[Pilot-n-WV]

Well i'm probably like a lot of you; a new phone comes out and i'm drooling at the mouth to get it while my charge card is still sizzling from the last one I bought. I've had 'em all. Starting with the earliest Touchpoint 1000 all the way to the latest Sanyos.

My latest venture came this past week. I bought an A500 about 2 months ago because in my neck of the woods (Charleston, WV) the Samsungs seem to have by far the best reception available. Well I started to get bored with my faithful Samsung and decided to by a hybrid phone. So I purchased a Sanyo 5300 off e-Bay for cheap and used it for about 2 days before I said to hell with this. Here are my findings from the 5300:

1. Way too bulky... I was constantly slamming it into doors. If it wasn't for the leather case, it would be scratched all the hell.

2. Battery life stinks. I didn't even bother to use the standard battery that came with it. The guy I bought it from sent me an extended battery as well and I got one day per charge out of it.

3. Signal strength (according to the indicator) was terriable. I dropped 2 out of 7 calls in 1 day in an area where my Samsung worked great.

4. Did I mention too bulky?

5. Screen was great! Colors were sharp and the depth was awesome.

So I went to BB and bought an 8100 thinking I was going to have the same problem but knowing I could return it within 30 days.

Let me tell you, I love this phone. The reception is better than my Samsung. In my opinion, the screen is just as good as the 5300. The phone is not nearly as big as the 5300 and really doesn't seem as heavy. I'm yet to really test battery performance but the standard battery has lasted 1 entire day with all the battery indicater bars still lit.

I am really impressed with the screen. With it being $100 cheaper than its big brother, I expected the screen to be a lot dimmer but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Hope this helps someone in their descision making.

Chris