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Sanyo SCP-2700 now available on Sprint; inspires busy thumbs, not much else

by Chris Ziegler posted May 12th 2009 @ 10:42AM

As promised, the SCP-2700 has come to Sprint, bringing that famous Sanyo... ah, "sensibility" to the low-cost QWERTY game. Don't expect EV-DO, but you'll still make off with AGPS, a 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, and a dedicated text button (surprisingly important in this market segment) for your hard-earned $29.99 on contract in your choice of Impulsive Pink and Deep Blue.

[Via Boy Genius Report]

Sanyo SCP-2700 hands-on

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 2nd 2009 @ 3:03PM

With devices like the Samsung Magnet competing directly in this mega-low-cost portrait QWERTY space, expectations for quality and style are pretty frigging high here. Does Sprint's SCP-2700 from Sanyo deliver? Truth be told, we came away with the impression that it didn't feel good enough to cost $29.99 on contract after rebate; free before rebate, perhaps, but that's about it. We found that the 2700's awfully thick and bulky (while still feeling cheaply light) for its lease in life as a fashion-forward texting machine for the kiddies -- odds are that since it's a Sanyo it'll probably be able to take a beating, but what kind of 15 year-old cares about reliability? Are these the people that grow up to be actuaries?

Gallery: Sanyo SCP-2700 hands-on

Kyocera intros G2GO M2000 and Laylo M1400 handsets at CTIA

by Darren Murph posted Apr 1st 2009 @ 5:19PM

As the handset news begins to flow at CTIA, we've got a new duo from Kyocera splashing down in CDMA land. Up first is the G2GO M2000 (a follow to the Lingo M1000), which sports a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, Bluetooth, 1.3 megapixel camera, 2.4-inch QVGA display, MP3 player, an accelerometer and a microSD expansion slot. Next, we're looking at the Laylo M1400 slider (shown after the break), which features Bluetooth 2.0, a calculator, scheduler, stopwatch, timer, tip calculator and little else. Not a peep on pricing, availability or what carriers will be picking this up, but we'll keep an ear to the ground for more.

[Via MobileBurn]

Continue reading Kyocera intros G2GO M2000 and Laylo M1400 handsets at CTIA

Sanyo's QWERTY-packin' SCP-2700 lands on Sprint

by Darren Murph posted Mar 31st 2009 @ 2:48PM

Not that we're blindsided by its official introduction or anything, but it's still good to see Sanyo's SCP-2700 in one clear, crisp, cohesive press photo. Available exclusively on Sprint, the QWERTY-equipped handset boasts a 1.3 megapixel camera, Sprint Navigation, threaded text messaging support and Bluetooth. Prospective buyers will need to choose between Impulsive Pink (with a subtle floral overlay) and Deep Blue (which has a tactile square designer pattern on its back), but considering that you've got until May 10th to decide, we'd say there's no real hurry. Oh, and pricing? $29.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and signing away your cellular soul for two long, painful years.

Sanyo's SCP-2700 for Sprint in the wild

by Chris Ziegler posted Mar 12th 2009 @ 9:02AM

Okay, so we can safely establish that Sanyo's SCP-2700 QWERTY phone will come in at least two colors: blue, which we've previously seen, and now a stylized floral pink. At the $39.99 on-contract pricing we're hearing ("Sanyo" and "cheap" usually go hand-in-hand in Sprint's lineup), this could be a big winner -- tweeners will probably be able to beat on it for a year or more with little to no ill effect. Come on, Sanyo fans, you know you're frothing at the mouth right now, no need to hide it. We're all friends here.

[Thanks, lakecharlesws]

Gallery: Sanyo's SCP-2700 for Sprint in the wild

Sanyo's SCP-2700 for Sprint is decidedly not another Katana

by Chris Ziegler posted Mar 2nd 2009 @ 8:58AM

Sanyo users on Sprint seem to swear by the quality of their phones more than any other group of fanboys and girls -- only problem is, the Kyocera division's selection has amounted to little more than a bunch of low-end flips for the past year. Where's the excitement? That might come in with this little gem, which our tipster alleges to be the SCP-2700 -- not a form factor Sanyo has a lot of experience with, but then again, it's no secret that text-centric feature phones are the name of the game for American carriers these days. It's no Katana, but then again, that's kind of the idea. We'll keep you updated as we hear more.

