs. 3g Vision).
The 8100 is a fantastic phone. Overall I give it two thumbs up. There are a few annoyances, but nothing that would make me go back to the A400.
Physical Construction:
Excellent! This is a very solid feeling phone. Sure, it's a little thicker and heavier than my A400, but really it's not too significant. The phone has a nice solid click when it opens up, and it locks into place. On the A400, the earpiece did not lock into place, but rather rocked back and forth as I pressed on it. It also made annoying creaking noises. None of that with the 8100!
Voice Quality:
I have made a few calls in the short time that I've had the phone. The voice quality is very good, at least as good as my A400. The earpiece is rather loud, however. Even at the lowest setting of "1", I felt that it was too loud.
Signal Quality:
The 8100 has had a strong signal most everywhere I have used it. I live in a major metropolitan area, so usually I am near cell towers. I have noticed that the bar graph will sometimes dip briefly down to 1 bar but then back up to 4. It seems like that may be a problem with the phone's reception, but I'm not sure.
Screen Quality:
The dual color screens are very nice. They are both very bright and have vivid colors. The backlighting on the screens is quite sufficient and can be customized, as far as how long it stays on. I have noticed that the screens are both very succeptible to smearing/streaking/finger oils. I wonder if there is some sort of screen guard I could get. It can sometimes make the screen hard to read.
Phone GUI:
Very nice. Menus were very crisp, well laid out, and easy to read. It was fairly simple to figure out how to set up screensavers and colors. I think the Mi Amigo function is pointless, and not even particularly amusing. He should have been left out to save storage space for more interesting and useful functions. I know you can turn him off... but I wish he could be deleted.
Speaker and Ringtones:
Phenomenal! The quality of the sound of midi files on this phone is unbelievable! Just as good as, if not better than, what I hear on my PC. The selection of built-in ringers is nice, although I do wish there were more "normal" ringers. The polyphonic ones are nice, though.
Camera:
The camera quality is about what I expected from a camera-phone of this cost. Not particularly valuable for taking great photos, but just great for taking quick snaps for fun or for using as Photo caller ID. For $200, I wouldn't expect a phone + camera to have such great picture quality. I think with the Sanyo 5300, that's what you're paying extra for. In any case, I attached a macro photo I took of my keyboard at work.
Overall: Great!
The 8100 is a fantastic phone. Overall I give it two thumbs up. There are a few annoyances, but nothing that would make me go back to the A400.
Physical Construction:
Excellent! This is a very solid feeling phone. Sure, it's a little thicker and heavier than my A400, but really it's not too significant. The phone has a nice solid click when it opens up, and it locks into place. On the A400, the earpiece did not lock into place, but rather rocked back and forth as I pressed on it. It also made annoying creaking noises. None of that with the 8100!
Voice Quality:
I have made a few calls in the short time that I've had the phone. The voice quality is very good, at least as good as my A400. The earpiece is rather loud, however. Even at the lowest setting of "1", I felt that it was too loud.
Signal Quality:
The 8100 has had a strong signal most everywhere I have used it. I live in a major metropolitan area, so usually I am near cell towers. I have noticed that the bar graph will sometimes dip briefly down to 1 bar but then back up to 4. It seems like that may be a problem with the phone's reception, but I'm not sure.
Screen Quality:
The dual color screens are very nice. They are both very bright and have vivid colors. The backlighting on the screens is quite sufficient and can be customized, as far as how long it stays on. I have noticed that the screens are both very succeptible to smearing/streaking/finger oils. I wonder if there is some sort of screen guard I could get. It can sometimes make the screen hard to read.
Phone GUI:
Very nice. Menus were very crisp, well laid out, and easy to read. It was fairly simple to figure out how to set up screensavers and colors. I think the Mi Amigo function is pointless, and not even particularly amusing. He should have been left out to save storage space for more interesting and useful functions. I know you can turn him off... but I wish he could be deleted.
Speaker and Ringtones:
Phenomenal! The quality of the sound of midi files on this phone is unbelievable! Just as good as, if not better than, what I hear on my PC. The selection of built-in ringers is nice, although I do wish there were more "normal" ringers. The polyphonic ones are nice, though.
Camera:
The camera quality is about what I expected from a camera-phone of this cost. Not particularly valuable for taking great photos, but just great for taking quick snaps for fun or for using as Photo caller ID. For $200, I wouldn't expect a phone + camera to have such great picture quality. I think with the Sanyo 5300, that's what you're paying extra for. In any case, I attached a macro photo I took of my keyboard at work.
Overall: Great!