Sanyo MM-8300 review: Sanyo MM-8300

Sanyo MM-8300
Sprint PCS just loves to entertain the masses with its multimedia phones, and its latest offering, the Sanyo MM-8300, goes a long way toward achieving that goal. The sleek and sexy flip phone features an integrated VGA camera that also records video and supports streaming audio and video--and, on top of all this, it's a solid mobile with excellent call quality and Sprint's Ready Link service. Yet, all is not perfect. It was disappointing to see that the high-end handset lacks Bluetooth and an infrared port, as well as video streaming over the slower 2.5G network. Also, at $299.99, the Sanyo MM-8300 is on the pricier side. That said, you should be able to find it cheaper with service. Sprint's Sanyo MM-8300's understated style is what makes it so sexy. The sleek flip phone sports a silver chassis that gives it an elegant and classic look, although you can spice it up with changeable accent covers; silver and midnight blue covers are included, and 12 more colors are available through Sprint. Alternatively, while we tested the silver version, there are red and blue models available as well. The MM-8300 is slimmer and more compact (3.35 by 1.85 by 1.0 inches; 3.6 ounces) than its Sprint multimedia cousins, the Sanyo MM-5600 and Sanyo MM-7400, making it a nice travel companion. In addition, it has a solid construction, opening and shutting firmly.

The 1-inch-diagonal external screen on the front cover shows 65,000 colors and displays the time, battery life, signal strength, voicemail/message status, and caller ID (where available). You can also customize it with different background colors and screensavers. Just below the screen, you'll find the camera lens and a flash to its right. You can use the external display as a viewfinder for self-portraits but only when the phone is closed. The speakerphone grille is above the screen, along with a tiny LED that shows your mobile's connection status. Overall, the mobile's exterior closely resembles the Sanyo PM-8200's.

Flip open the Sanyo MM-8300, and you're greeted by a colorful 1.7-inch-diagonal screen. Although it displays 65,000 colors just as well, the hues seem more vibrant, and the images and text appear sharper with its 176x220-pixel resolution, which make viewing Web pages on this handset a real treat. The numerical keypad and navigation controls are adequately sized and well spaced. To navigate through the easy-to-use menus, there is a five-way toggle with a center menu/OK key. The toggle--which acts as a shortcut to the address book, downloads, messaging, and one user-defined feature--is flanked by two soft keys, a Back button, and a dedicated camera key. Below them are the Talk and End keys, as well as a speakerphone activation button--always a nice touch. Kudos aside, dialing by feel was a bit difficult, since the number keys are set flush with the phone's surface.

Other controls on the Sanyo MM-8300 include a headset jack; a volume rocker; a voice recorder button that also accesses Sprint's Ready Link service on the left spine; a camera activation key; and a side call button that lets you make calls without opening the phone on the right side.

The MM in the Sanyo MM-8300 stands for multimedia, and the phone doesn't disappoint in this area. You get a 300-contact phone book with room in each entry for six numbers, as well as an e-mail and a Web address. For caller ID purposes, you can pair a contact with a photo or one of 11 polyphonic (72-chord) ring tones. You're not limited by voice calls, as you can keep in touch with family and friends via text and multimedia messaging, instant messaging, e-mail, and Sprint's Ready Link two-way radio service. Other features include voice memos; voice dialing for up to 30 names; a speakerphone; a vibrate mode; a WAP 2.0 Web browser; and a host of PIM goodies, such as a calendar, an alarm clock, a calculator, a stop watch, and a world clock. For business users, the Sanyo MM-8300 offers PC syncing, although you'll have to purchase a USB cable to do so. We were disappointed by the lack of integrated Bluetooth--or at the very least, an infrared port--in such a high-end phone.

Although we would have liked to see the Sanyo MM-8300 come equipped with a megapixel camera, its VGA-quality camera was admirable and packed with features and options. You can take pictures in three resolutions (640x480, 320x240, and 160x120) and three quality settings (Fine, Normal, and Economy). In addition, you can choose from five modes--Normal, Night/Dark, Beach/Snow, Scenery, and Soft Focus--and three shutter sounds, including a silent option and one that says "Cheez." It also has a 20X zoom, a 5- and 10-second self-timer, and a multishot function, and you can customize photos with color tones and one of four fun frames. The MM-8300 took decent pictures, and the flash helped especially for dark or nighttime shots. Once you have your images, you can save them to the phone's 2MB of internal memory, assign them to caller ID, use them as wallpaper, send them to contacts via multimedia message or e-mail, or transfer them to your PC via a USB cable. In addition, you can upload them to Sprint's Picture Mail Web site to share with family and friends; you can even order prints.

The Sanyo MM-8300's camera also doubles as a video recorder. The length of the video clips depends on which quality mode you choose: Rich (15 seconds), Normal (20 seconds), and Economy (30 seconds). You can also record with or without sound and in two resolutions, 176x144 and 128x96. The flash is available to brighten scenes, but be aware that it does a decent job only if you are within short range of your subject. Other camcorder features include an audible cue before shooting, a self-timer, and zoom. As with pictures, you can save video recordings to the phone's shared memory, then send them via multimedia message or to Sprint's Picture Mail service.

If you'd rather be entertained instead of doing the entertaining, you can use the MM-8300's media player to download and play videos and music from Sprint. You can preview channels from Sprint TV, including NBC Mobile, Fox Sports, and the Weather Channel, before purchasing them at a $9.99 monthly rate. We checked out some samples and found the idea of watching TV on your phone fun and entertaining, but the videos were a little too blurry for our tastes. In addition to video, you can stream music; keep in mind, though, that Sprint's videos run on a 2.5G 1xRTT network. Data speeds are between 50Kbps to 70Kbps, compared with 300Kbps to 500Kbps on Verizon's 3G V Cast service. Also, video clips play at 15fps as opposed to 30fps on a normal TV set, so don't expect too much from the experience.

You can personalize your handset with a variety of wallpaper, screensavers, and sounds, and of course, you can always download more options and ring tones. There is also a My Buddy setting that displays an animated character--a kangaroo, in our case--hopping across your internal and external displays; you have the option to turn this off if you find it too annoying or cutesy. As far as games, the Sanyo MM-8300 supports Java (J2ME) games and includes three demos (Jamdat Solitaire, Ms. Pac-Man, and Tetris Deluxe), but again, you can download more titles.

We tested the dual-band/trimode (CDMA 800/1900; AMPS 800) Sanyo MM-8300 in San Francisco and experienced good call quality overall. On our end, sound quality was clear, although there were a couple of instances in which the party on the other line sounded somewhat garbled; our callers said they had no problem hearing us. Volume was plenty loud, even in noisy environments. In fact, we found it to be almost too loud even as we turned the volume to its lowest setting. The speakerphone also performed admirably.

The Sanyo MM-8300 is rated for 3.5 hours of talk time. However, in our real-world tests, we got significantly less. On a single charge, we coaxed just 2.25 hours of talk time and a solid 7.5 days of standby time. According to FCC radiation tests, the MM-8300 has a digital SAR rating of 0.89 watts per kilogram and an analog SAR rating of 0.86 watts per kilogram.