-
CNET editors' rating:
3.5
stars
Very good
Detailed editors' rating - Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 164 reviews
- See all user reviews
Product summary
The
good: Vibrant color display; built-in camera; solid call quality and battery life.
The
bad: A bit cumbersome to send images.
The
bottom
line: It may not have all the bells and whistles of the 5300, but it's a good choice for an easy-to-use, phone/camera hybrid.
Specifications: Carrier: Sprint PCS ; Band / mode: CDMA2000 1X 1900/800 / AMPS 800 ; Talk time: Up to 166 min ; See full specs
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 05/30/2003
- Released on: 05/10/2003
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| Fabulous fun: We liked using the external LCD for picture caller ID. |
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| Incredible shrinking phone: The 8100 is shorter than its sibling, the SCP-5300. |
Open the flip phone, and you'll see that the SCP-8100's internal, 1.8-inch, 65,000-color, eight-line TFT display is the real eye-catcher. We particularly appreciated the animated green alien that sometimes skateboards from side to side. The Sanyo's list-type menu interface is easy to navigate via the phone's four-way navi-button and two dedicated menu-selection keys.
Like the SCP-5300, you can snap pictures using the large internal display as the image finder for the digital camera or flip the phone closed and go to the small, 1-inch external display to frame a self-portrait. The latter also serves as a decent substitute for a mirror in a pinch. On the side of the phone, there's a shutter-release button, a headset jack, and two volume-control buttons, which can be used to scroll through the 5300's menus.
As you might expect, if you're running out of subjects in your own life to decorate your phone, you can always download graphics, pictures, and polyphonic sounds from the Sprint PCS Vision site. In the features department, the 8100 has its fair share. Highlights include a 300-name phone book, voice-activated dialing for up to 30 names, menus, caller ID, text messaging, a vibrating ringer, voicemail, games, a calendar, a world clock, and wireless Web access via Sprint's 1xRTT next-generation network. Although the phone will work with a separate USB cable to upload images directly from phone to computer, it lacks an IR port to easily transfer images to other IR-enabled devices, such as a Palm or Pocket PC. (Note: The Samsung V205 has an IR port, but you can't use it to beam images to other IR products.)
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| Picture this: The image quality of pictures taken with the 8100 isn't the best we've seen to date. |
The 8100 is also GPS ready for e911 services, and as one of Sprint's PCS Vision mobiles, it supports J2ME so that you can download polyphonic ring tones, screensavers, games, and applications for a few dollars more. Some of the games are silly, while others are somewhat addictive. Frequent fliers will also appreciate that you can switch to special "airplane" mode that lets you play games without having the cell radio on.
As noted, one of the 8100's major selling points is the built-in VGA digital camera. You can take pictures at 352x288 pixels and save as many images that will fit in the phone's memory. You'll also find a self-timer, color-tone and brightness controls, Fun Frames (which lets you decorate pictures with frames), and the ability to add 10-second voice notes to images. You can even upload the pictures to the Sprint PCS Web site and send the URL to a friend on the fly.
If you opt to share your photos, be aware that unless you are e-mailing them to another Sprint PCS Vision mobile, the recipient receives only a URL address where the pictures can be viewed. That said, keep in mind that capturing and delivering high-quality images is not the goal of this new breed of phone. In fact, the images are mediocre at best and not suitable for printing. Overall, the dual-band (CDMA 800/1900 AMPS 800) SCP-8100 performed quite respectably. We tested the phone in the San Francisco Bay Area and Lake Tahoe and found call quality to be exceptionally good. Callers said they couldn't tell we were calling from a cell phone, and on our end, they sounded loud and clear. In comparison, this mobile offered better reception than the SPH-A500.
The phone also did well in battery-life testing. Using the included battery, we managed to surpass the 2.8 hours of talk time by 20 minutes but fell a couple days short of the 10-day standby rating. However, keep in mind that taking and uploading a lot of pictures drains battery life considerably.
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