Sanyo SCP-5300 - Not My Cup O' Tea!
Written: Dec 26 '03
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Pros: Large Screen, Camera Features+Flash, Second Battery
Cons: Bulky, Crappier Than The 8100
The Bottom Line: You can do better than Sanyo SCP-5300, especially for the price.
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| soupcraze's Full Review: Sanyo SCP 5300 Cell Phone |
When I was switching back to Sprint, I had the choice of two phones. I wanted to pursue Sanyo, so it was either the Sanyo SCP-8100 which was the phone being advertised then at only $99.99 with activation or the much more expensive Sanyo SCP-5300 which had the neater camera and larger screen size. Well, I ended up with the Sanyo SCP-8100 thankfully, yet about a month later, my best friend switched from his dying Samsung N400 to the Sanyo SCP-5300 which he bought for only $130 at Costco. He let me use the phone for large amounts of times on numerous occassions, and here's what I found with the Sanyo SCP-5300.
-Price-
*The Sanyo SCP-5300 to this date costs $229.99, same price as the Sanyo SCP-8100. As long as the 8100 will cost around the same price, the 8100 would be a better option any day. The price tag currently isn't all too low, I mean yeah you do get a nice phone with some neat features, but it's aging and has worse performance from what I experienced than the Sanyo SCP-8100 and the Samsung competition on the Sprint PCS network. I think the price tag is large, and it's not worth paying so much just to get a low resolution camera and get a sub-par phone. You can really get a much better quality phone at the same price or maybe for a bit larger. As for Samsung, you'd do better with the Samsung VGA1000 which will only cost you a little bit more money, but personally, the Sanyo SCP-8100 is probably the best buy in this range.
-Dimensions-
*The Sanyo SCP-5300 is longer than the Sanyo SCP-8100. Wow, that can get annoying. Smaller is better. I always loved the fact that my old Motorola v60t was so tiny, and the Sanyo SCP-8100 I have isn't that much larger... But the Sanyo SCP-5300 is just so long, it didn't feel that comfortable carrying it in my pocket, where I like to carry cell phones. Well, I don't know if you'll care all too much about the size difference, but the Sanyo SCP-8100 is definitely smaller, so maybe you'll like that better and find it more convenient.
-The Features-
*A powerful selling-point I presume is the camera on the Sanyo SCP-5300. It has a zoom and flash, which gives more versatility than the Sanyo SCP-8100 or Samsung VGA1000. However, the picture quality is nothing but poor. Believe me, these camera-phones won't be getting anywhere close to the quality level of a digital camera, and that's why I have a 3.2 megapixel digital camera to take pictures. Other than the camera, the Sanyo SCP-5300 also has a larger LCD screen than the Sanyo SCP-8100. Sure these two things may make one think that it's superior to the 8100... But let's read on.
-Ease of Use-
*The Sanyo SCP-5300 is more annoying to use than the Sanyo SCP-8100. Everything on the SCP-8100 seems to be much better located and close together. The interface on the Sanyo SCP-5300 is more scattered, and I definitely spent a longer time navigating and using the features of the Sanyo SCP-5300 than the 8100. Overall, the 8100 is more user-friendly than the 5300.
-Clarity & Performance-
*This is yet another downfall of the Sanyo SCP-5300. Overall, in the same areas, my Sanyo SCP-8100 offered more reception bars and better clarity. Also, the Sanyo SCP-5300 dropped more calls than the SCP-8100. I was also not a large fan of the ear piece on it, I've heard louder phones, so in loud and crowded areas, you may have trouble hearing the person on the other end of the line. Whether it has the camera and the larger screen, a phone is a phone, you're supposed to make calls and hear people clearly. Sprint PCS is a great digital network, and the Sanyo SCP-5300 simply failed to deliver the greatest possible clarity, the 8100 performed better.
-Battery Life-
*Ok, here's one area where the Sanyo SCP-5300 does perform nicely. It also comes with an extended life battery, which gives it a longer life-duration than the Sanyo SCP-8100. However, with the default smaller batteries, both phones offer a pretty good battery life. However, if you're away from a charger much of the time, then the extended-life battery may serve you nicely.
-The Verdict-
*The Sanyo SCP-5300 does have some nice aspects to it, but it seems to be outperformed by its smaller counterpart, the Sanyo SCP-8100. The Sanyo SCP-5300 may have a camera with more features and a larger screen, but that still doesn't make up for its worse performance as just a phone. It had worse reception and dropped more calls than my Sanyo SCP-8100. If you're trying to decide between the two, the Sanyo SCP-8100 is a better buy, and definitely look into Samsung, the Samsung VGA1000 does offer better performance than the Sanyo SCP-5300 too. Sprint PCS is a great network, and the PCS Vision is neat, so be sure you find a great phone to make it work at its best for you, and there are better than the Sanyo SCP-5300.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 130
Recommended for: Adventurous Technophiles - Tough and Durable
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Epinions.com ID:
soupcraze
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Member: Soup Enthusiast
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Reviews written: 489
Trusted by: 185 members
About Me:
I enjoy many of life's passions... Music, medicine, people, and life itself.
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