Samsung A460 vs. Sanyo 6200 vs. Sanyo 4900: My Story

Just last week, it came time to replace my old Qualcomm 2760 that I've used with SprintPCS for almost the last 3 years. So -- I did some research online, checked out some local stores, bought some phones, and did some testing. I thought I'd share my results here, along with my brief reviews of these 3 phones.

I decided first to go with the Samsung A460. I originally wanted to go with a Flip phone, and the size and look of this phone was pretty much what I was looking for. After a few years of a thin, but plain Qualcomm 2760 phone -- I wanted to be "cool", and get myself a flip phone. So, I shop around and eventually buy the A460 at my local Circuit City for $129. I bring it home, excited at the thought of using this phone, and actually hoping that a new, modern phone might improve the reception I get when I'm inside my home. (Usually, with my old phone...my signal would fade in and out constantly -- I was hoping for an improvement with this new Samsung!).

Well -- to my disappointment, I got home, pulled out the phone, connected it to Sprint PCS -- to find out that its reception was absolutely horrible in my house. About 80% of the time, it was searching for the SprintPCS signal. (To compare -- my old Qualcomm held a signal, and was probably searched for signal about 50% of the time). Whatever the case may be, the reception for this Samsung was NOT good, and I was very much disappointed. I kept the phone for one night, before doing some more research here online --- I woke up the next morning, and decided to find myself a Sanyo 6200!

The Sanyo 6200 was supposedly a more reliable phone (reception-wise), had cool features, and was extremely thin. I went out and found this phone on sale at a local Radio Shack for $159, and picked it up. I brought it home and connected it to Sprint (dis-connecting the Samsung I bought the day before). And, wouldn't you know it -- when I turned this phone on in my house, it held the Sprint PCS signal very well! It was WAY better than the Samsung A460 was at picking up the reception. And, for this reason, I decided I would keep the Sanyo 6200.

When I first bought this, I was amazed at how THIN this phone was!!! This phone is SO thin and SO light, you will not even know you are carrying it!! If you are holding it up to your ear, it's like you're holding a feather up to your ear! As I began to walk around, and made some calls on the phone, I started to worry that this phone was TOO LIGHT, and that maybe i'd drop it, or lose it, or that it was so thin that it would slip out of my hands! So, I began to have second thoughts. Then, a friend of mine called me on the phone, and the phone started ringing with the "CAT" ringer-tone. Knowing that there is no way that Sanyo used this as the default (out of the box) ringer, I had the feeling that someone had used my phone before I had, and probably returned it. Therefore, I started to get more second thoughts about this phone. AND -- I remembered that I had seen the Sanyo 4900 on sale at Circuit City for $154........so I went home, and did some research on this phone.

Eventually, after reading up on it, I decided I would buy the Sanyo 4900 for a couple of reasons. I wanted a new phone.........The 4900, because it was on sale, was even cheaper than the 6200.......and, the 4900 was 3-G capable, and had a color screen, and was heavier and sturdier of a phone, which was something I decided I wanted.

I bought this phone later that same day. Brought it home, and have been 100% totally happy since! The reception on the Sanyo 4900 is great! WAY, WAY better than the Samsung A460, and it was noticeable better than the Sanyo 6200 as well! It kept a signal in my house 99% of the time. At work, in an office building in NYC, it keeps the Sprint signal 95% of the time, where my previous Qualcomm strugged to find and keep a signal.

The features on this phone are unbelievable. Color screen. Easy buttons and menu options. The speaker phone on this phone is SO clear and is SUCH a plus -- in a quiet room, or a car, you don't even have to hold the phone up to your ear! Even though this phone is a candy-bar style phone, it is still pretty compact. The reception, like I mentioned, is great. It is so easy to use, and I am so satisfied that I wound up with this phone.

FYI -- I returned the other 2 phones without a problem. I would strongly recommend the Sanyo 4900. If you DON'T need a flip phone, this phone is for you!

