Sprint Sanyo vs. DoCoMo Panasonic: Another Disappointed Returnee

WWJ sr. contributing editor Michael Thuresson, recently returned to Los Angeles to join the LA Business Journal editorial staff, sent in a user-level review of his new Sanyo handset that he uses on the Sprint network: The faceplate looks almost exactly like my old i-appli Panasonic DoCoMo model, but the thing is three times as thick and it is much heavier. This makes it hard to tuck the phone in my front shirt pocket - the left side of my shirt is tugged down by the weight. Based on my experience of trying to download ring tones, I have to say Sprint’s user interface is disappointing.

As you scroll through a list of tones, you cannot sample them before you buy them. Hard for people new to this idea to get interested if they can’t do that! Then they cost $1 each and expire in 90 days. I still have all my old ring tones stored on my old DoCoMo i-appli phone - I bought around two dozen for 300 yen.

Also, even though this is 3G CDMA, it isn’t noticeably faster than DoCoMo’s old 2G [PDC] network. But the voice reception is outstanding; have had nothing but crystal- clear connections in my two weeks of owning it (incoming calls from overseas were perfect as well). Having to pay for incoming calls is a real negative, but I think the “unlimited minutes” plan for calls after 9:00PM makes up for it.

– Mike