The Bottom Line
- Clearly above-average sound quality
- Above-average speakerphone performance
- Battery life lives up to advertised rating
- Keypad is below-average: The semi-spongy plastic keys are almost flush with the frame
- Charging and data port combo connector is on the side, not convenient for talking while charging
- The volume control keys are too thin and located on the flip cover, which is not convenient
Description
- Technology: CDMA on Sprint
- Clamshell lightweight form factor
- Megapixel camera with no flash
Guide Review - Sanyo Katana DLX Review: A Great Phone With Strange Design Flaws
I particularly liked how the sound volume was strong enough for hard-hearing users (it is also compatible with hearing aids) and the speakerphone did a good job -- nobody complained about my voice sounding distant or anything. The Katana DLX is also quite efficient. Battery life seems to live up to the advertised rating (240 minutes of talk time). Menus are simple and respond quickly.
There was a strange problem, however, with the way the earpiece and mouthpiece are arranged. The mouthpiece is slightly on the right side and when I held the Katana DLX on my right ear, people would always complain that they didn't hear me well, but never when I held it on the left side. Raising the mouthpiece higher helped, but the natural reflex is to center it. And in more than two weeks, I couldn't get used to it. But that wasn't enough to curb my enthusiasm about the Sanyo Katana DLX.
There were also a few other annoyances. The Sanyo Katana DLX has a keypad made of semi-soft plastic keys that are too small and not raised enough compared to the casing. Clearly not the best keypad experience around. And why did they put that data port and charger combo connector on the side? It makes talking while charging uncomfortable. The camera does not include a flash, but knowing how little of a difference it makes on other cell phones, this leaves you wondering whether that is a problem or not.
Those shortcomings, along with the volume keys, oddly located on the flip cover, were negligible details compared to how simple and functional the Sanyo Katana DLX manages to be.
