Customer Reviews

PCS Phone Audiovox/Toshiba VM4050 (Sprint)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Looking for a new phone with camera and web functionality, I considered the Toshiba VM4050 and the Sanyo VM4500 and ended up with the Toshiba. Both have good VGA quality cameras and camcorders; the Toshiba screen is much better than the Sanyo; I don't need the PTT (push to talk) feature; and I don't use the speakerphone much (prefer an ear bud). But, having said that, I did initially purchase the Sanyo and returned it because friends on the other end of the line said the voice quality was awful ("in a tunnel", "far away", "didn't pick up much sound"). I didn't think the voice quality on my end through the ear piece sounded that great either. I tested several phones - including my trusty old Nokia, lower end model Sanyos, Samsungs, and finally the Toshiba - of all of them, the Sanyo VM4500 was still the worst (though the Sanyo 8100 was considered good sound quality, the Sprint lady at the Wilshire store told me that there are none to be found anywhere - uh huh). So I returned the Sanyo VF4500 and got the Toshiba instead.

Having the Toshiba home and using it for a while, the screen is INCREDIBLE. The battery life is indeed short (as has already been reported) - I'm already at one bar left on the phone and I "only" used it for two hours yesterday. Granted, I used it for 20 minutes searching the web; another 15 minutes taking photos; another 30 minutes talking on the phone. But still....

Another thing that I found after taking home the Toshiba - that I had not read about yet from other reviewers - is that the phone heated up so much while on a call. I think it's heat from the INCREDIBLE screen. I think I figured out a way around that - other than having to use an ear bud all the time - I changed the main screen setting to turn off after 30 seconds. That should also help out with the battery life.

Still not sure about this phone - mostly because of the heating up. If anyone else has had experience with this, I sure would appreciate hearing about it. Also, the Toshiba does not feel as good in the hand as the Sanyo brands - both up and down that line. It feels almost like a thinner Treo in your hand against the side of your head.

Checking my corporate email account is easy and uploads quicker than the Sanyo VM4500 that I tested. Could have been the time of day and the traffic on the server, but then again, I haven't had that problem with the Toshiba.

The Sanyo does have some great options - you can close the clamshell during a call to use the speakerphone - the Toshiba cuts off the call if you do that; more options for choosing screen colors; fun camera graphics. But in the end, the Toshiba has won out (at least for now) for the great screen and better voice quality.

This is a very good phone. I was skeptical at first because this is Toshiba's first non PDA phone for Sprint. I was deciding between this and the Sanyo 4500 and it was a tough choice, until I saw the phones side by side in the store.

The Toshiba's screen is MUCH larger and MUCH sharper. The screen is computer screen quality.

PROS
- Large screen
- Fantasic resolution
- Very easy to navigate
- TONS of settings for customization
- Good quality pictures and photos (in optimal lighting and close distance)
- Very easy to send pictures to other phones or email addresses
- Easy to upload and maintain pictures and video
- Very clear calls
- Locks nice and tight when you flip open the phone
- Solid construction
- 50$ cheaper than Sanyo 4500

CONS
- Extremely average battery life
- Can't be answered while closed (I believe sanyo 4500 can)
- Only 2x zoom for pictures (sanyo 4500 can do 4x)
- End button very hard to see in dark lighting
- Not Ready Link compatible (but who cares??)
- Battery and battery cover are separate pieces (most cell phones make it a single piece)
- Buttons on side of phone are a little small

I would definitely reccommend this phone. It currently has the highest resolution of any cell phone out there (or at least for Sprint). Content is very easy to manage with this phone, and taking and sending pictures are a breeze (make sure to populate your address book before sending pictures or email, things will be MUCH easier).

The reason I'm not giving it 5 stars is because the battery life is only average and there is no bluetooth or infrared port. Other than that I couldn't be happier.

I go through phones about 1 per year. And I usually get the latest and greatest. Yes, I'm a guy, and yes I like flashy gadgets :-)

The screen is absolutely phenomenal. I was sold after I saw it. Super bright and displays pictures perfectly.

The camera is good, for a camera phone. I was disappointed with the zoom, or lack there of (only 2x). And you have to set the zoom after you reduce the resolution of the pictures. Which you have to do in the menu and can't do while you're framing your shot.

The video camera is neat. Not a great frame rate at all, but hey, it's a phone. It's a cool toy.

I've read some of the other reviews that say the battery life is average. I've found it to be quite good. I use my phone about 30 minutes a day, either calling, taking pictures or being on the web, and my charge lasts several days.

The signal and call quality is as good as my other phones. I live in LA, so the Sprint coverage is pretty good.

The one knock I have is the battery and battery cover. They are two seperate pieces and if the cover comes off, the battery just comes spilling out. I was at a concert and tried to remove the phone from my pocket and accidentally hit the battery cover release. Both the cover and battery came right off and diappeared into the darkness.

Other than that, this is one terrific phone.

I bought this phone based upon the "glowing" reviews (pun intended) I'd read for it's exceptionally large and vivid screen display, and this feature is indeed superb, with better visibility, readability and "WOW" factor than any comparably priced phone I'd seen. A pleasant surprise, however, is the overall ergonomic appearance and easy, intuitive icon-driven navigation of menus and features. Phone and speakerphone sound quality is above average, battery life is acceptable and I've not noticed the heat during calls issue raised by another reviewer; with the screen set to dim after 30 seconds it's not an issue.

Overall, I can recommend the Toshiba VM 4050 as a winning entry by Toshiba into the cell phone market. It sports a bright, superior display, solid build quality, slick menu navigation, not to mention a decent camera with built-in flash! Any Sprint PCS customer looking for a fun, intuitive and solid performing phone should strongly consider it.

