Sanyo "Katana" a RAZR Rip-off

[MOTOhooligan]

Okay, Samsung's Blade was obviously inspired by the Motorola RAZR but the Sanyo Katana's design was obviously stolen directly from the RAZR.

[Quint101]

The pricing is comparable to the RAZR as well lol. At least the RAZR has more to offer

[Ironwalt]

Originally Posted by MOTOhooligan

Okay, Samsung's Blade was obviously inspired by the Motorola RAZR but the Sanyo Katana's design was obviously stolen directly from the RAZR.

That is just sad.

[Etorres777]

Another wannabe RAZR gone bad...

[Mobile Mike]

Plus reviews for this phone have been poor and it lack many options available on the RAZR. Sanyo needs to come up with an original idea. It's no wonder only Sprint carries them.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Who was it that said Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery... (Or something like that?) They need to come out with an original idea and be the innovator instead of playing catch-up.

-Jay

[MOTOhooligan]

Originally Posted by Jay2TheRescue

Who was it that said Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery... (Or something like that?) They need to come out with an original idea and be the innovator instead of playing catch-up.

-Jay

Imitation is the sincerest of flattery.
-Charles Caleb Colton

Imitation is the quickest way to have your sued by Motorola for copyright infringement.
-MOTOhooligan

[Yankees368]

Originally Posted by Etorres777

Another wannabe RAZR gone bad...

You wouldnt be talking about the Samsung a900, would you?

I do agree that the Katana is a disgusting rip off of the razr. Poor, poor Sanyo. What has happend.

[ladrums100000]

Do you actually own a Katana phone, or just drawing your conclusions based on pictures? If you actually picked one up and tried it out, you would not be making such blind statements.

First off, open the handset, the keys look NOTHING like the razr's. The Katana number keys are actually readable, and won't eventually ruin like the razr's. They actually remind me of the old Motorola brick flips from waaay back in the day. Secondly, look at the screen size and quality. MUCH Better than the razr (yes, I actually put it next to my friends razr). Thirdly, check out the front screen. Again, the Katana screen is much nicer and displays better information than the razr.

Why don't you check a Katana out first, then come back to give an opinion.

[Yankees368]

Originally Posted by ladrums100000

Do you actually own a Katana phone, or just drawing your conclusions based on pictures? If you actually picked one up and tried it out, you would not be making such blind statements.

First off, open the handset, the keys look NOTHING like the razr's. The Katana number keys are actually readable, and won't eventually ruin like the razr's. They actually remind me of the old Motorola brick flips from waaay back in the day. Secondly, look at the screen size and quality. MUCH Better than the razr (yes, I actually put it next to my friends razr). Thirdly, check out the front screen. Again, the Katana screen is much nicer and displays better information than the razr.

Why don't you check a Katana out first, then come back to give an opinion.

I dont really think those factors matter. Thats what happens when a company has 2 years to create a clone. Minor improvments are made, but the product is esentally the same. Take a look at a razr and a katana side by side. Same antenna buldge at the botton, same camera placement with minor raising off the rest of the front, same silver hinge sticking out on each side. Come on.

[budney]

If the new relationship with Sprint & Moto blossoms, IMHO Sanyo will be in big trouble, they have just lost it as of late. I have been hearing good thing about the phone, but it is a very basic phone. I plan on checking it out this weekend when I go to Vegas. If I get my 6700 replaced (poor BT) and it is a newer one (EVDO ring through bug), I may just add another phone phone to my account to use as my main. And this phone fits my criteria.

[aznglow]

the Katana's hinge owns the RAZR i was looking at my sisters RAZR and it seemed like that thing was going to freaking snap in half seems like a POS

[Etorres777]

It's not and it's still a huge seller.

Originally Posted by aznglow

the Katana's hinge owns the RAZR i was looking at my sisters RAZR and it seemed like that thing was going to freaking snap in half seems like a POS

[budney]

I got to check out the Katana at Best Buy this weekend, very solid & simple phone. I was tempted to pick one up, but couldn't quite pull the trigger. I don't know if I really want to carry two devices around. And I did get my 6700 replaced, but I think my new one has the same BT problem.