[markv83]

Very good review of the 4900[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]
Mark

[ehcruzan]

It is a great phone. Huge improvement over my Samsung N200 in terms of making and holding calls in fringe areas and especially inside buildings. Makes you wonder why Samsungs don't perform too well on Sprint's network. I've seen them perform well on another CDMA 1900MHz carrier's network (Centennial).

<Very good review of the 4900
Mark >


Actually I'm very seriously looking at buying the Sanyo 4900. I've been all over the www and haven't read a bad report on it. And believe me there are plenty of bad reports on many phones out there.

Bill B. (USA)[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

[SprintTechRep]

That was a great review. Just to comment back on some of the things you said. The 6200 although very thin, it is supposedly sturdy because it is reinforced with special alloy. And as for the cat ring tone, very possible someone just took it out of the box to test it out or play with it. I do it at work all the time. If it was returned, legally they have to sell it as a preowned model at a reduced price. As for the A460, its a samsung.........enuff said. It pisses me off that so many people buy it, just because it looks nice. In my oppinion (and 90% of sprint employees), at the moment, the sanyo 4900 is the best phone sprint carries. i have not gotten a single complaint at work yet about it. And that is VERY rare.

[LaceyCagney]

The Sanyo 4900 is a good phone, better than the A460 without a doubt. But I have to say that my experience with it was not everything I'd hoped for. Even though it does hold a signal stronger than most others, I do not believe it's indicative of either call quality or reception. Some phones can make a clear call with only one bar of signal strength, while others cannot. My experience with the 4900 involved a very bad receiver. Even with the volume set at its highest level, I still found myself saying, "What? What?" It was simply not loud enough and I've seen other people complain about this as well (go to the 4900 reviews on Phonescoop.com). And sometimes the volume would be fine and then the caller's voice would suddenly go soft and then come back to normal again. It was not something I could live with...strong signal or not. But I'm glad you're happy with yours! Thanks for the review!

[mrmister]

Tell me a about it. *lol*

I have been a Sprint customer for almost 3 years. I had started with a Samsung 3500, and then replaced it with an N200 a few months ago. But recently, after only having had it for a few months, I found that my Samsung N200 spent most of its time "Searching for Service" while in my apartment (which it never did at first). I had always heard rumors that the Samsung used lower-quality parts in their phones (Remember the wiring problem in the earpiece of the old 3500? Or the fact that the 3500's earpiece "creaked" and sometimes even broke if you pushed it slightly too hard agains your face? So anyway, I decided that as cool-looking (and even functional) as the Samsung flips are, it was time to change to a cell manufacturer with a reputation for using higher-quality internal parts. So, I went out and purchased the new Sanyo 4900 phone. Of course, I had to give Samsung one more chance to redeem itself, so I also picked up a the new Samsung N400 for comparison reasons... thinking I can always just return the one that I don't like to the Best Buy store within 30 days.

So here's the scoop with these new phones. The new Samsung N400 still has a trouble holding onto even 1 bar of signal strength in my apartment and can still be seen searching for service, just as the older Samsung N200 had. But, the Sanyo 4900 typically has about 3 bars of signal strength (about 75% of max) while in my apartment... and I am happy to say that I have never once seen it searching for service. The only time it loses it's service connection is when I'm in the elevator on the way up (and I doubt that even the best cell could hold a signal inside our elevators). But once those elevator doors open... two seconds later and you're back in business with a signal! The Samsungs, even when they did manage to re-aquire a signal took considerably more time in order to get their signals back and sometimes never even recovered a signal at all.

I have been plummaging throught this forum for the past few days and just about every one here who owns a 4900 and who has posted has said that the signal strenght has been exceptional. I've really got to say that Sanyo must be doing something right, if they have so many pleased customers. Samsung shoud wise up and start using quality components in their phones, just as Sanyo evidently does.

Just one little note for any Sanyo 4900 owners who, while talking on it, sometimes hear the other person's voice drop in volume intermittently as they are talking to them. While there is always the chance that something might be wrong with your particular phone... usually there isn't. These sound drop-offs just seems to be due to the fact that the 4900's earpiece is very uni-directional and un-forgiving. You really do have to be carefull where you place the earpiece in relationship to your ear, otherwise it starts to sound as if the voice of the person that you are talking to is fading in or out, or as if you are losing a signal when you in fact are not.

