Sanyo Katana LX - Liquid Graphite (Sprint)

Manufacturer: Sanyo Fisher Company Part number: SCP3800KTB

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$29.99 - $349.99 at 2 online stores

CNET Editor rating:
3.5 stars Very good
Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 6 reviews

More product information:: Editors' review; User reviews; Specifications; Product series; Manufacturer info

Bottom Line:: The Sanyo Katana LX is a decent entry-level camera phone for its price range.

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CNET editors' review

Sanyo Katana LX - Liquid Graphite (Sprint)

price range: $29.99 - $349.99

Reviewed by: Nicole Lee
Reviewed on: 05/02/2008

The good: The Sanyo Katana LX has an attractive translucent OLED display and a mirror-finish exterior. Features include Bluetooth, voice dialing, and GPS functionality. It has excellent performance as well.

The bad: The Sanyo Katana LX has a lackluster screen and disappointing photo quality.

The bottom line: The Sanyo Katana LX is a decent entry-level camera phone for its price range.

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Sanyo and Sprint launched two Katana flip phones a year ago, dubbed the Katana DLX and the Katana II. Both handsets followed the first Sanyo Katana released about two years ago, which was nothing more than a scaled-down Razr competitor. The Katana DLX saw a number of impressive feature upgrades, but the Katana II only saw slight design improvements. Well, the Katana II is now replaced with the Sanyo Katana LX, which debuted for Sprint in April 2008. The Katana LX looks very different from any of the other Katanas, complete with a reflective surface and translucent OLED display. Features include a VGA camera, Bluetooth, GPS location services, and not much else, so this is meant as an entry-level camera phone for those who don't need a lot of fancy multimedia features. The Katana LX comes in Pacific Blue, Elegant Pink, and Liquid Graphite. It's also very affordable at $49.99 after a two-year service agreement with Sprint.

Design
If you were to tell us the Katana LX followed the line of the previous Katanas, we wouldn't have believed you, based on its design. While the other Katanas opted for the slim and wide Razr look, the Katana LX is completely different. Measuring 3.7 inches long by 1.9 inches wide by 0.7 inch thick, the Katana LX is thicker, curvier, with rounded edges and a smooth reflective front surface. The surface is so reflective you could use it as a mirror. It's not too heavy at 3.4 ounces and has a nice heft in the hand.

The Sanyo Katana LX has a translucent OLED display.

At first glance, you might think the Katana LX doesn't have an external screen. But when you hit any button along the side, you will activate a very cool translucent OLED display. It is right in the middle of the phone and displays the usual date, time, battery, and signal strength information. Because of the translucent display, the letters and numbers appear to be floating in the middle of the phone, resulting in a modern space-age sort of look. Since it is OLED, however, you can't view photo caller ID. It also won't act as a camera viewfinder, but the surface of the phone is reflective enough to be used as a self-portrait mirror. Above the display is the speaker grille, and above that is the camera lens. A dedicated camera button, volume rocker, and charger jack sit on the left spine.

Flip open the phone and you'll find a 65,000-color internal display. It's a tad smaller than the Katana II at around 2 inches diagonally. Not only does the screen appear lackluster, its menu interface lacked color as well. You can adjust the display's backlight time, font size, and contrast. You can also change the foreground with a clock/calendar or greeting.

Underneath the display is the navigation array, arranged in almost a half circle. They consist of two soft keys, a dedicated camera key, a Back button, plus a four-way circular toggle with a middle Menu/OK key. The toggle can be mapped to four user-defined shortcuts. The Talk key, speakerphone/voice command key, and End/Power key are underneath the toggle. We weren't fans of the keypad--the keys are somewhat flush to the surface of the phone and feel a bit slippery as well.

