- Weight: 1 pounds
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Product Description
Amazon.com Product Description
Here's Sanyo's answer to the RAZR revolution, the SCP-6600 "Katana," a phone that meets or beats many of the RAZR's specifications -- all at a lower price. This phone packs Bluetooth, a gorgeous QVGA color screen, a speakerphone, and a VGA camera. And of course, it's very thin and chic.
Design
The Katana's handsome, slim clamshell form factor slides easily into a pocket or purse. Inside the flip you'll find a massive 240 x 320, 65,000-color display. There's also a supplementary, 96 x 64 color display that displays call information, battery life, time of day, signal strength and more. The phone's VGA camera unit is housed above this display. Meanwhile, most of the phone's features and on-screen menus are controlled by a five-way center button above the handset's dial pad. A 2.5 mm headset jack is also provided, as is a USB data port.
Calling Features
The Katana's internal phone book can hold up to 500 contacts, and the phone's picture ID system allows you to assign pictures and ringtones to your most common callers. The phone ships with many polyphonic ringtones, but for those times when you want to be discreet, there's a vibrating alert. A built-in speakerphone makes it easy to talk without having the phone to your ear, and advanced voice activated dialing makes calling friends, family, and associates easy. Simply say the name or number of the person you want to call and the number is dialed automatically without using the keypad.
A unique call screening function lets you listen to voicemails while the caller is leaving them, allowing you to answer the call if you desire. The Katana's GPS location technology pinpoints your exact location when you dial 911 (where available). And lastly, because the Katana is Bluetooth enabled, wireless headsets can be configured with the phone for total handsfree operation.
Messaging, Internet, and Tools
With support for sending and receiving text and picture messages the Katana has you covered in the messaging department. With Sprint PCS Picture Mail, you can take a picture anytime and send it to family and friends instantly while on the Sprint PCS Network. T9 text entry, which is a technology that makes it easier for people to enter words and text on handsets, is built-into the unit-- a plus for mobile email and text messaging users. You can also use an optional USB cable to provide wireless Internet and email access to your PC.
The phone also supports PCS Vision email and instant messaging capabilities. Sprint PCS Vision transforms the wireless experience from something that's simply functional into something visual, entertaining and highly personalized. MSN Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, and AOL Instant Messenger are all supported by Sprint's PCS Vision service. PCS Vision mobile Web services let you check out sports scores, get your seven-day forecast, check your flight status, and stay up to date with the latest news. You'll also experience full-color graphic versions of popular Web sites.
A number of handy software tools are bundled with the Katana including a calendar, a calculator, and an alarm clock. A voice recorder lets you record up to 72 seconds of voice memos for later retrieval.
Imaging and Entertainment
As mentioned, the Katana features a built-in VGA still camera with brightness and white balance control, as well as a self-timer. The phone lets you choose from a variety of pre-set images to customize your display and make it unique to you. With PCS Vision's wireless download service, you can reflect your interests with thousands of pictures of your favorite TV characters, sports teams, celebrities, urban artwork, and more. You can also download games like Tetris and Pac-Man for hours of fun.
Vital Statistics
The Sanyo SCP-6600 Katana weighs 3.4 ounces and measures 3.88 x 2.02 x .6 inches. Its lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 3 hours of digital talk time. It runs on the AMPS 850/CDMA 850/CDMA 1900 frequencies. The phone comes with a one year limited warranty.
Product Description
Inspired by the legendary sword used by Japan's feudal knights, the Samurai, the SANYO Katana™ offers a stunning, ultra-sleek design that evokes the same passion for craftsmanship and artistry imbued in generations of Japanese master sword smiths.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
30 of 30 people found the following review helpful
The Katana is a very solid phone wrapped up in a stylish package. It takes the RAZR look and feature set and goes it one better for less money.
If you want to watch television, play MP3s, or shoot videos with your phone, this is not for you; if, however, you want a good reliable cell phone that has a well thought-out interface, pulls a good signal, has plenty of battery life, and has some sensible bells and whistles (Bluetooth, very basic camera, web backup for phonebook, a nice bright screen for basic web stuff, etc.) it is an excellent and affordable choice. It is sturdily constructed, and I am very pleased with it after using it heavily for over a month.
If you want to watch television, play MP3s, or shoot videos with your phone, this is not for you; if, however, you want a good reliable cell phone that has a well thought-out interface, pulls a good signal, has plenty of battery life, and has some sensible bells and whistles (Bluetooth, very basic camera, web backup for phonebook, a nice bright screen for basic web stuff, etc.) it is an excellent and affordable choice. It is sturdily constructed, and I am very pleased with it after using it heavily for over a month.
24 of 27 people found the following review helpful
I first tried the new Sprint Razr as my upgrade phone but returned it for a variety of reasons, but will use that phone for comparison. So far the Katana seems a better fit for me, but I don't think it will be for everyone. This would be a 5-star rating if I was only judging a phone by its usefulness as a phone rather than all-around usefulness.
The Good: nice size & shape, keys easy to see and push, great sound quality. The Bad: limited features.
