Phone Scoop - Sanyo M1 Info

User Review: Best "clam shell" phone to EVER hit the market

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 23:05:38 GMT

SoCalVDub submitted this review of the Sanyo M1:

Overall rating: 5 (out of 5)

Let the prices on EBay in 2008 (this phone released in 2006) speak for themselves. A 1 1/2 year old phone is still fetching more than $150 used !?! Its a shame Sprint did not market this phone correctly as Sanyos phone lineup now doesnt even compare to what the M1 brings to the table. I honestly got rid of my iPod nano because this phone truelly does the same thing with no glitches and the ease of drag and drop instead of loading a program like iTunes. Speakers are loud enough for me to play music from my beer *cough* i mean soda coozie on my beachcruiser where people on the boardwalk here in Diego can even hear what im playing. Sprints data speed really makes this phone a pleasure as well.

If you decide to purchase this phone your making a great choice. Thank you Sanyo for an incredible phone.

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User Review: Cool phone Even for a technophobe

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 16:42:52 GMT

bsrachels submitted this review of the Sanyo M1:

Overall rating: 4.5 (out of 5)

My dad has this phone. He got it through his job. After having numerous nextel phones he finally upgraded to a decent phone. i had the chance to play around with it and use it and i found that it is surprisingly simple to use. I also have no idea why he picked it because he does not use any of the media capabilities.

Pros:
great shape (although thick)
I love the key pad it feels nice to use
Screen is bright and easy to read
The menu can be set to different views(it is very customizable)
Calls are clear
Big outer display
Ring tones are loud
The 2 mp camera is very clear

Neutral:
The ringtones are very "girly"
Edges of the phone chip easily though my dad is not gentle with his phone

Cons:
Its very thick
Camera is on the back so it can get scratched if it is set down the wrong way
When you text message it lags (only an issue for people who text really fast)

This phone is good for someone who wants a multimedia phone. That plays music, has a camera and is web capable.
It is a great choice.

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User Review: I WAS WORRIED BUT NOW LOVE IT

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 03:36:32 GMT

JAMBO1228 submitted this review of the Sanyo M1:

Overall rating: 5 (out of 5)

I had owned the Samsung mm-a920 and loved it and was worried one day when I had to replace the phone. Then that day came, when I contacted the insurance co. about replacing my phone they informed me that the Samsung was no longer available I was very upset and at the point of being pissed off. the agent assured me that I would be very pleased with the Sany M1, and now I completely agree, the phone is awesome and I love it especially now compared to the Samsung, this now is by far the best phone I have owned to the day

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User Review: Best Phone Ive ever owned

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 21:30:51 GMT

zenzim submitted this review of the Sanyo M1:

Overall rating: 5 (out of 5)

This phone is great and the build quality is excellent. The camera for a phone takes great pictures...

The post below..I have about 700Mbs of MP3s uploaded to this phone and not single one was purchased through sprint. Just plug the phone in with the usb cable and upload whatever you want. heck I have even uploaded videos .pg2 files. As well as custom back grounds. The only con and its small for me. Is that I can not remove the memory card. But for the most part 1gb is more then enough.

Again...you can upload your own mp3's, movies, and even use it as a thumb drive for moving documents, saving pdf's to...whatever.

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User Review: Finally, Sanyo did it.

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 09:44:46 GMT

ou2mame submitted this review of the Sanyo M1:

Overall rating: 4.5 (out of 5)

This phone is as close to perfect as they've come. Its got everything, except a few minor features. But they aren't *that* bothersome, which makes this phone one of the best phones I've used in a long time.

Yeah, its discontinued. Of course, Sprint decides to discontinue it. Its got everything, why keep it around?!

I'll start with the cons first.

1. you can't set mp3s as ringtones. Thats just annoying.
2. you can't edit photo album names, or create new ones IN the phone. You can with the supplied usb cable in mass storage mode. Just create a new folder where the pictures are stored, and the phone finds it. It would just be nicer if it were possible to actually move pictures from one "on phone" album to the next. With a gig of memory, the pictures folder will eventually become VERY clustered, and you will definitely want to create another album or two.
3. This is really nothing, but the battery feels very unsturdy in the phone. It creaks like an old bed.
4. The back button, and the end button seem to be too close together for my taste. I'm sure I'll get used to it, but I keep hitting the end button instead of back.
5. You can't do much with the player controls on the front of the phone. I'd like full menu control without having to open the phone.
6. This is little, but the "1" key looks like a 7. Whats up with that?

