Sanyo Katana DLX
Average Ratings
excellent phone.
had this phone for about 2 weeks now and had sanyo phones in the past and always like sanyo for build quality and reception is strong and clear compared to other manufacturer.
it appears that sanyo has been consistent in the build quality and strong reception. tried the lg muziq and was very dissapointed and went with katana dlx and could not be happier as its primary function of the cell phone should be reception and as a piece of great communication tool.
if anyone is looking for a no non-sense phone, this is a solid one. cell phones nowaday try to pact too much functions and the main function as a phone it suffers.
Very nice phone
I've always liked sanyo phones although I have had my share in the past that were rather quirky. But, always liked the user interface. Now, I took a break the past couple years and went to the Samsung A900 which I really enjoyed, but had sooo many problems and horrible battery life. Then, I switched to the LG Fusic and then the LG Muziq. I was on the fence about getting the Muziq and it was neck and neck between the Katana DLX, but just was taken in by the style of the Muziq. Wow, bad choice. Like so many have claimed before me, it had so many bizarre issues. Locking up, people not hearing me or vice versa, battery life always inconsistent. Bluetooth performance was sub par at best. It had many nice functions and a really nice screen size on the front and main screen. But, when it came to every day usage, it just couldn't hold up. Regardless, I had true buyers remorse. As the old saying goes, don't judge a book by a cover. I even originally gave it a glowing review. But, It a bit premature. Sprint understood my concerns after going thru 3 muziqs and was in fear of losing my business and gave me a shot at a different choice. It was a no brainer. Went for the Katana DLX and feel right at home again with Sanyo. Phone works great! Has so many features and choices to choose from. Only missing 2 features that are hardly worth turning this phone down over. The flash and the my buddy feature which I thought was cool. Otherwise, Solid phone. Well done. Have to say, I will probably hold on to this one for a long time. I hear that Sanyo is transitioning to another company to continue to build their products. Hopefully they won't mess up a great product line.
the best sanyo phone made
I've had the phone since early August 2007
PROS:
* camera quality (first Sonya to have 18 bit)
* software interface
* user friendly
* stereo blue tooth is awsome
* ringer volume, amazingly loud
* internal memory is sufficient for all my picture id (60 pics)!!!
* compatible with TELENAV awsome feature to have, never get lost ^_^
* video is capable up to 2 hours
CONS
* video quality could be improved
* mp3 buttons on outside display would be nice
* battery life could be improved by a little, although they have the expandable pack it's $59.99
Katana DLX good not great
Hi all. I recived my katana dlx on june 17 right after the launch via sprints website. I'm comparing this to my Samsung MM A940 which is a great phone. I won't repeat all the features which can be found on other sites. PROS: despite whats been said videos can be played three ways, actual size, fit the screen, full screen by pressing right soft key and selecting. Also you are allowed to keep an application running in the background which is very handy for resuming games or saving places on web sites. NICE TOUCH. CONS: E-Mail built into phone causes phone to totally freeze, don't worry tech support has a## fix, but app still can't retrieve gmail, always states mail box is busy. Video recording is choppy compared to the A940. Texting application is WAY slow if your fast at texting you'll out text the app meaning you'll change the letter you just entered instead of typing the next letter. Also where the hinge rests against the back of the top causes scratches with normal use within a week. I love sanyo, starting with PM8200 but the above mention CONS have me sending this back and ordering the RAZR 2 v9m, it'll be delivered to me Monday Aug 27 and I'll write a review as soon as I've had a week or two to play with it. Hope the above review helps you to choose/not choose this phone, after rebates and upgrade rebates the costs are SANYO KATANA DLX = $129.00 RAZR 2 v9m = $249.00
back to sanyo after many years
i had been disappointed with sanyo for 2 reasons-muffled earpiece and inability to put more than 16 characters in a name for the phonebook.well,this phone cured those problems and I have been very happy in that aspect.Maybe someday Sanyo will use the speach recognition like samsung and lg,but I have been able to live without that feature because of the excellent quality of this phone.
beautiful screen and fast browser.email feature is awesome and all the apps I have downloaded seem to work flawlessly.
all in all,this is the "only"sanyo that has been able to win me over from samsung and lg.
