Oct 24, 2023
Sanyo Katana DLX – A Stylish Flip Phone with Advanced Features
Sanyo Katana DLX – Sanyo’s Best Flip Phone
Named after the Samurai sword, this sleek Sprint flip phone is a worthy rival for Motorola’s RAZR. The Katana boasts a slim silhouette, VGA camera and basic PIM functions.
A large external display shows phone connection stats, time and battery meter. It also acts as a viewfinder for self-portraits. A dedicated camera button lives on the right spine along with a headset jack.
Camera
Sanyo has dubbed this flip phone the Katana and it shares many features with Sprint’s RAZR. The CDMA phone has a slim profile with panels that feel a little low-end and lack the RAZR’s solid build. Inside the clamshell is a 2.2″ color main display and earpiece above it. The external screen displays the time, battery and signal strength information as well as incoming caller IDs and notifications. This screen also doubles as a self-portrait camera viewfinder. The phone’s number keys are flat and a little slippery and won’t give you much feedback when dialing by feel.
The internal display is 2″, but it’s a bit small for the phone and has only 65K colors. A 1.0″ external display is located in the center of the phone and looks cool with its translucent OLED design. Other external features include a square 5-way directional pad, camera launch button and the Back key. The Katana has a VGA camera, which produces predictably disappointing images with washed out colors and blurry object edges. Other camera settings include three resolution options, five picture modes (Normal, Beach/Snow, Scenery, Night/Dark, Soft Focus), multishot, frame saver and shutter sound choices (3 sounds plus silence).
Bluetooth
The Katana DLX is Sanyo’s best flip phone to date, offering a stylish design and a host of advanced features. However, the internal display is a bit lackluster and the menu interface doesn’t have much color saturation.
The phone’s coolest feature is a translucent OLED display located in the center of the phone. The display displays the current time and date, battery life and signal strength. It also acts as the caller ID.
Other key phone features include voice-activated dialing, EV-DO network connectivity for data access and Sprint TV. Other multimedia applications include Sprint Music StoreSM for over-the-air music downloads and Sprint Navigation with GPS audio and visual turn-by-turn driving directions.
Sprint offers its Ready Now program, which provides customers with a one-on-one tutorial on their new device and applications before they leave the store. This helps eliminate the learning curve of new phones. The Katana Eclipse X by SANYO is available for $80 with a mail-in rebate and two-year service contract at Sprint retail locations.
Voice Memos
With its sleek, slender package, the Katana II proves that fashion and cell phone technology don’t have to clash. It offers an impressive feature set and a high-quality camera, all wrapped up in a stylish clamshell design. The phone runs on Sprint’s EV-DO network and supports Sprint Music Store for quick over-the-air song downloads and Sprint TV and Radio for mobile entertainment.
It also features a VGA quality digital camera with flash and digital zoom, as well as dedicated internal and external camera shutter keys. The large main display is excellent for viewing snapshots and multimedia messages sent using Sprint PictureMail.
Text messaging is easy with the T9 predictive text entry system, and you can share your pictures and video clips via Sprint PictureMail. You can even send short voice messages to your contacts with the Voice-SMS service. The generous phone book stores 500 names with up to seven numbers, e-mail addresses and Web address entries, and you can assign a photo for caller ID and one of 16 pre-loaded ringtones.
Internet Access
When Sprint introduced the Katana last summer, it was billed as the carrier’s answer to Motorola’s popular Razr. Now, with the launch of the Katana DLX, Sanyo has added a few key features to this slim flip phone to make it a better competitor. Besides the 1.3 megapixel camera and Bluetooth support, this model also adds EV-DO Power Vision and access to Sprint’s Music Store and Sprint TV video services.
The Katana DLX’s 2-inch internal LCD can display 262,000 colors, and it is sharp and saturated. The phone’s user interface is straightforward and easy to navigate.
The Katana DLX is loaded with personalization options, including screensavers, animation graphics and ringtones. It also offers a good selection of games, including the full versions of Diner Dash and Platinum Sudoku and demos of Brain Juice and Ms. Pac-Man. Sprint’s new One Click feature allows customers to simplify the home screen and bring their favorite features to the forefront with a single touch.
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