Ok, so thats the tiny annoying things that are wrong with the phone, some of which you probably wouldn't find annoying, which makes it even less flawed. Most is just personal preference.

The good though...The good definitely outweighs the bad.

1. Great reception. As expected with any Sanyo.
2. 2mp camera w/ video capability.
3. 1 gig of ram and mp3 playing ability.
4. Vibrant screen.
5. Numerous GUI tweaks that have annoyed me about the Sanyo interface for years. Finally, a phone that has fixed pretty much all of it. They've realized that you can't "fix" everything, sometimes you have to let the user decide.

It has everything but a card slot...

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User Review: Great phone if you don't want to play mp3s

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 00:25:16 GMT

drizzt545 submitted this review of the Sanyo M1:

Overall rating: 3 (out of 5)

I purchased this phone 6 months ago. I initially thought it was a great phone. The camera and video recorder are great. The speakers are the best of any phone I have ever used. They sound good as well and have equalizer functions. The size is not bad but the buttons could be a little bit bigger.

The problems started about 3 months ago. The phone has built in memory, ie fill it up and the phone slows down. I have over 500 songs downloaded from the Sprint Music. This means they are supposed to be specially formatted to work well on this phone. This is what Sanyo Tech support is telling me now is my problem. I have tried several phones with external memory and they don't seem to slow like this one does. After 3 weeks of not getting help from Sanyo Tech support, I have been told the phone program requires the phone to catalog every song everytime the music store/player is accessed. with 500 songs on the phone this slows the process to about 8-10 minutes before the phone will play music. When you use this phone to demo the music player at work to potential Sprint customers, you can imagine a 10 min delay is a lost sale and people who may not consider Sprint. The problem is not Sprint at all, its in the phone's programming. I was called back by Sanyo tech and told that he(Shawn Brandt Sanyo tech Support supervisor 818-998-7322 ext 458) had talked to the designers in Japan and they said the problem is I filled the memory too much. Why allow songs to be loaded if they are going to slow the system down. Better yet release a program update that allows the phone to catalog the songs only once and only update it if the store has been accessed to buy more music. 8-10 minutes to catalog the music is ridiculous. Its no wonder Sanyo discontinued this phone. Well Sanyo tech told me I have to live with the problem, feel free to call Shawn at the above number if you have an issue with your Sanyo Phone.

PROS
camera-speakers-menu

music player stinks

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User Review: i'm keepin' it... for now.

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 19:02:56 GMT

sopasesos submitted this review of the Sanyo M1:

Overall rating: 4.5 (out of 5)

had the M1 for about 2 months now. fast browsing using either built-in browser, or opera mini... go EVDO! previously had the RL-4930 with the stub antenna... this phone gets just as good reception with no visible antenna, gotta love that. the earpiece is loud and clear. if you use sprint tv, the "upgraded" sprint tv app is nifty and easy to navigate, but in upgrading, the ability to watch content on the outer screen is now gone. and it's pretty much a forced "upgrade." so if you like your sprint tv, take this into consideration. besides that you can use orb to stream from your home pc, and use the built in media player which you can watch on the outer screen if you wish. you can load mp3s from your pc on the 1GB of internal memory using mass storage mode through the usb connection. i loaded gmail and google maps apps and they work great, but no gps for the maps, unless you go with sprint nav or one of the other available gps apps. i don't use bluetooth, so no comment on that. overall a great phone, i think i'm keeping this one for a while. it serves my purposes and is quite functional. oh it has a camera too! it's good for basic/emergency usage.

pros:
-great reception w/ no ext antenna (l.a. metro area)
-evdo web browsing
-1GB internal storage

cons:
-neutered sprint tv app "upgrade"
-not thin (if you're into thin phones)
-memory not upgradeable
-position of volume a bit awkward
-not really the best camera
-battery life less than my 4930

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User Review: GR8!

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 03:52:23 GMT

carlos032 submitted this review of the Sanyo M1:

Overall rating: 5 (out of 5)

This is a great phone.. I now the have upstage and thats going back uhh what a mistake!
--Pros
*GREAT speakers for mp3s and ringers
*holds alot of music
*GR8 battery life

--CONS
the only con i had was it was a lil bulky and thats not even really a con for me bcuz im learning the thin phones cant compare to the m1!

