Review: Sanyo SCP-2700
The SCP-2700 has nearly the perfect footprint for the teenage messaging freak. It is small, somewhat sleek, relatively attractive, and very light weight. In other words, it is easy to carry around. The sides and edges are rounded, making it comfortable to hold in your hand. The back plate covering the battery has some slight texture to it due to the checkered pattern, but the rest of the plastics are smooth. This phone was made to fit in your jeans pocket.
The front has a pretty good sized screen, navigation controls, and a full QWERTY keyboard. The navigation controls are one of the phone's weaknesses. The D-pad is a small rectangle that has a high edge to it. It's just a hair too high, in my opinion. It sticks out noticeably from the surface of the phone. The real problem is the center button. It was very loose. I could wiggle the button all over the place. Travel and feedback of this button was less than I'd like for such an important and oft-used button.
Immediately next to either side of the D-pad are the soft keys and "text" and "back" keys. All four keys have good travel and feedback. The proximity of the soft keys to the D-pad make navigating quick. The "text" button is a dedicated button to initiate a new text message. I like the idea, but would prefer to see this key placed somewhere on the QWERTY keyboard itself. The send/end keys, placed closer to the outer edges of the phone, are easy to find, but felt a bit on the mushy side.
The full QWERTY keyboard on our production review unit shows remarkable improvement over the units we saw at CTIA just a few weeks ago. The keyboard is well executed. It is very tiny, and I feared for a moment that I would have trouble using it. Instead, I adjusted to it faster than most other keyboards I've used in recent memory. The keys have a great shape to them and the perfect amount of travel and feedback. The only criticism I'd voice is that there's a little bit too much side-to-side wiggle with the keys. This is only noticeable if you wiggle them on purpose. I didn't notice it when typing out messages.
The volume toggle is placed on the left side of the 2700. It stands out well, and has good travel and feedback. The dedicated camera key is below it. It doesn't feel as good as the volume toggle, and comes off a bit mushy, with no firm click until you're really pressed it down. There is a microUSB port on the left side of the phone for charging and data transfer. The right side of the phone has only a 2.5mm headset jack.
The battery cover comes off easily enough, but there's no real need to remove it given that there's no microSD slot hiding under there.
iPhone 14 Plus Offers a Big Screen For Less
Qualcomm Taps Iridium for Satellite Connectivity
Google Lens Now Lets You Refine a Visual Search with Text
iOS 16 Revamps the Lock Screen
Apple Watch Goes Ultra
Sanyo SCP-2700 Juno
