Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Electronics Review: Sanyo Katana LX Cell Phone

Stars: 5 out of 5
Pros: Easy to use phone that works great
Cons: Won't like it if you are searching for more than a phone
The Bottom Line
A simple cell phone
No real bells and whistles
But talking is great




Sanyo's Katana LX Proves to be a Great First Cell Phone

I got my first cell phone just over 3 years ago.  Yeah, I know - welcome to the 20th century.  Even my parents had them before I did.  As exciting as all the flashy cell phones are, I was going with a simple minutes only phone plan, so I just wanted a simple phone.  While Sanyo's Katana LX looks flashy on the outside, it is a pretty basic phone and has met my needs.

As I recall, the phone came in three colors, pink, blue, and silver.  I got mine at a Sprint booth at a festival, so silver was the only one they had.  They also had a special promo going that day, so I got mine for free when signing a two year contract that day.  The phone normally would have been $280 or so, so I got a great deal.

It's a flip phone.  When closed it's maybe half an inch thick and three inches long.  I keep it in my pants pocket all day and never even notice it.  The front display on mine is a mirrorized silver.  Here's the really cool feature.  There's a small display in the front that lights up when you get a phone call that tells you who is calling.  Or, if you press the buttons on the side, it displays the time for you.  On one side is the opening for an external headphone jack.  The other side includes the opening for the power cord and the volume and camera buttons.  Both openings for cords are closed with rotating rubber toppers which keep the sides pretty smooth.

Flip the phone open and the top half features a display screen while the bottom half has the keyboard.  It's a traditional phone keyboard, so those who want to text a lot will quickly grow tired of the repetition.  I don't text, so this is fine for me, although I did find entering lots of new contacts via that keyboard to get repetitive.

Making and receiving calls has been great with this phone.  When a call comes in, it answers as soon as I flip the phone open and hangs up when I close it.  And since I keep it closed in my pocket, I don't make any random calls to people.  The reception has been good with this phone.  The instruction book that came with the phone talked about special ways to hold it so that your hand doesn't get in the way of the internal antenna.  I never had a problem holding the phone however I wanted.  My condo has spotty reception, and many of my roommates can only talk in the living room.  I've been able to use the phone wherever I wanted, even in the garage.

As far as making calls goes, it is easy to search contacts by first or last name.  You can set up to 100 speed dials, but I never bothered with that.  If you are entering a number by hand, the keypad is big enough that you don't have trouble hitting the number you want.

In addition to the phone, I got a battery, the instruction book, and a wall power cord.  I thought about getting a card charger, but never actually did that.  I am still on my first battery as well, but I don't talk on my phone all that time.  I used to be able to go around 5 days between charges, that's how little I used my phone.  Now it seems like I need to charge it two or three times a week, mainly because I have spotty reception at work, which draws more power from the battery.  (For the record, I work in a canyon and all my coworkers have spotty reception no matter who their provider is.  This isn't a phone issue but a location issue.)  I definitely notice it runs down much faster during the week than on weekends, and I tend to use it more on weekends, so I think the location of my office is effecting things.  Still, I'm not complaining since I am rapidly approaching three and a half years with the same battery.  When I do charge my phone, it charges in around 3 hours, and I can still use the phone to talk if I need to during that time.

The phone does come with few basic ring tones.  I splurged and bought ring tones of a couple of songs I liked at the time.  Both those clips sound great coming out of my phone.  This phone doesn't have a built in mp3 player, so I wasn't expecting much and have been pleasantly surprised.

In addition to the traditional holding the phone to your ear option, there's also a speakerphone and a blue tooth option.  I've used both various times over the years, and I've thought both worked well.  The volume on the side of the phone works the volume for both of these as well, and I can always find a comfortable volume for talking no matter what is going on around me.  Both of these options work with the phone opened or closed.

Earlier, I mentioned the camera button on the outside of the phone.  I must confess I have used the camera twice, both times to back pictures to set as my background.  I have never tried to download the pictures or view them anywhere else.  The screen is small, so they look fine on that, but I don't know what is involved in transferring them to a computer or how they would look.  My guess is they wouldn't be the best quality, especially since there is no flash for the phone.

There is also the option of web surfing.  I used it once or twice three years ago but quickly determined it wasn't worth attempting to use, especially since I would be charged extra for it.  The screen is so small, you can't seen much anyway.  If you want web surfing, I highly recommend getting another phone.

A few games were on the phone, but only demos.  After a brief round or two, they were disabled until you bought subscribed to them for a monthly charge.  Needless to say, I didn't purchase them.

There are 300 contact slots in this phone, which has been more than enough for me.  I finally broke 100 contacts a few months back and could probably go through and trim out people I don't talk to any more like former roommates I was never that close to.

The phone does have the usual assortment of features like stop watch, calculator, timer, and alarm clock.  I use the alarm clock part when traveling, and I find it to be easy to use and very helpful.  I've used the other features a few times over the years as well, and they were great, too.

For a three and a half year old phone, it still looks great.  I've got a small ding or two in the outside, but that is all.  The numbers on the phone are still legible with no visible wear.  The inside screen comes in contact with my face when I'm talking, so I have to wipe it off every so often, but that's about the only issue I really have with it.

I keep thinking it's about time to break down and get a new phone, but I'm reluctant because this one has worked so well for me.  I think I am going to see how long my Katana LX will last before I get a new one.  And I would certainly give Sanyo another try when I do.

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