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User Review: Ole'Phone still relavent.....

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 20:12:27 GMT

KCR submitted this review of the Sanyo M1:

Overall rating: 4.5 (out of 5)

The speaker loudness brought me right back to the joy I had with my first Sanyo(4900).
A friend just got the Nokia 5300 and I loaded some of my MP3's on it, and played them vs. the M1...and, the Nokia knock the M1 out the box. My friend jus' got the HTC Mogul and he is jealous of the M1's Speaker.

As, for the Pros' scroll through the other reviews because the other submitters covered them all.

I had my phone now about 3 weeks, i had to ask a friend in a another state about a 2 hr drive to pick the M1 for me. all, my local salepeople..told me that I made a wise chose then getting the Muziq....4 different stores in the NY,NJ...area.

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User Review: Fantastic phone

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 19:48:49 GMT

deanofpledges submitted this review of the Sanyo M1:

Overall rating: 5 (out of 5)

This is the BEST phone I have ever owned. The resolution on the screen is outstanding, and I love the fact that I can watch the NFL network on the phone. The sound is great playing it through the speakers. The only "con" I can think of is that you can't put MP3's from your computer on the phone. Buying them from the Sprint store can become costly, but who cares because you can play streaming music from one of the music channels. Besides if you are that hung up on wanting to play MP3's, go buy an mp3 player.

Only bad thing is that you will have a hard time finding the phone since Sprint has discontinued production of the phone, and they are trying to push the Muziq on everybody. Even when I went to the Sprint store, the salesperson was trying to convince me to buy the Muziq phone by LG, even though the M1 is more expensive. You will NOT regret buying this phone!

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User Review: The sickest phone i've had in a long time

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 14:41:01 GMT

donkey_kong86 submitted this review of the Sanyo M1:

Overall rating: 5 (out of 5)

Pro's
mp3 player
2mp camera W/ auto focus
streaming videos
recording time on the camcorder
bluetooth is just awesome
doesn't break when you drop it
plus you can close the phone and still watch video clips
stereo speakers
the memory

Cons
camera location

that's pretty much it. I've been thru a lot of phones and this by far the best phone i've had in a while. i use to own the hero by pantech. it was a good phone until it just stopped charging all together. so i trashed it and got this phone and i have a feeling that imma keep this phone for a while.

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User Review: SIMPLY GREAT

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 04:51:56 GMT

Tha_KeenPinn submitted this review of the Sanyo M1:

Overall rating: 5 (out of 5)

Pros:
**Just about everything about the phone
(style, camera, internet, reception, battery life, games, music, memory, features, etc)

Cons:
*Technology is kinda out dated
*Easy to get finger prints on (but easy to wipe off)

CONCLUSION:

Screw the Iphone, RAZR2, Katana, Envy, Sidekick, whatever... THEE BEST PHONE ON THE MARKET HANDS DOWN!

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User Review: Best Flip Phone out There

Wed, 08 Aug 2007 18:16:18 GMT

jtc8008 submitted this review of the Sanyo M1:

Overall rating: 4.5 (out of 5)

Switched from the Samsung A940 to the M1.

(now have the mogul, but wanted a pda instead of flip)

Pros:
1)Great Reception, On par with my A940 and usually better than most other sprint phones)

2)Speaker is loud and clear for music with 16 levels of volume to choose from.

3)Camera is the best 2 MP camera on a phone I have seen. Pictures are taken rapidly and are never blurry like my A940.

4)Sprint TV, Music, Navigation, On Demand and Web Browsing with mini opera are excellent features and work perfectly in almost any area in Oregon. Faster web surfing than the Iphone (of course the network really is the difference.)

5)T9 texting is great and suggests words that I actually use.

6)Feels durable, I have dropped many times and still works perfectly.

7)1 GB memory internal saves you from purchasing a mem card.

Cons:
1)Camera is in awkward position, where fingers get in front of the lens (not a big deal but takes some getting used to.

2)No optical zoom on camera (my A940 had a 2 optical zoom

3)Speaker phone distorts when turned up all the way. (turning it down to medium volume is still louder than most phones anyway and is clear.

4)Battery dies really fast when speakerphone is turned on. (this is a common con for most phones though).

