Phone fun Revisited, A month and a half with Sprint and another phone (Samsung SPH-M520)

Now that i’ve had some time with This plan and Sadly enough i’ve gone through a few phones , I figure I’d update a little bit. The katana lx is no more, the phone had issues that drove me nuts (no ability to mess with the phone at all).

About a week after my post i had given up all hope on the katana, Its a nice phone for someone who just wants a phone.. but if you like tinkering the katana is no mans land. So I headed back to the store i purchased the phone and stepped up a bit on the phone. I ended up getting the Samsung M520 ,

As far as the M520 was It is a good phone with one glaring problem. The battery.. Now i dont know if i ended up getting a crap phone or just the phones battery lasts for a time shorter than it takes to sneeze.

From the time of my last post and my expectations of a phone have changed a little bit due to changes in my phone plan and experiences I’ve personally had, before it was

basic requirements for a phone.

  1. to make calls
  2. that the phone is somewhat configurable
  3. can add/make own ringtones.
  4. Durable

Since i’m on a contracted phone plan now I have moved my expectations a bit higher since its something I will have for as long as the contract lasts, which the revised list is.

Requirements for a Phone

  1. to make calls
  2. The Phone is configurable
  3. good battery life
  4. add/make ringtones
  5. Applications that don’t cost a years pay for a small 3rd world country
  6. Durable

The Samsung M520 Meets 1,2,4 and 6 without a problem and 5 conditionally , but the glaring problem was number 3, battery life. the first week with the phone seemed ok, but after each night the phone would be maybe 1/3rd dead, As time progressed it seemed like the phone would not last more than 3 days on a charge with the light usage.  On my trip to California the 520’s weaknesses showed badly, but as a premptive thought i had purchased a second battery for the 520 which ended up saving the day. reason being is all that day I had been calling people when I touched down in each airport and just using the phone to keep in contact with people to keep them up to date, fairly light usage overall. When I got off the plane in San Jose in the airport i turned on the phone and It instantly died just saying “Recharge battery”. No when i had left chicago I was fairly sure i powered down my phone. but, without a phone and meeting friends for the first time in person, it can be a troublesome thing if you have no way to communicate with them. Thankfully the second battery came into play and I was able to make a call.  All that week i found myself having to recharge the phone whenever i could which to me is totally annoying. When i had left San Jose to go home I had the phone on the charger till the second I left California, When I had got back to Rhode island the phone pulled just about the same thing which was the final straw for the m520.

Figuring that it may of just been a fluke i tried a second M520 and to no avail the battery seemed just not to favor me, Either the store i had got the phone from had a shitty shipment of that phone or otherwise. but, there’s No way I’d go for another M520.

As far as the Phone goes the battery is the deal killer on it , I don’t want a phone that needs to be hooked up to a power outlet every night. but as far as Feature the phone was inline with everything i wanted with a phone with exception to battery life.

Phone Fun .. Katana LX mini-review

I was on a Pay as you go plan for AT&T and it worked out well if you made next to no calls. but then again there were times you were forced to make calls. That got expensive quick, the silly rounding rules for minutes killed off money faster than anything. After signing up to sprint on there low plan  29.99 for 200 minutes.

The Katana lx is decent looking phone but looks do not make up for its problems. the problem maybe more from my point of view, but moreso they tend to be things I look for in a phone and i have basic requirements for a phone.

1. to make calls
2. that the phone is somewhat configurable
3. can add/make own ringtones.
4. Durable

well the phone right out of the box passes only on #1 and #4. I had started with a bluetooth connector the phone connected right up but after that the phone really as far as accessing data and such was worthless, the best that could be done is a tether if you had a DataPlan.

Another issue i have with sprint is the fact that the phones dont use Sim cards which makes programing your phonebook a pain in the ass and you look like an ass doing it with 2 phones in hand. As Far as a Dead basic phone the Katana LX is just that.

After the bluetooth try i figured maybe the USB Cable would be more fruitful in getting the phone to be somewhat responsive , I was wrong, as Far as drivers from Sanyo – Good luck with that. It took me two days of looking and when i finally did get it working , the phone did Even less than when connected to bluetooth.

But for being a basic phone it does have its pluses , You can hear it ring from jupiter on its loudest setting.  The T9 texting was decent..  but overall it was not what I would personally want in a phone.

So after talking to the rep at the sprint store I ended up returning the Katana after a good weeks use and learning its up and downs.

The phone would be good for someone who just wants to have a phone with not many bells and whistles.