The entry-level flip phone boasts a rugged (albeit bulky) design and calling features including a speakerphone, push-to-talk and voice tagging. But does the $30 price tag make the extra girth worth it?
Review summary of the Sanyo SCP-7000:
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 The Sanyo SCP-7000 is your average basic clamshell that includes some solid features like parental controls, push-to-talk, a speakerphone and instant messaging. The phone also has a durable design and changeable face plates, making it a nice option for kids who enjoy customizing gadgets to their taste. However, the handset has some reception issues that resulted in static during calls. The budget phone's interface was expectedly bare-bones, but was also a bit confusing, especially when it came to setting up a conference call. Release: December 2006. Price: $20.
Pros: Sporty design; solid calling features, such as a speakerphone, push-to-talk and parental controls; comfortable keypad.
Cons: Spotty reception; lacks Bluetooth; bulky design; hard-to-use conference calling; no camera; disappointing display.
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Full Sanyo SCP-7000 Review:
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Design
The Sanyo SCP-7000 features a rugged, sporty design with two interchangeable faceplates in black and blue and a fingertip-friendly rubber trim. The phone is fairly bulky at an inch thick and 3.7 ounces, but it seems durable enough (although we wouldn't recommend hurling it across a room, à la the "military-grade" rugged phones that are all the rage). The SCP-7000 also features a stubby pull-out antenna that makes the entry-level handset look a bit dated, although its red backit external display looks pretty cool. The flip phone opens with a nice snap, revealing a disappointingly small display that suffers from a noticeable screen-door effect.
Calling - Good
The clamshell's call quality was heavily dependent on its reception, which proved to be spotty in our tests in New York and the suburbs of northern New Jersey. We got solid reception on the streets of the city, where our calls were nice and clear. However, on our commute back to Jersey, static grew as we only got about two bars of reception in certain areas. The SCP-7000's calling features are also a mixed bag; it lacks Bluetooth, but includes push-to-talk via Sprint's Ready Link service, along with parental controls that limit talk time. In addition, the phone has voice tagging, a speakerphone and three-way calling; however, the phone's blocky, confusing menus made it difficult to establish a conference call. Back on the plus side, the 7000's phonebook supports while-you-type searching and plenty of entry fields.
Messaging - Good
Since the SCP-7000 is just a basic handset, it's no surprise that messaging was simply average. The interface was bland and blocky but the clamshell's screen could fit a respectable 123 characters on outgoing messages and 126 characters on incoming texts, still short of our preferred 160. The SCP-7000's keypad was a little tight, but comfortable and convenient with dedicated buttons for the speakerphone and the Web. The keypad also features a dimpled background that reflects its rugged styling. As the flip phone lacks camera, you can't send messages via MMS, but the phone does receive them (although you'll have to view messages on the WAP browser), and can send and receive voice SMS. The SCP-7000 doesn't include e-mail (not unusual for an entry-level phone), but supports instant messaging for AIM, Yahoo and MSN.
Related phones: Sanyo entry-level clamshells on Sprint
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Sanyo SCP-2400
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Score: 82% When: July 2006 - $180 Carrier: Sprint
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Available in five colors, Sanyo's family-friendly clamshell boasts voice SMS, a speakerphone and push-to-talk for the kids, along with parental controls for the grown-ups. See how the SCP-2400 fared in our rough-and-tumble phone playground.
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Read » Gallery »
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Sanyo SCP-3100
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Score: 76% When: April 2006 - $190 Carrier: Sprint
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A close cousin of the Sanyo SCP-2400, the 3100 clamshell comes in the same range of eye-catching colors but replaces the 2400's parental controls with a VGA camera. How does it compare to its free-phone competition?
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Read » Gallery »
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Price and availability
The Sanyo SCP-7000 is available immediately from Sprint and retails for $180 or $30 with a two year service agreement.
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