Sanyo 6600 "Katana" drops on Sprint's website
As expected, Sanyo's new RAZR competitor the 6600, otherwise known as Katana, has been finally been unsheathed and is now up for grabs on Sprint's website. The dual band/tri-mode phone (sorry, no EV-DO) weighs in at a paltry 3.4 ounces and packs a pretty out-dated VGA camera, along with Bluetooth functionality, and support for Sprint's PCS Vision service. Three of the four color options are available directly from Sprint (Mystic Black, Blue Sapphire, and Cherry Blossom Pink), with the Polar White version we saw earlier reportedly a Radio Shack exclusive but apparently not available yet. Price is a fairly reasonable $79.99, providing you're willing to sign a two-year contract and wait who knows how long for that $50 mail-in rebate.
[Via Slashphone]
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I don't like this phone, no bars where there should be bars
I can't get reception when others with Sprint can.
The Sanyo 2400 and Samsung A640 have also been released online...
http://www.pcsintel.com/content/view/1416/32/
Sprint continues its decline I see. Sprint is the new Verizon, with very little innovation in hardware and moronic releases such as this one which has no EVDO!!! What were you thinking Sprint, with EVDO this would have been a pretty decent phone.
Anyhow Sprint needs to take some lessons from Verizon, which used to lag behind Sprint in plans and hardware so much it was a running joke. Now it is quite the opposite.
And yes I am a Sprint customer.
These are mid-to-low end phones not meant to compete with EV-DO. A majority of Sprint's customers don't even need EV-DO, and don't want to pay for features they will never use. It's all about choice. You can chose the A900 if you want EV-DO, or the Katana if you want a less-expensive ultra-slim phone.
hmmm... let me get this right:
i can get a katana for $80 with:
vga cam, 1x rtt, no flash, and (bfd) different colors.
or, i can spring for an mm-a900 for $100 with:
1.3 mp cam, ev-do r0, flash, matte black, powervision, magnesium case, external mp3 controls, tv, sirius, ...
wow, sprint really dropped the ball (er, pin) on this one.
Some of the comments people leave are astounding!
It's called diversification. There's no reason to have another phone with EVDO, 1.3 meg cam, external mp3 controls, etc. just because it comes from a different manufacturer.
That would be stupid. What wouldn't be stupid is to have a phone without EVDO because the vast majority of customers don't even want it. And if they have EVDO, they don't even know what to do with it.
Get a clue!
Wow just read that Verizon just released the SCH-A990, QVGA screen, EVDO, 3.2Megapixel camera, etc etc. Also just read that Verizon is releasing the KRZR.
Yeah I understand the Katana is a low to mid end phone, but I'm still trying to figure out what the high end phones are, or when they are coming out. Every week there is a new phone for Verizon, and half a dozen for GSM carriers, but Sprint... I mean there hasn't even been a smartphone past the years old i600, pitiful.
To #6. There have been several "smart" (although rather mundane) phones from Sprint since the release of the i600. The Treo 700p as well as the PPC 6700, and the Blackberry 7130e have all come out since the i600. Please remember to put the new cover sheets on your TPS reports.
The Sanyo Katana is great; I hear or read a lot of comments that it does not have this or that. How big do you want a thin phone? How about one that you can watch TV, listen to MP3's, make pop corn, shave (for he guys), take pictures, record messages and maybe, just maybe make a phone call. Comparing the Katana to the Samsung A900 is like comparing apples and oranges; they were designed to do different things outside of making phone calls. The Katana is a perfect entry level slim phone. It does resemble the Razor on the outside, barely, and looks nothing like the Razor on the inside. The A900 keyboard looks more like the Razor then the Katana. The Katana's calls are crystal clear, voice command works great, the speakerphone good as well, connecting to the internet to check e-mail is great and sending the occasional text message from Yahoo Messenger works good as well. This is a very solid, cool phone at a great price. Now if you are looking for a phone that plays MP3's and you can shoot videos and want to use as your main camera then you are looking at the wrong phone, but for crystal clear phone calls, a cool look and a great way to fill down time, this is the phone for you. Great Job Sanyo, looking forward to more great products in the future!
Hey I just got a katana it's my 1st cell.My wife has one that we share but this one is mine.I don't even know what EVDO is it would be nice if someone would explain it.I like the ph.the only problem is that I don't want to pay $40 a mo.for sprint PCS vision just to e-mail pictures to my computer.What a rip off!And the Sprint people don't want you to know that you can get a USB cable and software to do it directly to your PC to make the rip off even bigger.
RE: #9:
I own a Katana, I've done extensive research, and I need to clarify the USB thing. It is ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE to manage your Katana photos with any currently available software. It's a drag that you need SPV to do so but it's a bigger drag when folks who think they know something post incorrect information.
You can manage contact info and in some cases, calendar details with software like Mobile Action but not pictures. I'd hate to see some unsuspecting person spend hard-earned money on a USB cable and software believing they can use it to do something that simply can't be done.
You can't believe everything you read but you can damn sure believe this: it can't be done.
Thanks Scottso - I'm one of those dopes just about to shell out $3o for a USB cable and software that doesn't do what I might expect. I'm a pretty basic phone user. I like the camera just in case I ever witness a crime in progress, not to chronicle my life or express my artistic side. It's always tempting to customize your gizmo with whatever the market offers but this time I'll just settle for whatever came in the box. Gee, I feel like I just MADE thirty dollars!
I bought the Katana for my wife and I from qwest and we cannot get Sprint PCS in our area, SO I spent 30.00 dollars on software another 8.00 for a data cable and another 12.00 on a bluetooth and to find out it cant be done. I like the phone for its reception and looks, but I would love the phone if I could download ringers to it. I have spent weeks trying to...so if anyone has anymore questions on why it cant be done. It's sprint!!!!!!!!!!
I have the Katana from Qwest too and I have downloaded plenty of ringtones (and pics and such) - you need to have the web service and once you do, there are plenty of places to get ringtones. I bought a cheap program to make my own ringtones then they are uploaded to a website where I can download to my phone. Very easy. Don't know why you aren't able to do it?
Love the phone, cannot find any damn software for it.
Please help someone. Just the pictures and maybe number backup would be nice. Thanks JS