Features
As an entry-level camera phone, we weren't expecting much from the Katana LX, and indeed it has almost identical features to the Katana II. Starting with the basics, it comes with a 600-entry contacts list and each entry can hold up to seven numbers, two e-mail addresses, a URL address, and a memo. You can organize contacts in caller groups, pair them with a photo for caller ID, or any of 32 polyphonic ringtones. Bear in mind the photo caller ID only shows up on the internal display, so it's probably not as useful. Other essentials include vibrate mode, speakerphone, text and multimedia messaging, a calendar, an alarm clock, a countdown clock, a stop watch, a world clock, and a calculator. More advanced users will appreciate e-mail, instant messaging, Bluetooth, voice dialing, voice recording, a wireless Web browser, and GPS functionality. The latter can only be used if you have a data plan and sign up for Sprint Navigation.

The Sanyo Katana LX has a VGA camera lens.

The Katana LX only comes with a VGA camera, which is understandable for a phone at this price range. You can take pictures in three resolutions (640x480, 320x240, and 160x120), three quality settings, and five picture modes (Normal, Beach/Snow, Scenery, Night/Dark, Soft Focus). Other settings include brightness, white balance, a self-timer, multishot, fun frames, color tone, zoom, and shutter sounds (three sounds plus a silent option). Photo quality was pretty disappointing, as to be expected. Images looked blurry and overcast. There's no built-in camcorder.

You can customize the Katana LX with a variety of graphics and alert tones for wallpaper, screensavers, and so forth. The Katana LX comes with a couple of Web applications--InStyle Magazine Demo and MSN Live Search--but you can always get more. On the gaming front, the phone comes with demo versions of Sims 2, Madden NFL 08, Midnight Pool, Pac-Man/Ms. Pac-Man, Tetris, and WSOP Pro Challenge Poker. As always you can download more from the Sprint store.

Performance
We tested the dual-band (CDMA 800/1900) Sanyo Katana LX in San Francisco using Sprint's service. We enjoyed full signal strength in most parts of the city, and call quality was very impressive as well. Callers often thought we were on a landline, thanks to the lack of static and background noise. Speakerphone quality did not fare as well--we thought our callers sounded rather tinny, while they thought we needed to speak up a bit. We managed to pair the Sanyo Katana LX with the Plantronics Discovery 925.

The Sanyo Katana LX has a rated talk time of talk time of 4.8 hours, and a tested talk time of 5 hours and 16 minutes. According to FCC radiation tests, the Sanyo Katana LX has a digital SAR rating of 0.783 watt per kilogram.

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User reviews

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Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 6 reviews
My rating: 0 stars

Showing opinion 1 to 6 out of 6

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10 stars

Excellent phone for what is is supposed to do.

by tarbaby48 on September 18, 2008

Pros: Clarity, reception, long battery life, nice size, shape, looks,& layout. I give it 5-stars, based of what this phone was designed for. If you want the features of a smart phone, then that is a different class of phone.

Cons: None I could find for the class of phone it is

Summary: Excellent phone for the money. This is my wives phone, and is one of the best Sanyo phones that we have ever had. My last phone was a Sanyo 8300, ...

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Summary: Excellent phone for the money. This is my wives phone, and is one of the best Sanyo phones that we have ever had. My last phone was a Sanyo 8300, and I was reluctant to give that one up, as I was throughly happy with it. I also got the new Sanyo Eclipse, and this basically an eclipse with less features, i.e. MP 3 player, illumination, etc. See my review of the Sanyo Eclispe.

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1 stars

I almost hate my self for buying this phone

by jacques94 on August 7, 2008

Pros: It has a very sleek attractive look

Cons: No battery life. no memory

Summary: When i had gotten this phone when it first came out i wanted to make sure i had the phone before alot of the people i know did, the thing ...

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Summary: When i had gotten this phone when it first came out i wanted to make sure i had the phone before alot of the people i know did, the thing is after about 2 months my battery life started to deplete and now it only lasts 4-8 hours tops* and thats only if i dont use it. Do not get this phone you'll regret it

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8 stars

A solid phone

by maverick10001 on August 1, 2008

Pros: reception, battery life

Cons: lack of features, phone quality

Summary: This is a solid phone. Sanyo, in my opinion, has been underestimated through the years. I have never had any problems with their phones. Sanyo phones, (and this one as ...

