Samsung SPH-A960

Uh, proof positive that you don't know what you are talking about:

A800 - 4 hours
A940 - 4 hours
A840 - 3.8 hours
A920 - 3.5 hours
A580 - 3.5 hours
A880 - 3.3 hours
A560 - 3.3 hours

The only two phones that have been released lately for sprint that have 3.0 hours battery life have been the A900 and the A960.

I've owned many of the above phones and have never, EVER had to bring my charger with me. I'm a rep in a sprint store, and I let customers use my phone to demo some features, and I am always using it. I have bluetooth connected all the time, I'm always on sprint TV and playing MP3's, and use the minutes too. I have never had to charge my phone during the day. I charge my phone every night out of convenience, but there are some nights that I'll forget to charge it and still be ok for the next day.

Sanyo phones should last longer because they don't have the same advanced features as this, no bluetooth, etc.

As someone else mentioned, battery technology has advanced with the technology, if not more:
The phones have more features which require more energy, and the phones today have the same if not longer life than older phones.
Again, case in point, look up the A460, it's rated for 2.4 hours of talk time, or the n400 rated at 2.9 hours. These phones have nowhere near the features that new phones have, yet the newer phones have a longer battery life.