[Thanks, r0fl]

Kyocera consolidates handset businesses, cuts 360 jobs in the process

by Donald Melanson posted Jan 30th 2009 @ 6:34PM

It's only been a year since Kyocera snapped up Sanyo's cellphone business in a bid to expand its mobile empire, but it looks like the company is already being forced to reorganize its handset businesses into something leaner and, it hopes, meaner. The biggest shake-up comes in the company's U.S. offices, which will now be focused exclusively sales, support, and business development, leaving all the handset design to be done at its Kyocera Wireless and Sanyo Telecom units in Japan, which themselves will be further consolidated in an effort to "enhance the efficiency and competitiveness of the combined global handset business," according to company President Rodney Lanthorne. All of that will result in the loss of some 360 jobs, most of which will come from Kyocera's operations in San Diego and Chatsworth, California, as well as its subsidiary in Bangalore, India.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Bell goes pro with Sanyo Pro 200 and 700

by Sean Cooper posted Jan 11th 2009 @ 1:21PM

As we'd mentioned in mid-December, Bell's Sanyo PRO-200 and PRO-700 were close to launch and we're now hearing January 12th could be that day. Bell's pricing for the PRO-200 is looking like 3 years for $149, $199 on 2, and $349 if you want to get it off contract. Similar pricing for the PRO-700 with $199 for a 3-year stint, $249 for 2, and contract-free ownership will set you back $399. So there you have it, if rugged flips are your thing, now you know when you can get yourself lined up.

[Via mobilesyrup]

Sanyo's Pro-200 and Pro-700 coming to Bell in January

by Darren Murph posted Dec 16th 2008 @ 10:05PM

We've seen no official confirmation or anything, but MobileSyrup has it that Sanyo's cutest couple ever (that'd be the Pro-200 and Pro-700, of course) are headed to Bell Canada in just under a month. The rugged handsets are both made to withstand the pressures of everyday life (and a few off-the-wall encounters with Alaska, poisonous snakes and playground swings), and outside of that, you'll also find Bluetooth, GPS, a speakerphone and 3G data connectivity. The Pro-200 will reportedly cost between $149.95 and $349.95 depending on contractual obligation, while the Pro-700 will go for $50 more across the board.

Sprint getting Katana Eclipse in more colors, Rumor replacement?

by Chris Ziegler posted Aug 25th 2008 @ 12:10PM

We've been slipped a handy little document that indicates the dates that Sprint is currently targeting for the release of a few of its fall hotties, and although we already knew some of this stuff, it's always good to have some corroborating evidence in these situations. First up, the Motorola Renegade V950, i365, and Samsung M220 and M320 are all still apparently locked for September 2, as is the Touch Diamond. We've heard a groundswell of concern from tipsters that the Touch Diamond may have been bumped out to October -- it certainly wouldn't surprise us, given our jaded, overwhelmingly pessimistic personalities -- but here's hoping, anyway. It also looks like the just-released Katana Eclipse in silver will be getting pink and black siblings come October 16, along with an "LG LX600 Messaging Handset." We're not sure what the LX600 might be beyond what a confidentiality-bound FCC filing tells us, but the Rumor is getting a little long in the tooth, so it could conceivably be replacement device or a slightly higher-end QWERTY set that would sit somewhere above the Rumor in the lineup.

Sanyo Katana Eclipse hands-on

by Chris Ziegler posted Aug 18th 2008 @ 9:00AM

Sanyo handsets are like cats: you either love them or you just really, really loathe them with every fiber of your being. Sprint and Sanyo both seem to be pretty okay with that; clearly, not every phone in Sprint's lineup is going to be for everyone, and the Katana Eclipse is no different. Sanyo fanatic or not, though, our gripe list added up pretty quickly with this one, so would-be buyers might want to put it through a good workout in store before taking the plunge.

