LG PM-325

Had you done your research you would have found the sanyo 7300. Flip phone with speaker-phone, Ready Link, external idea and analog roam if necessary. Also has Sanyo's superior RF reception. On a side note though, they will soon replace it with the 7400, which does have a camera, but that just goes to show what the market is clamoring for.

readylink is another feature i have no interest in. one more thing to make a phone bulky (and to get people to pay extra for an additional service). i don't have a problem with sprint responding to market demand; i do have a problem with them refusing to provide basic phones for the rest of us who don't want all those bells & whistles.

well the phone market is changing people...the companies know that in a few years the market will be saturated...the networks will be on par with each other...and most of the additional revenue will be generated from enhanced features...so this is not from your basic phone that makes calls...its from a phone that downloads, takes and sends pix and video, and has ptt
phones are getting cheap enough that they could have everything...and while you may say you won't use it...chances are if your phone is equipped...you will eventually use it...and spend $...whats wrong with that? everybody's gotta eat

Simple answer: if you want no features, buy a phone like the VI660 or the Nokia. It means there are more nice, slick, fancy phones for the rest of us. Really, you either want enough of the features listed to get the phone, or you wait for something better. Kind of hard to believe that there is even an argument over something like this....

well, yeah. so i've been waiting for a decent phone, and bluetooth is a desirable enough feature that i'll put up with the camera. the reason people are complaining is that a lot of the slick, fancy phones are actually pretty low-quality. we get frustrated when buying a new phone will mean a step backwards in call quality, battery life, having an external lcd, etc. i'm all for slick & fancy when that means small, highly functional bluetoothy, web-enabled with a decent screen & menu... not so much when it seems like the engineers are thinking "huh, this phone isn't so good, it probably needs a lot of work - nah, i'll stick a camera on it and people will buy it anyway"

Yeah, was disappointed to see this was a slider. Yes, looks cool, isn't so cool after 3 months and the top pops off....

yeah but after the three months you take the phone back and get a new one

Reception is a must "base line" criteria that Vendors meet when developing a handset. Not many countries advertise "You will get great reception withXXX model" because it is not a selling point anymore. Features plus additional factors decide if the phone is different and worth the $$.

Do people really think that Sanyo/Nokia/LG/Samsung has different reception standards? Because when Sprint is testing or approving the Handset...I bet you everything that they will make sure it meets all the RF requirements they require.

Couple thoughts.

they may have the standard when it comes to RF requirements but when you work in the field you start to realize that some phones do better than other brands of phones. they all meet the requirements but some phones just do better and the RF maintains it strength better that others. My findings that Sanyo are better than sanmsung, but samsung have more practical phones when it comes to size and availability. But i would never purchase anything other than sanyo and nokia.

just my thoughts

it's true that reception is a must when they are picking their phones but some are just better than others. Similare to food, all french fries must pass the basic edibility tests but some are still way better than others. Also, Sprint doesn't decide what features it does and doesn't want as much as you make it sound. The companies making the phones aren't willing to make them without cameras cause they think camera phones sell more often (and they generally do) so the market reflects that. In addition, not wanting the camera doesn't mean that you have to "deal with it" when you buy the phone, it's not like there's some sort of command that keeps popping up to use the camera that you have to close, you just don't waste time going into th...
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If that slide breaks off, it won't be covered by warranty. Beware!

slinstar has a valid point. If no one noted, when you buy a readylink phone and activate it, in order to get the rebates, etc.. You have to get readylink service. I have the 7300. When I got the phone (issued to me at work), I still carried my old 2G smartphone. Walking around inside a department story, the 7300 was beeping like crazy and trying to get service. My smartphone still had bars. I've found the 7200 and 4900 good phones for reception. When they start sticking MP3 players, cameras, walkie-talkie abilities on phones, it sorta reminds me of those 70's stereo's that have everything all bundled into one box. They didn't one thing very well. That still applies.

wow i think taht is the stupidest point ever... If you dont like cellphones with kool features that make life easier and are good then get basic phones. Was it really nessesary to post on how you think features are bad. I personally have a nokia w/a camer and a radio both of the functions work great, and i get phenominal reception. So to say that putting features in a phone makes the phone worse as phone is wrong.


and thats just my 2 cents ;)

i think i finally figured something out (i'm kind-of new to the world of forums so i forget): are all the feature-junkies out there still in high school?

btw we're not saying cameras shouldn't be an option. we're saying they *should* be an option - i.e. those of us who don't want our phones complicated with features we don't need should have the option of not having them, but still having some nice features (like some sort of external lcd, vision, analog roam, bluetooth). i think we're sort-of the business/function users who don't want the expense and bulk of a smartphone and we're feeling neglected by the sprint marketing folks.

so let's assume for a minute that a camera & a radio would be essential features for you. take a look at...
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It seems that the camera is a cheap feature to put on a phone that will hepl increase the reatil price and the saleability of the phone. Kinda like the games on the phones. In the beginning games were not available, then they were optional, now try finding a phone without some type of game on it!


BTW my dad is looking for a phone without: games, call ID, contact list, call history, camera, color screen, organizer, calander, scheduler. If you find one let me know

he wants the vi660

but the reality of the camera is it does not raise the price. for example look at the 7300 and the 8200 or the 2500 and the 8200 the same phones but the 8200 hasa camera and all three are the same price.

the camera maybe increases the production cost a few $ the camera quality is the same as the ones you find in walmart for a few $

everyone who is complaining about phones with camera's, and phone with walkie-talkies, and wutever. stop complaining. No one is FORCING you buy it, if you don't like it don't buy it. And if you do buy, just don't use the extra features. Go get the freebie which is basic phone.

I guess we need to complain and complain to the manufacturers of these phones to get bluetooth non-camera phones, and keep complaining to them until they finally make one. A lot of the manufacturers take consumer feedback in consideration for new product development, and if enough say they want a Sprint Bluetooth Non-Camera phone, then they will build it (eventually). What I don't understand, is you can use bluetooth, but not the camera, both are ways to transmit secure data over an uncontrollable medium, I would assume a place that restricts camera usage, would also restrict bluetooth (or any other data transmission as such.)

Actually, it's quite the opposite.

It's basically the carrier that mandates the options and overall feature set on the phone. For example, look at all of Sprints phones as of current, all of them use a standard "pin" charger (with the exception of Nokia). This was a Sprint mandate. Sprint said you build the phone this way or we're not going to sell your product.

Yes, some phones are very similar, the Verizon A650 and the Sprint VI660 for example. But start looking closer. The LCD on the VI660 is FAR superior, it's much brighter and has much better contrast. The voice activated dialing on the VI660 uses the far superior VoiceSignal feature vs the old school "voice tag" single-voice voice activated dialing.

Like I said, Sprint b...
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the problem some people have with the camera (which I still don't fully understand allowing bluetooth, but not a camera) is that their workplace restricts the use of them for security purposes (they don't want them to be used to take pictures of secure information to be distributed elsewhere) Samsung may or may not be coming to market soon with its i645/i650 pda phones, one will have the camera, one will not, not sure on wireless features such as bluetooth or wifi as of yet. (or even if they will actually make this phone)
As for the manufacturers, Sprint has a great deal of say with the phones, so that is who we should focus the complaint attention to, as well as the actual manufacturers themselves.

I believe you can not take your camera phone into a court house, no pictures allowed, so leave it in your car. This makes it undesirable for any one who needs to regularly access public records or do legal work.

Well I saw a sanyo at a sprint store here in La. today that has 2 models. One with camera and one without. The refineries and chem plants around here dont allow the camera phone so most guys by the other model.