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Summary: This is a solid phone. Sanyo, in my opinion, has been underestimated through the years. I have never had any problems with their phones. Sanyo phones, (and this one as well) are extremely durable, battery life is very good to excellent, reception is very good, and voice quality is very good. The phone scratches easily and photo quality is not great, but it is a solid voice phone. Battery life on this is excellent.

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7 stars

Good phone for the occasional talker.

by undergroundgilligan on July 16, 2008

Pros: Sanyo brand, easy interface, sweet signal.

Cons: weak pictures, not many options.

Summary: I work for a sprint dealer, so i've sold this model and have messed around with it. Overall the phone is "alright," meaning for the occasional user or the ...

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Summary: I work for a sprint dealer, so i've sold this model and have messed around with it. Overall the phone is "alright," meaning for the occasional user or the kids this phone is good. For the power user...you might as well look at another model.

The three colors (carbon, blue, pink) are good eye catchers. The shine on the finish attacts people and the LED display is a sweet look on the front. The area where I sell this model the phone is great for signal. This maybe because it is the Sanyo brand, or Sanyo is beefing up quality even more. The VGA camera is by far not the greatest. And I do wish is had the mico SD card slot.

As a final note, the phone is simple, easy to use, but thats because there's few major features. This does not make the phone bad, but more made for the occasional user.

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6 stars

Good phone. Not 600 contacts!

by AbrahamOlson on July 14, 2008

Pros: The advantage of this phone is that it has a good standard feature set.

Cons: It does not, as listed in the review, have 600 contacts. It only has 300, at least the one I received today does.
10 stars

Excellent Phone

by mudslinger83 on May 29, 2008

Pros: Everything Really

Cons: Not A Thang

Summary: i just picked this phone up tonight and i love it...its much better than the katana dlx...excellent reception bout like my old sanyo 8400 which is very hard ...

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Summary: i just picked this phone up tonight and i love it...its much better than the katana dlx...excellent reception bout like my old sanyo 8400 which is very hard to beat...good sound quality all around...web seems a lil slow but i also live out in the sticks so that could be why...aint tried the bluetooth yet but if its like other sanyo's it will be good...to me one of the best things is how sprint put Amazing Grace as a factory installed ringtone....its about time someone realized the Amazing Grace Of God Amen cause Jesus Saves...but it is a good phone i think yall will like it

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Specifications

Manufacturer: Sanyo Fisher Company
Part number: SCP3800KTB
Description: Uniting style, technology, design and luxury, the Katana LX redefines the Katana series. This gorgeous phone comes loaded with all the absolute essentials, like a camera, speakerphone, and Bluetooth.

General
Cellular technology CDMA2000 1X
Band / mode CDMA2000 1X 1900/800
Weight 0.2 lbs
Wireless Interface Bluetooth
Color Black
Combined with With digital camera
Phone
Service provider Sprint Nextel
Vibrating Alert Yes
Voice Dialing Yes
Voice Recorder Yes
Speakerphone Yes
Polyphonic Ringer Yes
Alarm Clock Yes
Multi-language Menu Yes
Additional Features TTY compatible, Intelligent typing (T9), PictBridge direct printing
Digital Camera
Camera highlights PictBridge printing capability provides a convenient way to print photos from your phone.
Messaging / Data Services
Short Messaging Service (SMS) Yes
Internet Browser Yes
JAVA applications Yes
Mobile Email Yes
Messaging / Data Features Text messages
WAP Protocol Supported:WAP Protocol Version WAP 2.0
3G Services / Included Services Sprint TV, PCS Video Mail, PCS Voice Command
3G Services / PCS Vision capable Yes
Digital Player / Recorder
Digital player/recorder type Voice recorder

Display
Display Type LCD display
Color Support Color
Power
Talk time Up to 288 min
Audible Battery Alert Yes
Cellular
Phone style Folder type phone
Automatic Redial Yes
Call Divert Yes
Call Barring Yes
Call Hold Yes
Call Timer Yes
Caller ID Yes
Call Waiting Yes
Volume Control Yes
Ringer Control Yes
Conference Call Capability Yes
Physical Characteristics
Width 1.9 in
Depth 0.7 in
Height 3.7 in
Antenna Integrated

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