Overall this is still the best non pda phone available, I only switched so I could view flash videos on the web on my mogul. I still miss the ability for sprint tv, navigation, and ease of use of my m1. Too bad sprint doesnt have sim cards so I could use both.

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User Review: Not overly impressed

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 16:01:34 GMT

bsf submitted this review of the Sanyo M1:

Overall rating: 3 (out of 5)

This is basic flip phone with huge internal memory (1Gb) for songs and pictures. As a basic phone it works fine. Typical good Sanyo reception and battery time. Battery lasts about one day of heavy useage.

The phone has a media player and allows you to copy songs to play on the phone which sound great from the included ear buds. An adapter is included to allow use of aftermarket headsets. The memory is nice but you cannot add an external card so what you got is what you got.

The camera is average. Really pretty typical for a flip phone. Nothing great here.

The software on the phone is outdated. Prob why Sprint recently discontinued it. If you are hoping to use Sprint's new email solution for Push email, it will not work. Also, you cannot sync calendar or contacts. Need to import and must do one at a time. Very cumbersome and not a workable solution on a daily basis.

Overall works fine as a basic flip phone with a media player but other phones do the same for less money and have more up to date software.

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User Review: Best Flip Phone in the USA

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 20:30:15 GMT

bwest submitted this review of the Sanyo M1:

Overall rating: 5 (out of 5)

This is without a doubt the best Flip Phone out. It comes equipped with 1G the LCD is crisp and clear. You can even play videos on the external LCD which is pretty cool.

MUSIC
The phone has an equalizer when on music mode so you can adjust base treble fade etc. therefore the sound quality is amazing you can hear every single instrument. The speaker is nice and clear for movies and music. There is even a Background Music Mode that allows you to navigate on the phone and web and play music at the same time. The music can be continuous also if you configure it properly. The bluetooth syncs well with my Laptop and even plays music through my car speakers.

ONLINE
I can even use this phone to play my X-Box 360 on-line just connect it to my laptop let the Power Vision kick in (sprints version of hi-speed) and I'm online playing all my favorite games against friends...so i basically use this phone as a modem. It is very very fast never choppy watch streaming videos as fast as any other connection. While im commuting to work or school i will sometimes go online and watch You tube on my phone which is really cool considering the internet speed on this thing.

Visual
I dont mind traveling with the M1 because of the 1G of memory I can load up 10 episodes of The Office 4 episodes of The Wire and the Transformers Movie on it comfortably (bootleg video for phones the wave of the future LOL!!!) Oh and i forgot to mention all 4 of the Mp3 albums i have are still on there also.
GPS
Also I cant drive anywhere without hearing my turn by turn GPS Directions with a 3d map LOVE IT!!! i never get lost.

Fundamentals

The call quality is really good...I have not had any dropped calls to date and i have had this a few months but then again Sanyo never really has reception issues with there phones. All in all this is the best "Flip Phone" on the market hands down SANYO HAS IT ON LOCK!!!!

Now for my next upgrades the HTC MOGUL or HTC VOGUE to be continued.......

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User Review: awesome phone

Sun, 01 Jul 2007 09:41:10 GMT

SIK226 submitted this review of the Sanyo M1:

Overall rating: 4 (out of 5)

All is needs is an FM transmitter.

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User Review: REALLY LIKE THIS PHONE

Sat, 16 Jun 2007 19:24:33 GMT

mike_mn submitted this review of the Sanyo M1:

Overall rating: 4.5 (out of 5)

I bought this phone in late March 2007 to replace my LG phone. At first I dind't like the look of this phone - was a little different styling from what I was use to - however I now really do like the look of the phone - the black with silver trim differentiates it from so many of the all silver phones out there.

Having no external antenna was also a concern for me - but this phone gets better receptoin without the external antenna than my old phones which did.

The screen also have excellent resolution - I'm into photography, so I hate bad resolution - and this phone really excels witht the screen - it's very nice.

While this phone has 1gb of space of music - i'm not really into that so have not put any on the phone.

The menu structure is nice and intuative - no issues there for me. The buttons are nice to use also - just the right size.

Battery life it good, I do use the extended life battery and get get 2-3 days of use easily with regular use and game playing on it - withouth the game playing I'd get much more life from it.

The camera is also excellent - everyone who sees the photos taken are really impressed iwht the quality of the pictures from this phone.