The phone's hinge design causes the upper half of the phone to rest behind the bottom half; that is, the intersection of the planes containing the two halves is not the center of the hinge (think MacBook, for example). We thought that felt a little weird against our face and made it more difficult to get a good seal between the earpiece and our ear. Also, the front of the phone -- arguably the most attractive of any Katana to date -- isn't the most user-friendly. The tiny external display was difficult to read even in a moderate amount of shade, and the music controls are nearly flush with the shell which makes actuating them trickier than it should be. Speaking of displays, the primary one is pretty small, leaving a huge gray bezel with no function whatsoever (don't be fooled by the white dots at the bottom, they serve no function other than to make you think that they're touch-sensitive soft buttons, which they're not).

It's not all doom and gloom, though. The dedicated speaker key is a nifty parlor trick, you've got a 1.3 megapixel cam in there, and it does stereo Bluetooth. Plus, it's a Sanyo, and we know that for a few of you out there, that's all that matters. For you guys, you'll be able to pick up the Katana Eclipse immediately for $99.99 with a new two-year contract.

Gallery: Sanyo Katana Eclipse hands-on

Leak Sauce: Sprint's '08 and '09 iDEN lineup gets roadmapped

by Sean Cooper posted Aug 13th 2008 @ 2:42PM

Sprint's iDEN lineup certainly seems to be alive and well -- despite what we've heard stating the opposite -- with the 2008 / 2009 roadmap boasting 10 new phones by Q2 2009. Starring in the outing -- and arguably its piece de resistance -- is the BlackBerry 8350i, a WiFi equipped, 2 megapixel shooter-toting, GPS-enabled device set to ship in Q4 this year. Also up for grabs in Q4 are the Mil-Spec GPS-enabled Motorola i576, and the mysterious -- we say mysterious as we've no real details yet -- Motorola i776. Q1 2009 ushers in with the QWERTY Motorola Monolith, the walkie-talkie styled rxxxx, what looks to be a Motorola V8, and some barely noteworthy Sanyo set. Motorola's Mil-Spec Immersion, the Sanyo Pro 410, and a Samsung music-centric slider will see us into Q2 next year. Sadly, details are all still very thin, but we suspect the releases will find their way onto these pages in the coming weeks and months.

Sanyo's Katana Eclipse flip phone lands at Bell Mobility

by Darren Murph posted Aug 12th 2008 @ 6:55PM

Merely hours after getting up close and personal with press shots of Sanyo's Katana Eclipse, folks up in Canada can now reach out and grab their own. Bell Mobility is offering said flip phone for $49.95 on a tear-jerking 3-year contract, $99.95 on a 2-year plan, $224.95 on a 1-year plan or $274.95 sans an agreement. Specs wise, you're looking at a 1.3-megapixel camera, 10MB of internal memory, integrated MP3 player, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, a 2-inch internal display (complemented by a 1-inch screen on the outside) and a 2-way speakerphone to boot. So, does simple do it for ya?

[Via mobilesyrup]

Sanyo Katana Eclipse does the FCC mating ritual

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 21st 2008 @ 2:59PM

Well, there you have it: the very real-looking Katana Eclipse pictured in that leaked Sprint roadmap is, in fact, real. The upcoming clamshell flew right on through the FCC recently (filed under new parent Kyocera's name, no less) bearing the expected external music controls and an evolutionary design that's kinda sorta reminiscent of everything that makes the Katana series, the Katana series. We've got EV-DO in here, too, so if we had to guess, this will end up slotting in somewhere toward the bottom of Sprint's midrange when it goes on sale -- which may or may not be August 17 depending on the accuracy of said roadmap.

[Via Cell Phone Signal, thanks Marco]

Leaked Sprint roadmap reveals slew of releases through September?

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 9th 2008 @ 10:22AM

Though the document doesn't exactly look magazine-quality, this is a case where we'd argue that it doesn't have to be to be real; it's clearly for internal use only, for one thing, and secondly, we don't know where else the picture of that new Sanyo Katana Eclipse would come from. The Eclipse is just one of several pretty nifty releases claimed to be lined up between now and September, with the Motorola VE20 Vegas and a pair of data cards joining it on August 17. September should bring the Motorola i365 and V950 Renegade, Samsung m220 and m320, and the HTC MP6950 -- which we assume to be either the Touch Diamond or Touch Pro -- clearly in desperate need of an actual name by the time it launches. Go-go gadget, product marketing team!

[Thanks, Owen]