Do you just want a phone to be a phone? The Katana will be fine for that--which is why I'll probably keep it. I live part-time on a farm, and part-time in a city. Every carrier gets signal in the city, but Sprint is the only one with a digital signal on the farm so I am limited to their service and am resigned to the limitations associated with that.
I have the Razr v3i for when I'm overseas and love it. So when my Sanyo RL-4290 was stolen, I tried the Sprint Razr v3m as a replacement. Awful! I never had a signal problem on the farm with my old phone (RL-4920), but the Razr was unusable since it only picked up every 3rd word of a conversation. Plus had this annoying tendency to "update" the phone anytime I went to a new area (often, since I travel a lot). If you use your phone mostly in one city neither of these things will affect you and you may like the Razr a lot--it certainly has slicker features than the Katana. But another strike against it was that the v3m is just so inferior to the v3i which I am already used to. Cheap and plastic-y, poorly etched keypad, disappointing to me but probably not that noticeable to people without exposure to the very nice European Razr. I can't wait until the US carriers switch to SIM cards so we can use the same phones as the rest of the world.
I like gadgets, but the Katana is sorely lacking in power-user creature comforts. Per the user manual, contacts (vCard format) are the only thing that can be imported--not to-dos, not appointments, not photos. My Timex *watch* has more functionality in this respect!!! The phone has built-in voice activated dialing, but you must record each contact name separately (the Razr recognized the spoken name from what was typed in the "Name" part of contact screen--mysteriously cool). Also, the Razr has built-in voice commands for a lot of actions, where the Katana can only voice-dial. You could spend $5/mo for Sprint's voice-activated service but it's not worth it to me.
It's annoying that the Katana can't export its photos directly to a computer or another phone (must be transferred using Sprint Picture Mail interface). And even if you painstakingly type in your to-do list (since it can't be imported), it only holds 20 entries. The calendar holds 100 events, so that's not so bad. But typing them all in using a phone keypad is a nuisance.
And the Razr has this useful "On Demand" function that used the phone's GPS locator to find nearby shops, restaurants, etc. no matter where you are at the time. I am really bummed the Katana doesn't have this.
My Palm TX was stolen along with my old phone, and I've been trying to consolidate functionality so I can get along without the extra gadget, but this Katana phone is in no way capable of even coming close. Like I mentioned earlier, my Timex Ironman watch syncs with my computer and it's not bad as a PDA replacement for the basic appointments, birthday/holidays, contacts, and notes. And I think it's silly that a phone can't even compete with A WATCH for this kind of basic data management.
Nevertheless, even if a phone has wonderful and amazing features it is useless to me if it can't hold a signal in a rural area since after all its most important function is as a phone. And Sanyo is known for its good internal antennae and sound-quality, and the Katana is far superior to the Razr in this area.
Bottom line: The Katana is a good choice if you don't expect the latest features, and appreciate sound quality and clear connections. I recommend this model for use as a phone.
I think power-users willing to carry a phone both relatively large and heavy will be thrilled with the Treo (my husband has one, and I'd get one myself since it's an actual PDA with phone service, except it's just too darn large for me to lug around).
And the Razr will probably appeal most to people who like the coolness factor and stay in a location with a strong Sprint signal all the time and don't care about a "tinny" voice sound for their calls. I suspect there are many teenagers who've grown up with cell phones and don't even know how good an old-fashioned phone call can sound so they're oblivious to poor sound quality.
The Good: nice size & shape, keys easy to see and push, great sound quality. The Bad: limited features.
Do you just want a phone to be a phone? The Katana will be fine for that--which is why I'll probably keep it. I live part-time on a farm, and part-time in a city. Every carrier gets signal in the city, but Sprint is the only one with a digital signal on the farm so I am limited to their service and am resigned to the limitations associated with that.
I have the Razr v3i for when I'm overseas and love it. So when my Sanyo RL-4290 was stolen, I tried the Sprint Razr v3m as a replacement. Awful! I never had a signal problem on the farm with my old phone (RL-4920), but the Razr was unusable since it only picked up every 3rd word of a conversation. Plus had this annoying tendency to "update" the phone anytime I went to a new area (often, since I travel a lot). If you use your phone mostly in one city neither of these things will affect you and you may like the Razr a lot--it certainly has slicker features than the Katana. But another strike against it was that the v3m is just so inferior to the v3i which I am already used to. Cheap and plastic-y, poorly etched keypad, disappointing to me but probably not that noticeable to people without exposure to the very nice European Razr. I can't wait until the US carriers switch to SIM cards so we can use the same phones as the rest of the world.
I like gadgets, but the Katana is sorely lacking in power-user creature comforts. Per the user manual, contacts (vCard format) are the only thing that can be imported--not to-dos, not appointments, not photos. My Timex *watch* has more functionality in this respect!!! The phone has built-in voice activated dialing, but you must record each contact name separately (the Razr recognized the spoken name from what was typed in the "Name" part of contact screen--mysteriously cool). Also, the Razr has built-in voice commands for a lot of actions, where the Katana can only voice-dial. You could spend $5/mo for Sprint's voice-activated service but it's not worth it to me.