Okay, just one more little note for 4900 owners. The "Body Glove" case that is now available for the 4900, while costly, really does seem to be a quality case. I just picked one up today, mainly because I wanted something to protect the color screen and found the quality of this case to be very high. Actually, at first I had thought that it was made out of neoprene rubber, but after seeing it at the local Sprint PCS store, I later learned that it is made out of leather. That's alright though, because it still has this amazing "phone-hugging" fit and still looks as if it will do a good job of protecting the phone from everything but the most major impacts.

Okay... that's my essay. Was that 1000 words or less? *lol*

[Yoshokun]

God don't get me started on the A460... It's a great phone feature wise, but I think poor signal quality is endemic in all Samsung phones.... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

Can anyone comment on the quality of the 3G LG phones (namely the 5350, but LG phones in general too).. I'm thinking of switching to Vision.

Thanks,
Adam

[SprintTechRep]

If you think samsungs are bad in reception, then you definitely want to stay away from the LGs. They are a step below samsungs in reception. This is especially true for the LG1010, 1100, 5200/5250. Havent really heard anything bad about the LG 5350 YET. Thats because they arent selling really fast. Also havent heard anything too bad about the LG 4ne1 yet in terms of reception. But its battery life is definitely crappy.

[daveg]

mrmister said:


>Just one little note for any Sanyo 4900 owners who, while talking on it, sometimes hear the other person's voice drop in volume >intermittently as they are talking to them. While there is always the chance that something might be wrong with your particular phone... >usually there isn't. These sound drop-offs just seems to be due to the fact that the 4900's earpiece is very uni-directional and un->forgiving. You really do have to be carefull where you place the earpiece in relationship to your ear, otherwise it starts to sound as if the >voice of the person that you are talking to is fading in or out, or as if you are losing a signal when you in fact are not.

I concure, this happened to me today. I adjusted the speaker to my ear and problem solved.

[larry]

Yeah but I don't think this is exclusive to just the 4900. Most phones have to be held to the ear just right. My Kyocera 2255 is like that as well as my StarTac before that.

[ScandaLEX]

Originally posted by: SprintTechRep
If you think samsungs are bad in reception, then you definitely want to stay away from the LGs. They are a step below samsungs in reception. This is especially true for the LG1010, 1100, 5200/5250. Havent really heard anything bad about the LG 5350 YET. Thats because they arent selling really fast. Also havent heard anything too bad about the LG 4ne1 yet in terms of reception. But its battery life is definitely crappy.

I am here to tell ya; I had HORRIBLE signal strength with the LG 5350. And the battery drained verrrrry quickly; must have something to do with that high resolution screen; I was afraid to place a call because everything sucked on the battery.
Oh well, I only had the phone for a day; couldnt handle the pressure of not being able to talk when I wanted to talk.
In another post I stated that the day I purchased my phone; there wasnt a car charger available for it yet, and I dont think I was in a position to hook up the desktop charger in my car.....that beong said, the only thing I could do with the 5350 was return it and get my 4900 back.

[ScandaLEX]

Originally posted by: mrmister

Okay, just one more little note for 4900 owners. The "Body Glove" case that is now available for the 4900, while costly, really does seem to be a quality case. I just picked one up today, mainly because I wanted something to protect the color screen and found the quality of this case to be very high. Actually, at first I had thought that it was made out of neoprene rubber, but after seeing it at the local Sprint PCS store, I later learned that it is made out of leather. That's alright though, because it still has this amazing "phone-hugging" fit and still looks as if it will do a good job of protecting the phone from everything but the most major impacts.

I have purchased the black leather ($19.99) and the gray ion ($24.99) cases for my phone; both of which I do not use. I prefer that holster instead. I couldnt get used to the plastic on the screen. For me, a color phone meant just that, I wanted to see everything clearly and in color and the plastic kinda took away from that look.