I would recomend this phone to anyone that wants a well built,feature rich,great performing and good looking phone.
BTW-I have the champagne one and have received a lot of positive comments about it!!
Sanyo, never gonna get it right
Again Sanyo releases a phone with outdated technology for no good reason... as stated above, pros and cons are there, but in the end i would suggest you just get an M1
Basically this is like an M1 but a lil smaller and lighter, other than that it has a microSD slot and a very crappily placed charger slot :) The M1 has 1GB of memory, plenty for most people's use, so until Sanyo can figure out how to do ONE good phone instead of mix and matching technology, then i'd suggest the M1 over this
A few other issues, DLX does not have:
Automatic Speech Recognition, which has been as old as the 5600 (THE peak of Sanyo, actually had like all the features at the time)
instead of the M1's 2.0 MP its a measily 1.3MP (they show they can do it on the M1 but when releasing a NEWER phone, they go backwards)
No generic Sprint charge slot, makes it annoying if u dont have all USB, and one nice feature on the M1 is it auto-charges when connected via USB to the computer whether the USB is jumpered or not, DLX does too, but only when connected as Mass Storage (Why can't you do it on both phones i have no idea?)
Buttons are in very odd places and there is no ready link, not too big a deal but seriously... why do things just randomly disappear?
One thing i noticed is it doesnt support the higher graphics games and apps (M1 does and it looks killer) yet again, backwards technology
I want to take apart both and make an actual worthwhile phone and sell it haha, but until i learn how to do that we just can only hope Sanyo will one day figure out that they CAN put everything together
New today
Well last week I purchased the Katana II and was and still am disappointed to the extreme. Very cheap sounding phone with too much excess speaker noise. Why not just use a sea shell?
So today I returned it for this unit and at this point I've found none of the above problems. Yes I'd say he speaker phone could be louder and clearer.
All I really wanted was a larger bodied phone (I've very big hands) and none of the junk such as MP3, video/picture, web, etc.
WHEN will these companies meet the need of those not hung up gadgets and flash and just give us a good large keyed well functioning phone?
Will Sprint ever catch up
I purchased this phone the day it was released. I was actually happy to know it was supplied with all the upgrades the Katana 2 should have had. I was a bit confused on whether this was a Katana or in upgrade to the Sanyo 8400. Sprint seems to always amaze me with there lack of one thing or another. The design of the Katana DLX does not resemble the Katana 1 or 2 at all. I am still wondering what they mean by it has a larger outer display, I compared it to the Katana 1 and this isn't true. Once again Sprint fumbles their way through explaining there product. I have been a Sprint customer for many years and they just can't get a grip on decent quality phones, they need to quit making mom and pop type phones and geer towards the younger generation. but it lacks in color selection. The shiny exterior is a finger print magnet and is a bit shiny but you don't have a choice. I was also disappointed that you do not have the option to select keytone off unless I have missed it. The henge is Sanyo's trademark, it gives it a solid lock and you don't have to worry about a floppy phone. I am impressed with the resolution and pixel count. Sanyo once again supplies us with the same power port hidden under a cheap rubber cover. The Katana DLX is a very good phone overall and is highly recommended but Sprint needs to produce more than 1 or 2 good phones a year or get out of the game.
No mp3 ringers??
Good phone with lots of features. Camera is decent, comes with 128MB microsd card AND a 1gb microsd card (from letstalk.com). lightweight and slim, and long talk time so your battery lasts a while.
One thing i hate about this phone is that YOU CANNOT SET MP3 RINGERS!!!! Have to emphasize that since phonescoop says that you can upload your own ringers. MP3 and M4A(AAC) haven't worked so far (and I've tried on 3 different phones). Gonna try other formats tomorrow to see what happens.
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KATANA DLX
Overall a very nice phone. It has some better options than the original katana, and the katana 2. There is no flash for the camera though. I am also still disappointed in the battery life also. I have been charging it twice a day. If you are a serious talker, or texter, than i dont think these katana phones are the best way to go, unless you like the extended battery look on them, which defeats the purpose of the slim phone.