It's annoying that the Katana can't export its photos directly to a computer or another phone (must be transferred using Sprint Picture Mail interface). And even if you painstakingly type in your to-do list (since it can't be imported), it only holds 20 entries. The calendar holds 100 events, so that's not so bad. But typing them all in using a phone keypad is a nuisance.
And the Razr has this useful "On Demand" function that used the phone's GPS locator to find nearby shops, restaurants, etc. no matter where you are at the time. I am really bummed the Katana doesn't have this.
My Palm TX was stolen along with my old phone, and I've been trying to consolidate functionality so I can get along without the extra gadget, but this Katana phone is in no way capable of even coming close. Like I mentioned earlier, my Timex Ironman watch syncs with my computer and it's not bad as a PDA replacement for the basic appointments, birthday/holidays, contacts, and notes. And I think it's silly that a phone can't even compete with A WATCH for this kind of basic data management.
Nevertheless, even if a phone has wonderful and amazing features it is useless to me if it can't hold a signal in a rural area since after all its most important function is as a phone. And Sanyo is known for its good internal antennae and sound-quality, and the Katana is far superior to the Razr in this area.
Bottom line: The Katana is a good choice if you don't expect the latest features, and appreciate sound quality and clear connections. I recommend this model for use as a phone.
I think power-users willing to carry a phone both relatively large and heavy will be thrilled with the Treo (my husband has one, and I'd get one myself since it's an actual PDA with phone service, except it's just too darn large for me to lug around).
And the Razr will probably appeal most to people who like the coolness factor and stay in a location with a strong Sprint signal all the time and don't care about a "tinny" voice sound for their calls. I suspect there are many teenagers who've grown up with cell phones and don't even know how good an old-fashioned phone call can sound so they're oblivious to poor sound quality.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
I just upgraded from a very old Nokia, so having the "new" features of the past few years is really rather nice. I used Mac OS X's Address Book's "Send these contacts..." feature to instantly load up the address book on the phone, so that's nice. It doesn't sync, of course, so you get some duplicates, but that's easy to handle.
It would appear, however, that contact shuffling is the limit of the bluetooth. You can't get photos off the phone except by paying Sprint for their vision plan. Same for ringtones and other data. The BT only does contacts and voice devices, and even then only OBEX Push.
For this one reason I'm considering the A900. For every other possible thing I'll say I love this phone and it's very, very easy to use and very powerful. I just wish the BT support was a little more advanced.
It would appear, however, that contact shuffling is the limit of the bluetooth. You can't get photos off the phone except by paying Sprint for their vision plan. Same for ringtones and other data. The BT only does contacts and voice devices, and even then only OBEX Push.
For this one reason I'm considering the A900. For every other possible thing I'll say I love this phone and it's very, very easy to use and very powerful. I just wish the BT support was a little more advanced.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
EXTREMELY DISSATISFIED
I have had sprint phones for a long time and was assured that after my last phone disaster the Katana was the best phone out there. Read more
Published on August 29, 2007 by Hiking Boot Princess
frustration
I decided to buy a Sanyo phone hoping to be able to use at least some of my old equipment - my previous phone was Sanyo, and it was ok - I'm not a power user, I need a decent... Read more
Published on June 15, 2007 by Alan Turing
text messaging completely unreliable
I am very unhappy with this phone. I had a Nokia for 2 1/2 years that worked wonderfully and the best reception I ever got on a phone. Read more
Published on June 12, 2007 by L. R. Reihl
Did not make me jump up and down
Bought this phone with new service, basically it's an OK phone with a few quirks.
#1: If you buy the plastic belt clip, you need to use a nail file and skinny down the... Read more
#1: If you buy the plastic belt clip, you need to use a nail file and skinny down the... Read more
Published on May 24, 2007 by B. Glawe
The Katana for people that just want to make and recieve a call
The katana seems like a really nice phone. I had a Sanyo 8100 for over 3yrs and never had a problem. Infact had two. My wife had one. We never even had to replace the batteries. Read more
Published on December 19, 2006 by gerold clough
big disappointment
I just paid $300 for this because my old phone was stolen and I wasn't eligible for the discount you normally get when you buy a new phone. Read more
Published on November 10, 2006 by Keith Moore
Nice Phone... but
Soriunt convinced Sanyo to disable the file transfer capabilities of the Katana so that you can only transfer address book entries (one at a time). Read more
Published on November 8, 2006 by L. Wakeman
Nice Phone Impressive features, Complements The RAZR well
The sanyo katana is an impressive phone for those that want the super thin clamshell of the Motorola RAZR, with the power of sanyo. Read more
Published on August 25, 2006 by J. Watts
A lot bigger than I thought - But the pink is cute.
I bought my phone from Sprint online in the pink color option. I didn't realize that it is a lot larger than I thought it would be! Read more
Published on August 22, 2006 by C. Cope
Great phone
I have had this phone for over a week now and I am very satisfied with it. I would guess that this phone was designed to compete with the Razr and it does that well. Read more
Published on August 18, 2006 by E. Anderson
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