Sanyo MM-5600 review (Sprint)

Along with the MM-5600's camera comes a video recorder, which takes clips up to 30 seconds long (or 15 seconds in Rich mode) at 176x144 or 128x96 resolution. While many camera video recorders we see skimp on features, the MM-5600's is relatively packed. It includes the same 20X digital zoom and picture/brightness modes found on the camera, as well as a self-timer and the LED camera light. The handset will even say "roll camera" and "cut" when the recording stops. Though the recorder is very nice, we wish it would take clips longer than 30 seconds, given the Mini SD card that's available.

The MM-5600's slick media player supports MP3s and unprotected AAC audio files, which you can transfer from your PC using the included USB cable or the Mini SD card. The interface is a step up from that of the dull, bare-bones players we've seen in other phones, and there's even a cool graphic EQ animation when music is playing; look carefully, however, and you'll see that the EQ bars aren't really moving in time to the music. You can pause, scan forward or reverse within a song, and choose from random and repeat modes. It may not be much compared to a run-of-the-mill MP3 player, but the MM-5600's player is pretty robust next to other phones'. Our tunes sounded good over the included stereo headset, although you can't crank the volume that high.

If you're in the mood for some eye candy, you can download and play videos from Sprint PCS. The mostly 1- to 2-minute, for-pay videos average about $4 per clip and range from breaking news from CNN to segments from Fox Sports, the Weather Channel, E Entertainment, Cartoon Network, and AccuWeather. Compared to the clips from Verizon's V Cast service, these snippets are murky and jittery, and we often had to wait several seconds for video buffering to complete. However, Verizon runs on a 3G EV-DO network, as opposed to Sprint's 2.5G 1xRTT service. Data speeds are between 50Kbps to 70Kbps, compared with to 300Kbps to 500Kbps on Verizon's V Cast, and video clips play at 15fps, whereas a normal television set comes in at 30fps.

The MM-5600's customization options are impressive. You can download songs as ring tones or even music videos that will play on the internal (but not external) LCD when the phone rings. You can also assign photos and ringers for specific contacts, use a snapshot as the internal or external wallpaper, pick an animated screensaver, or activate My Buddy--a little animated character that occasionally struts around the internal display. We turned off the last feature in short order. Rounding out the MM-5600's features are such extras as Java (J2ME) demos for Jamdat Solitaire, Ms. Pac-Man, and Tetris Deluxe.

We tested the Sanyo MM-5600 (CDMA 800/1900; AMPS 800; 1xRTT) in New York City, San Francisco, and New Orleans. Calls came through loud and clear, and callers said they had no trouble hearing us. There was also plenty of volume, though audio quality sounded a bit hollow on a couple of occasions. Calls made using the speakerphone and the included stereo headset were only slightly less clear.

We got about 3 hours, 40 minutes of talk time for the MM-5600, just beating the 3 hours, 20 minutes promised by Sanyo. We got about 5 days of standby time, however, half of the rated time of 10 days. According to the FCC, the MM-5600 has a digital SAR rating of 0.72 watts per kilogram.