I bought this phone almost a year ago and I really like it. Being just a cell phone it works just great. Crisp clear sound without dropping calls, even though I have always got two bars on signal strength indicator (I live in basement so signals are weak). Sprint is my favorite becuase it has largest coverage area as compared to any other digital/non-digital competitor.

Year ago, when I went out to buy a cell phone I compared Sanyo VM 4500 and Toshiba VM 4050 just because they both had all the "goodies" plus the camcorder as a new thing on the cell phone(one of my friend owned Sanyo VM 4500 at that time). But the thing that helped me making my decision to buy this phone was its display. From the very first day I bought it, I challenged people if they had anything better than mine. Honestly, I have not seen (even after one year) any display better than this one yet.

This phone has many good features as compared to Sanyo VM 4500 that include voice memo recorder (this feature helps record your own ringtones too), navigation (software) is very user-friendly, very well designed phone book, a real easy and unique calculator, well optioned scheduler, high level of customization for display, menu and phone book.

Camera is OK for a cell-phone camera. Picture quality is average, but since the phone display is awesome so it makes your pictures look better as compared to other cell phone. Video recorder is a good feature to have even though quality is really below average. But, hey, Sanyo VM 4500 records the same quality videos too.

Reason, why Sanyo VM 4500 is expensive than this phone is really easy to understand. Sanyo VM 4050 supports live TV (MobiTV), animated screen savers, better camera options and louder speaker phone. Plus you can use speaker phone with lid closed on sanyo model which is not possible on toshiba VM 4050.

Beside these differences both phones are same. If you can compromise on the features given above than Toshiba is for you.

This is an outstanding phone. Virtually everything is customizable, the camera is outstanding and lightning quick, and it is all around satisfying. The phone book is the most powerful I've seen, the calendar is flexible, and it met my needs. Other reviews can tell you how great it is, and it is.

I want to point out the problems I had with it, and why I ultimately had to return mine and get a different model, the Samsung VM-A680, after trying all three of the Sprint video phones. Toshiba's is definitely the most powerful. A ton of RAM, the most flexibility, all of the functions are easily reachable.

But it's big. Slightly bigger than the rest, but just enough that it seemed disproportionately awkward in my pocket.

It also doesn't have a side key guard (yet?), and every time I sat down, the camera would get activated and it would run live video of the inside of my pocket until I noticed and turned it off, wasting battery life.

Twice I encountered a problem where it froze trying to enter my picture gallery, and after waiting thirty seconds for it I finally took off the battery to restart it.

I also managed to mess something up such that every time the minute of the time changed, it would abort whatever it was doing (like uploading pictures, taking pictures, typing an event in the calendar) and go back to the main screen, but resetting the phone to factory defaults fixed that, whatever it was.

All around, it's great. And if the size and camera button problem don't bother you, it has the most gorgeous screen. My calls were clear. But convenience is really what matters to me, and having the best screen doesn't cover that.

...she would be this phone. Not only is this phone very sleek looking, it performs very well. I was also looking at the Sanyo 4500, in fact I already had my mind made up. But you should see the Toshiba in person, it knocks the socks off the competitors visually. The display screen is similiar to notebooks with the enhanced screens. And though I've only had this phone for a short while, it's perfromed very well. Clear, crisp sound and the signal is much better than my previous phone (LG 5350). The camera option is better than I've seen on any other phone. The phone has a 310K-pixel camera which is pretty impressive for a cel phone. You can also record up to 15 second videos and play them on the phone. While the quality of these aren't spectacular, it is very good considering it's on a phone. Lighting is also provided for the video as well as flash for the camera. All the options to customize this phone were both plentiful and simple to obtain. Compare to my LG also, it went through downloads very fast on Sprint Vision. My only complaint is that the battery on the phone isn't great, but it's not terrible. Though I was aware that this was Toshiba's first stand-alone cel phone, I still took a chance with it, but I'm glad I did.

I bot my vm4050 ($330!!) way back in FEB 2004. About a month or two ago, I decided to donate my phone to the fish in Lake Lanier. What a generous guy I am, eh? Meanwhile, since Sprint no longer has any VM4050s available, I had to settle for a (YUCK!) Sanyo MM-8300. A TOTAL piece of crap. SMALL, CRUMMY screen, teeny-tiny USELESS outside display, and NO headset flash button functionality. All the wonderful things that I had taken for granted on my VM4050 phone were now down at the bottom of the lake. :(

Finally found a BRAND NEW ONE on eBay for a little under $200 and was only too happy to pay it! BOY am I glad to have my ole, reliable, trusty VM4050 again! There are so many good things about this phone, it's unbelievable. SHAME on Sanyo for cranking out such a GARBAGE line of phones. I guess Joni Mitchell was right... "You don't know what you've got till it's gone!"

Before I bought this phone, I saw a review said it dropped voice so frequently that they had to return it. It made me hesitate. But I still decided to try. The sound effect has no problem, and the visual effect is wonderful. Speaker phone is loud enough for family use. Phone book search function is convenient. A great phone. The only thing I don't like is no detail for voice mail(ex. when the voice mail was received) shows on phone screen, have to call voice mail to get that info. A small issue, though.

this is a VERY nice phone that takes some great pics, has easy to use menus, and good customization. i've uploaded DOOM midis as my ring tones which rocks big time, and many high res jpegs for screen savers. i like the layout of the 300 entry phone book and the phones size as well. the few problems that i dont like are that sometimes i'll come acrossed a glitch in the 'OS' that will freeze a menu for a few seconds, the battery door is too thin and cheap, and uploading and downloading on the sprint network is a little bit slow. battery life is decent but not stelar. all in all, i like this phone alot and i would buy it again.