- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 15 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
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1 out of 1 people found this review helpful
1.5 stars
"This phone is poorly designed and is not a smart buy."
Pros: Big battery and because of its size & weight it could kill muggers.
Cons: Protruding antennae, small screen with low resolution, annoying service alerts that interrupt what you're doing, analog roaming, unorganized menus, not a flip phone (which means using the screen lock for people who don't get tired -->
Summary: CONS (cont.)
of having to always put it on). There's more too.
This phone has to be one of the worst phones I've ever used, so let me go into detail on the cons. The small screen makes the display - and especially media - cramped and ugly. On top of that, the low resolution forces text to be large and awkward so you can even read it to begin with, but it barely fits on the screen. Next, the phone shows alerts whenever it has a service change that stay up for about 3 seconds or until you push a button. As a result, it can be infuriating to try to type a message in very rural, low coverage areas. Speaking of service, I find it hard to believe that Sprint kept analog roaming on this phone. In case you don't know the difference between digital and analog roaming, digital is just as good as being on regular Sprint service, but analog roaming can barely hold a call with its pitiful voice quality, it doesn't allow text messages to be sent or received, it can't find the time, and it sucks the phone battery dry. The analog roaming is a huge fault and can keep the phone from choosing digital roaming instead due to it's flawed service switch algorithm. Next on the list is the user interface itself. The menu, unlike most phones today, has a scroll-style browsing method that makes it impossible to view every menu option on one screen. But another fault about the menu is that many option are scattered and not all in one place. For example, if you want to edit the T9 word settings, don't go to "Messaging" in Settings, silly! Go to "Other," also in Settings, and go to Text Entry, THEN T9 Settings at the bottom, along with other things that should've been under the "Messaging" option. This is only one example of the shotty job the developers did in putting the menu together. Not to do with the menu, there are also general things about the phone's user interface that should have been fixed, like how it doesn't remember to keep the phone set on T9 word after shutdown, or if the phone is charging and receives a message, it obnoxiously rings as if it were being called, even though there's no way to change that in Settings. I honestly think the developers wrote the software for it on their lunch break, because there's no way they requested feedback to make it better. And last but not least, the overall exterior design of the phone is absolutely terrible. The horn-like antennae base is a hassle to deal with and makes it very hard to pull the phone out of your pocket quickly to answer calls. The retractable antennae itself is also flimsy and next to useless to get better service, but it's still unbelievable that phones with internal antennaes get identical or better service. There's also the size. The phone is about 2/3 of an inch thick, which is basically a brick. And remember what I said about the key lock earlier? Well luckily, they made it so 911 can be dialed with key lock on in an emergency. That'd be great if it hadn't done that in my pocket and I didn't find out until about an hour later when I checked it. 100% true story. Since the lock was on, it only allowed 911 to be pushed and displayed instead of 9711111111111554 Voice Record button. The fact is that non-flip/slide phones (besides Treos or iPhones) are a flat out bad design. This phone could not illustrate that better.
So to sum things up, I'd just like to say DON'T BUY THIS PHONE EVER!!!! Even if Sanyo pays you money to have this phone, you'll still be banging your head against the wall when you realize you still have a year left in your contract. If you want a good phone, get something like the Katana II (great phone), a basic LG, or even an SCP-7050. But under no circumstanes should ever consider getting the RL-4930. Believe me, I own one.
- 1 reply to this review
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I have not used the phone, but on the usefulness of analog I would like to offer another view. While finding an analog phone is rare, there are hundreds if not thousands of square miles of analog only coverage across the USA.
With Digital Only cell phones, YOU WILL NEVER KNOW THE ANALOG COVERAGE YOU ARE MISSING!
Claims of "all digital" should be taken as a warning that, ANALOG ONLY ROAMING PARTNERS, in rural areas, lacking deep pockets to upgrade all their network, CAN NOT BE ACCESSED!
For example, an analog capable phone covers MANY SECTIONS of the road THROUGHOUT Yosemite National Park, to Lee Vining, on the eastern side of the Sierras. A digital phone will only work at both ends of the park and the "Valley" floor. Hwy 1 south of Carmel has some analog coverage, Digital 0!
An auto breakdown on vacation, in the mountains or coast, without Analog, increases the reliance upon the kindness of strangers, where an analog cell phone increases the chances of being able to call for a tow.
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