The external speakers are also very nice - two speakers on the front of hte phone provide very good sound when using the speaker phone.

Overall - it's an excellent phone and no regrets buying this phone.

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User Review: Switched to Sprint w/ this phone

Mon, 21 May 2007 18:01:19 GMT

Jasperblu submitted this review of the Sanyo M1:

Overall rating: 3.5 (out of 5)

After more than 10 years with the various incarnations of Cingular, I got fed up with daily dropped calls. Everyone I know here in Southern CA is either on Sprint or Verizon & they have NO problems w/ dropped calls. In fact, despite their ads to the contrary, I had at least 6+ dropped calls per DAY. My last phone was a Nokia 6230 - perhaps it was my phone?

So, I chose Sprint & a Sanyo M1 phone. I love this Sanyo phone, but I'm not sure about Sprint.

Here is my dillema. I do not have a land line & as a result, absolultely NEED my mobile to work at all times, but what I've noticed w/ this phone (&/or Sprint) is I no longer have any signal when I'm in my house, so I have to go outside the house to use my phone which is unacceptable.

So, do I try a different phone or do I switch carriers yet again? I have 14 days to decide.

Meanwhile, here is my PROS/CONS about the Sanyo M1.

PROS
- Compact & lightweight
- Sturdy/Solid construction
- Great speakerphone volume
- Multiple features (calendar, to-dos, alarm, calculator)
-Comes w/ myriad accessories (eg. USB cable, charger, ear buds)

CONS
-Buttons are small & hard to use without flubbing
-Getting to punctuation symbols & other "characters" while in text mode requires several steps, which discourages my wanting to use the keyboard at all.
-Incoming calls/msgs while I'm on another call interupt repeatedly with beeps and warning signals. I'm sure there is a way to turn this function off, but I haven't found it yet.
- There is no obvious "IGNORE/REJECT" feature
-Sending & saving pictures or texts requires several steps.

I would really like to get to know this phone a little better but it doesn't look like I'm going to get the chance unless I buy an unlocked M1 from Sanyo directly and switch to Verizon.

C ~

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User Review: Cool Phone

Thu, 17 May 2007 18:45:09 GMT

GILEONARD2 submitted this review of the Sanyo M1:

Overall rating: 4.5 (out of 5)

I've finally have come full circle and have come back to Sprint. I had a phone with every major carrier. As for a small phone, the M1 rocks. I get a better signal strength than my previous phones.

Pros:
1GB of internal memory
2.0 Megapixel camera
Tons of stuff to personalize phone
Lightweight

Cons:
Battery life sucks,
have to recharge every
evening.

Plastic housing

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User Review: Reversed Evolution.....

Sun, 06 May 2007 17:50:20 GMT

Seeker210 submitted this review of the Sanyo M1:

Overall rating: 2.5 (out of 5)

After owning the Sanyo MM5600 for 2 years I decided to upgrade my phone to the Sanyo M1, Bad Move.I'll start off with the negative factors of the M1. The internal antenna is located just above the camera lens area of this phone, or the top portion of the bottom halve of this phone, if you hold the phone in a more comfortable position you block your signal, so in essence your forced to hold the phone by the lower key pad area, which increases your chances of having the phone slip out of your hand,I got this M1 due to its nice bulk size which I though would allow me to hold it without the fear dropping it. Input signal has always been bad for me in upstate NY, whereas the 5600 held a respectable signal with its external rod. And here's my main negatives. The music I transferred from my PC using the supplied USB cable, which were the same identical songs on the 5600, this M1 only plays one song at a time, you manually have to scroll to the next song in order to hear it,this phone does not advance to the next song in the listening order of the albums. The external I-Pod look alike control will not advance to the next song either, but it will pause, stop and fast Back/forward it.I do not purchase music or videos through sprint at there ridicules prices.But I imagine this would not be an issue with there paid for music? Every feature is basically that same as the MM5600 with the exception of Bluetooth. Yet the older Sanyo phone has better qualities and functional features then this new rendition of top of the line Sanyo. My conclusion: If you interested in using this phone as an MP3 player, dedicate your listening pleasure to be in a constant click-a-song mode.Bluetooth: I guess this would be this phones only strength, since the location of the antenna, when the phone is closed is at the optimal position.The Camera holds no real advancement with 2MP, picture are still sub-par.
M.Mercado

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