[whotakesallmynames]

I live in an area that won't be getting evdo for at least a year, so I don't mind that the Katana doesn't have all the new multimedia features that the Razr and the A900 have. I also don't care that its design is based on those two phones. The Katana wasn't meant to stand toe to toe with them, it was put out as a similar-looking phone but with less features for people who don't want as much. Can anyone comment on the Katana without referring to the Razr? As a mid-tier phone, where does it stand on its own?

[MOTOhooligan]

Originally Posted by ladrums100000

Why don't you check a Katana out first, then come back to give an opinion.

I found the Katana's fit and finish to be poor. It felt cheap and delicate. The screens were nice but I didn't find them that much better than the RAZRs.

I prefer the RAZR. The Blade is nice, but the Katana sucks.

[whotakesallmynames]

After much surfing, here's what I've found out about the Katana

While it looks like the Razr and the A900, but feels like a cheaply made childs toy, and has fewer features than the Razr and the A900, the Katana can take a few drops, and is one of the best current "mid-tier" Sprint phones. Also, Sanyo and Sprint make a relatively reliable combination as far as reception and voice quality go.

It has a camera, and while it is only .3MP and without a flash, I can live with that since I rarely use the flash on my current phone, and superb picture quality is a feature I can live without. It is analog-capable, which apparently some of the higher-end phones don't seem to be able to work on analog networks, though a Sprint rep told me otherwise. It has the light & small form that is popular right now, and colors to choose from. I'm a girl so these are attractive features for me. Both screens have 65000 colors, which second best right now I believe. It supports the popular chat services and Opera Mini, if you don't like the built-in browser. I already use Opera, so this is a bonus. It's Bluetooth capabilities are slightly less "crippled" than those of other Sprint phones. I don't have any experience with Bluetooth, so this is based on what I've read only.

It doesn't have Push-to-talk, but I don't need that feature anyway.
It doesn't have an mp3 player, which I wish it did have.
It doesn't work on Sprint's ev-do network, but it's not available in my area anyway, so that doesn't matter.
It doesn't have a lot of memory which I guess isn't necessary w/o an mp3 player.

When you walk into a Sprint store, the power vision phones are over here, and the rest of the Sprint phones are over there. After deciding that a power vision phone wouldn't be worth the money (without being able to take advantage of their high-end features), I went over to where all the other phones were and decided to just pick from those. The ones I narrowed it down to were the Sanyo Katana, the LG LX350, and the Samsung A640.

The A640 went first because unlike the Katana, it has a low-end outer display, fewer Bluetooth capabilities, no web browser, more variable overall call quality, and isn't as pretty.

The LX350 has like 6x the memory of the Katana, but the only feature it has that would make that kind of space usefull is the camcorder, which isn't a priority for me and the quality of cell phone videos is terrible anyway. Like the A640 it has limited Bluetooth functions, no web browser, and lower overall call quality. It was my second choice because of the 256000 color internal screen, and even though the keypad design is preferable than the Katana's poorly designed keys, the other features won me over.

Wow if picking out a cell phone is this much work, I can't imagine trying to pick out a new car!! Also, do yall think I can convince the Sprint sales people to give me the phones for $79 even though I'm not a new customer, I'm just using our 24 month credits?

[aznglow]

my mom dad and sis all have this phone and i would just like to put in that so far they're great phones and are very durable compared to the RAZR

[MOTOhooligan]

Originally Posted by aznglow

my mom dad and sis all have this phone and i would just like to put in that so far they're great phones and are very durable compared to the RAZR

The RAZR is pretty durable. My brother crushed his while working in a warehouse and the only thing that needed replacing was the glass outer LCD cover. It took a $5 part and 5 minutes and the phone was whole again.

[whotakesallmynames]

I was looking through ebay and saw some Katana dummy phones, maybe this is what we're all feeling and calling cheap! I was at Best Buy and picked up their Katana and it was heavier and had a different (less glossy) finish on the outside. So are we just idiots? Well either way, my bf and I are going to get a pink one and a black one today!

speaking of durability, I was checking out an a900 at a Sprint store and the hinges on it were already really loose, like the top half was about to come off. I don't know if that phone just got handled significantly more, but it's a newer phone so the model hasn't been on display as long as some of the other phones. The reason it caught my attention is because that is what's happening to the Sanyo I have now, the hinges have cracked off on both sides, and it won't stay closed on its own. At least it lasted me the full 24 months!

[Yankees368]

I dont know of any problem with the hinges. I use the crap out of my phone, and the hinge is 100%