Review: Sanyo MM-5600
Screen
The screen is bright, high resolution 320 x 240 display. It is rather small compared to most other QVGA displays, but that works to the screen's advantage, making it look exceptionally sharp. The screen is bright, high contrast, and has an anti-glare coating that makes it viewable even in direct sunlight.
The external screen, though color, primarily displays high contrast black and white text that is easy to read in all light conditions. In standby mode, the backlight turns off and the screen displays the time with the clarity of a modern lcd watch.
Both screens set a standard all phones should be held to.
Signal
Although the signal strength indicator on the MM 5600 fluctuated, that was the only indication that the signal might have been weaker at any given point during our testing. It seemed like the phone's signal strength was almost always strong.
However if the phone manages to lose signal, prepare for some major frustration. We probably wouldn't have noticed it happened at all, except that while the phone is trying to re-contact Sprint or find a roaming partner, status messages fill the home screen and lock you out from doing anything. It's not just that you can't do network related operations like make a call or use the browser, you can't even access the menus to play a game or change settings.
Sound
The 5600 has only 4 volume settings, which could best be described as soft, softer, softest and deafeningly loud. The loud setting is actually too loud for the speaker, so it is both loud and distorted. This phone is desperately in need of a "loud enough" volume setting.
The same 4 settings are used for the ringer too. Only the loudest one can be heard in noisy environments. Worse, the vibrate mode and ring volume are tied together in the settings. You cannot turn on vibrate for any volume setting only for the softest and loudest, though there is a silent option with vibrate as well.
Between the loudness of the highest volume setting and the violent vibrate motor, you will not miss a call on that setting to be sure.
Volume can only adjusted using the volume up / down sidekeys.
Battery
Even under heavy usage, the battery lasted about 4 days, which is already quite impressive. With lighter use, it usually lasted at least 5 days. All that thickness apparently pays off in battery size.
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Sanyo MM-5600
