With EV-DO networking and stereo Bluetooth support, the Katana DLX updates the new Katana II with some advanced features. Is it the sharpest tool in Sprint's shed?
Review summary of the Sanyo Katana DLX:
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 Sanyo makes solid phones, in terms of making and receiving calls, and the Katana DLX won't disappoint fans looking for a solid, affordable phone with good features and some 3G amenities. However, none of the more advanced features stand out. The QVGA screen doesn't pop like screens on recent Nokia N-Series devices. Streaming video was disappointingly halted by poor network reception, and the Sprint music store, though great in a pinch, is a let-down as a dedicated music player. The design seems dated already. What's most confusing is that this phone represents the current high-end of Sprint's lineup. As an anonymous mid-range phone, the DLX might have blended in nicely, just below the aforementioned Sanyo M1 and Sprint M610. At the top, this phone simply needs to follow or get out of the way. Release: July 2007. Price: $150.
Pros: Solid feature set, including GPS and stereo Bluetooth. Reasonably priced. Nice, updated design. Tethered modem support.
Cons: No standout feature. Screen seems average, even at high resolution. Networking experience very sluggish.
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Full Sanyo Katana DLX Review:
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At the moment, the $130 Sanyo Katana DLX is the top-of-the-line Power Vision phone on Sprint's network. We were prepared to review this phone as a perfectly mid-range, stay-in-budget 3G multimedia phone, but without friends and competitors like the Sanyo M1, or the Samsung SPH-M610, somehow the DLX finds itself at the top end, the most expensive phone on Sprint without either a QWERTY keyboard or a walkie-talkie.
Design Good
Sanyo has always been a bit behind in the design department. Perhaps the Katana was thin and sword-like when it was released late last summer, but the Katana DLX, and the nearly-identical Katana II, are merely flip-phones today. They aren't thick, but lack the clean look of a Samsung flip. Accents are polished metal and brushed metal, and though the available colors may add to the appeal, they aren't anything special. The display, though QVGA in resolution, doesn't look crisp, like some of the high-contrast, high-color depth screens we've seen recently. It could have been hurt by poor font choices and sub-par rendering.
The keyboard seems a bit narrow, up through the navigation buttons, and we think the extra room on the sides should have been used for wider, more comfortable keys. Around the phone you'll find only a volume rocker and dedicated camera / media key, which is also duplicated on the keypad. Typing the keys and navigating with the five-way button was easy enough. For menus and interface, Sanyo has handed the reigns completely to Sprint, who has insterted their standard interface, complete with On-Demand content from Handmark. Otherwise, the menu is a dozen icons, some of which get right to the point, like the "Web" button, and some of which seem extraneous, like the "Missed Alerts" button, front and center.
Calling Good
Calls from the Katana DLX sounded good, though we did hear a little static and some hollowing of the sound. Reception was a problem, especially in our little dead spot in central New Jersey, but this seemed to cause more of an issue for data than for voice calls. Most calling features we like are present, in some basic form. For voice recognition, you can assign up to 30 tags. The phone book is fine, but keeps itself very basic, never venturing into smartphone territory. Sprint offers an online backup for your address book, in case you lose your phone, but a desktop sync would have been preferable, especially considering the service plan you'll pay for online backups. Speakerphone works nicely; it was audible in a car with the radio turned down, but less so on the street.
Messaging Good
Though the Katana DLX does have a few, basic messaging features, we were more disappointed by what's missing than impressed by what's included. Foremost, Instant Messaging support is absent, though the phone will let you check e-mail from AIM, Yahoo and MSN. SMS and MMS worked fine, easily tapping our contacts list with a littler menu digging, but we like more options displaying text on screen. For some reason, the SMS app cut our messages off at 135 characters, which is shy of the 160-character limit we usually see. Text was legible, and T9 autocorrection provides a large, easy-to-read menu for alternate word choices. Finally, as we said early, a wider keypad, making use of all the empty space around it, might have made for more comfortable typing, but the glossy, well-rounded keys were good enough for basic use.
Multimedia - Good
The Katana DLX gets kudos for a wide feature set, but implementation, especially in the streaming, 3G features, leaves plenty to be desired. The phone seems a bit sluggish overall, and though this could have been due to our poor network reception, even with three or more bars, we were disappointed with the streaming video experience. The phone supports Sprint TV and Sprint Movies from mSpot. Unfortunately, unlike other phone's we've seen on Sprint's Power Vision network, the Katana DLX cannot play videos full screen. The QVGA does little to help here, as videos we watched all came out looking blurry, or even blocky, and streaming was not very smooth, after the long delay it took to begin. Many videos on Sprint's own channels simply refused to load, such as the many concert films taken at the Live Earth show, which we were interested in seeing.
For music, the Katana DLX gets the Sprint music store, which gets a plus for its great pricing and wide selection, but a serious knock for its dated interface and poor browsing experience. Time for a major overhaul to the music store look, we think. Sprint includes a 128MB microSD card, which is almost enough space to whet your whistle, but not enough for a real music fan. Stereo Bluetooth pairing worked well, we had no problems matching the phone to our Motorola S9 headset.
Pictures on the camera were hardly worth mentioning, though sending them via e-mail or MMS was easy. Basic browsing options for pics are there, with nothing special, and the image quality on the 1.3-megapixel camera is about what we'd expect from a camera phone, which is to say poor.
Web browsing, etc. Mediocre
With 3G networking and a slew of extra features, this category should have a been a standout for the Katana DLX. Unfortunately, the Web experience on the phone is quite poor. The phone will diligently do its best to chew up a tough page, but what it spits out looks, well, chewed up. Our home page was a jumble of poorly-sized pics and text. The New York Times defaulted to the mobile page, which looked average, though the fonts in the browser dont do much to show off the high-res display.
The phone's GPS sensor was adequate, though not as super-sensitive as others we've tried. Navigation is available as a download, and worked fairly well, though it had trouble keeping up with us in a series of short turns. The phone also features tethered modem support, though we get the feeling that if Sprint really wanted us to take advantage of the feature, a USB cable might have come with the device.
Price and availability
The Sanyo Katana DLX is available now from Sprint for $150 with a contract agreement. A mail-in rebate of $50 is available, when signing up for a qualifying plan.
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