Sanyo PM-8200 / SCP-8200
Average Ratings
Great Phone
I just upgraded from this phone to a Fusic, but I had this phone for almost two years and loved it! It's a good, rugged phone.
PROS :
Camera is awesome, I love how it's at the bottom of the flip instead of the back of the phone like the Fusic's
Ringer options...Level 1 and Vibrate was the best
Supported QCP ringtones...I had a blast making different ring tones for this phone
Vision was great on this phone
Speaker phone was good
Flashlight really helped me on drunken nights
Great color options (I had the blue)
CONS :
Battery life was real bad...especially on my phone, I had broken the charger port somehow and it wouldn't charge right
This isn't Sprint's or Sanyo's fault, but I dropped my phone and cracked the LCD and the camera lens, which just bugged me.
No Video camera, MP3, all that junk...which I didn't really need but now I am spoiled since I got my Fusic
Keypad was annoying for the first few days, but after I got it memorized, I could txt correctly without looking
Overall - a great phone for the price...I kinda hated getting rid of mine, but I messed up the crystallization of the screen so it was time for an upgrade, but I recommend this phone!! It's awesome!
This is a grate phone...
I got this phone about 1year ago and love it. It is super rough i have it so so much and it has always been the same. The "Ready Link" is a plus along with the camera. The flash is ok but the camera it self is awsome. The life of the phone is not all good... but it can stand a while lets you where taking a 2hour trip without a charger you would be good. The phones T9 is AWSOME! I never have to type letter by letter! Over all im pleased with my phone. I would recommend the 8300(the newer one of the two) because of the video camera and the all around betterness. But if money is an issue,this phone is the one!
Very Dissappointed
At first I really liked my 1st Sanyo PM8200, then it had to be replaced because the smalled screen went out after about 8 months. It was all down hill from there. My second phone I only had a few months before it started shutting itself off when I flipped it closed (didn't matter how softly I closed it) and not getting as good of signal as it did at first (1/3 the time the phone is on it says "looking for service". Then my 3rd phone wouldn't send/recieve text messages, send/upload pictures, or go online. So, after that I went back and asked for a different phone, I was told that they can only exchange my phone for the same phone because they have it in stock. So I my 4th Sanyo PM8200! Which after about six-seven months has starting ONCE AGAIN shutting itself off when I flip it closed, losing signal, and "looking for service"... Now my 5th sanyo has once again started doing the same as the last and i must return to the sprint store for a 6th phone in less than 2 years!
Good to a point
This phone served me well for almost one year. I use my phone a lot and evidently this one wasn't up the challenge. Recently I have been having problems with calls not coming through and going directly to voicemail. I believe the problem is due to the fact that I use my phone heavily in not the best of conditions.
Up until now I have never had any issues with dropped calls or lack of signal strength (Central NC).
If you keep your phone in your purse/pocket all the time and take very good care of it, then I'd say this phone would work well for you. Otherwise go for something a little more durable.
just a fluke?
I bought my PM8200 May 2005 from Sprint. My last phone endured for 3 years. As I approach my 1 year anniversary of this phone, it started doing the strangest things. It turns its volume down, flashes the screen on and off, and won't respond to any commands. Was this just some sort of fluke? I put it on the charger last night after removing and reattaching the battery. It wouldn't turn back on after I did that. This morning, the exterior screen was flashing at me with voicemail. Weird. I decided to call it from the landline and now it works fine. I really liked this phone up until last night. I've had very few dropped calls, enjoyed the pics (flash makes nicer pics than other phones), and like the layout of the buttons. I'm concerned, because it seems that the life spans of the phones I buy are getting shorter and shorter. I never buy into the equipment plans, because you still have to pay a deductible on top of the monthly fee.
Great phone but earpiece is crappy!
I've had this phone for a year now. I used to owned 2, 3 Sanyo phones and while I didn't have any real bad experience with Sanyo phones, I got a great deal when I renewed my contract so I went for it! The phone I got is metallic red so it's rare & unique. Two things are I like the most & also the most important are the reception & the battery life, I don't care much about ringint tones or camera. But unfortunately, it also has 1 flaw that I hate the most about Sanyo phone: sound quality of the earpiece. Just like several people here mention: the sound will get distorted and muffled if you turn up the volumne. Most of the time, I just have my volumne at level 1 or 2 (max is level 8) and sometimes 3 but if I turned up to level 4 & above the sound is really bad. I had a few Sanyon phones before so I know that my phone is not defective. Even the new model 8300 that I tested at stores also has this flaw. Would I buy Sanyo phone again in the future? Probably not! Don't get me wrong, every phone has its good & bad like the Samsung phone doesn't sound natural, LG sounds too soft. My next choice would be either Nokia or Treo phone as I had them both before (Nokia 6225 & Treo 300)
BUYER BEWARE
while the phone may be somewhat ok.. there are serious charging issues with this phone. Sprint has now sent me my SECOND in a span of 2 months replacement phone and it's still doing the samething. after a little while the contact inside the small circualr charging hole goes bad. The phone will not accept the charger very well. you would have to rig the phone up to get it to charge, and still it doesnt' charge properly. I have 3 (THREE) batteries for this phone all BRAND NEW and I would have used all 3 by 3 O'Clock in the afternoon with the third having no bars left.
Bad Phone
Buyer Beware! I got my Sanyo PM8200 in May '05' I had to replace it in Nov '05' do to the hinge breaking. Sprint replace to with a used phone of the same kind. Now it's Feb '06' and the same thing had happened again, the hinge broke. I thought I was hard on the first one even though I couldn't ever remember having dropped it. Well I can say for sure I have never dropped the second and it broke in the exact same place as the first. My opinion is it has a week hinge, it's a bad design. I now have to mess around with Sprint again over the same problem. Other things I noticed: ear piece jack not the best. Speaker should be used at a lower volume or it sounds distorted. Quite often the phone ends up on the Internet without my knowledge. I know the moral to the story is you get what you pay for but when you pay full price problems like this hinge thing just should not happen. I will be getting this phone replaced with different model ASAP
CHARGING ISSUE
My boyfirend and i have had our 8200 phones for about 4 months now. At first we thought they were great. Sure the camera isn't the best and the speaker definately has problems above a certain volume but that didn't really bother us. Then came the big problem. Apparently after a little while the contact inside the small circualr charging hole goes bad. The phone will not accept the charger very well. We would plug the phone up and it would beep that it was charging we would set it down and it would beep that it had stopped. We would have to turn it, pull it in and out, and even still it would only charge for a few minutes. Somehow it strips itself. I have spoken to many other with the same issue. This problem would be the reason the 8300 is sold with the charger for the wide rectangular port. I just don't think this phone is worth having to buy and additional home/car charger just so it will work. Not to mention the stress the charging problem puts on the battery. So you'll need a new wall/car charger and a new battery very soon if you buy this phone. We were sooooo glad when samsung realeased the blade. We paid $350 for each happily just to rid ourselfs of the 8200.
Great phone.
I have had the phone for about 18 months and it has been a great phone. awsome capabilities with sprint if you want to pay for the services. the menus are very quick when you get used to them and the side buttons are nice to have. i think it takes decent pictures for a phone, if loaded to a computer you would see some fuzzyness but on the phones LCD they look great. my phone is brutally beaten when i have it, it is scratched, chipped, squeeks when i open it. i drop it daily and never hurt it. the only thing that has happened is when i plug in the charger it has to be at just the right angle or it wont charge. that and the speakerphone sucks. I'm getting a new phone now because mine was dropped in water. but great phone for the time i had it.
