Sanyo M1 Cell Phone Review - Tour & Design
|
Alfredo Padilla Published on March 15, 2007 Comment on this |
|
|
|
|
Front Closed
The front of the Sanyo M1 is black with silver highlights. On the bottom you find a circular pad that allows you to control your music and access certain phone functions when the phone is closed. Above this you find the 1.3 inch TFT LCD with a resolution of 128 x 96 and displays 260K colors. Above the display are the Sprint and Sanyo logos, flanked by speakers. Above the logos you find a single LED which shows the battery and call status; green for charging, red for low battery.
Left
The left side of the Sanyo M1 has a couple of buttons and ports. On the top you will find a loop for a lanyard. Below this is a port for standard 2.5mm headsets/headphones. This is protected by a rubber cover that is connected to the phone. Below this is a hard plastic button with 3 pips on it to provide some tactile feedback. This button launches the voice recorder application, whether the phone is open or closed.
Below this button you find the volume rocker keys. The keys will only change phone volume when the phone is open, however it will allow you to change music volume when the phone is closed. On the bottom of the left side you will find a charging port, again protected by a plastic cover connected to the phone. All of these buttons and ports are located on the bottom half of the phone flip.
Top
On the top of the phone you see the hinge mechanism for the flip. There are no other major features here.
Bottom
The bottom of the phone has only one port used for data connections to your PC. It is protected by a plastic cover that is connected to the body of the phone. Unfortunately it is a proprietary port, but the phone does come with an icable with a standard USB plug on the other end.
Right
The right side of the phone has 2 buttons. The top button is assigned to voice command, and can be used whether the phone is closed or open. Below this button is a dedicated camera key. Again, you can use this key when the phone is closed, using the external LCD as a viewfinder.
Back
The back of the phone is dominated by the battery cover, taking up the bottom three fourths of the back. Just above the cover you will find from left to right: a port for an external antenna, flash for the camera, camera lens and release for the battery cover. At the top you will find two small feet that help protect the camera lens when you set the phone down. Finally, on the top right you will find the other side of the lanyard loop.
Front Open
When opened the top part of the flip is dominated by the 2” TFT LCD display with QVGA (240 x 320) resolution and capable of displaying 260K colors. Above the screen is a slot for the phone speaker, and below it is the Sprint logo.
The bottom part of the flip is split fairly evenly between the controls and keypad. The controls on the top part begin with a pair of soft keys. Below and centered between the soft keys is a 5 way D-Pad. 5 additional buttons are arranged in a crescent below the D-Pad. Starting on the left are a dedicated camera button, a talk button, a dedicated speaker phone button, the end key and a back button.
Below the controls is a standard keypad. The keys are silver and well spaced. At the very bottom you will find the microphone.
Battery Out
The 1000 mAh battery included with the Sanyo M1 is all one piece with the door casing. Getting the battery out is very easy, simply pull the release latch and it will pop up. Below there is nothing of interest. Sanyo also offers an extended 1650 mAh battery for those who want it.
In the Box (4.0)
The Sanyo M1 comes with a good selection of accessories. There's a standard wall charger, a USB cable, stereo headset and a microphone adaptor so that you can plug in your own 3.5mm headset and still make hands free calls. In a day when many manufactures are cheaping out on headphones and USB cables, we were pleased to see Sanyo include them.
Handling (5.0)
The Sanyo M1 is a rather blocky handset that bucks the slim handset trend. One side affect is that it is not overly large when opened. This is further accentuated by the hinge mechanism, which creates a large “hump” on the phone when opened. This can make the M1 a little awkward to hold against your head, as it is difficult to hold it along its entire length. We found that when texting with one hand the handset is very top heavy and can be difficult to hold for long periods. Also, because of the way the hinge works you have to hold the phone by the lower part, meaning that the camera lens ends up directly beneath a finger. The phone is made of somewhat slick plastic, but has so many buttons and ports that these provide some traction and make it easier to hold. Overall we found the Sanyo M1 to be slightly awkward in your hand, we found the Motorola Razr V3m and LG Chocolate more comfortable to hold.
Portability (7.0)
As we mentioned the Sanyo M1 is definitely thicker than many phones found today at .9”. Aside from that its height and width are actually slightly smaller than the Razr V3m for example at 3.6” x 1.9” versus the V3m’s 3.9” x 2.1”. The Sanyo M1 looks blocky but is fairly light coming in at 3.8 oz versus the Razr V3m’s 3.49 oz. The Sanyo M1 will slip easily into most pockets, unless you are wearing very tight pants. It will also fit nicely into the side pocket of most hand bags. Overall it is almost as portable as the Razr V3m or the LG Chocolate, falling just short as a result of its thickness.
Aesthetic (3.0)
The Sanyo M1 is not a pretty phone. It’s boxy, plastic and dotted with buttons and ports. There is an attempt to create a clean look with mostly black and silver highlights but the plethora of buttons/ports and the large and ungainly hinge mechanism pretty much ruin the effect. When opened the “hump” is noticeable and we prefer the smooth lines of phones like the Razr or Cingular 3125. Those looking for a fashion phone should look elsewhere.
Durability (5.0)
We have concerns about the Sanyo M1’s durability. The plastic construction is one of them, although we must admit that we got fewer creaks than we expected out of the M1. We always have concerns about phones with hinges and moving parts, and the M1 is no exception. The hinge mechanism is bigger and because of its unique setup locks into place better than most, but we didn’t like the creaks we heard when opening and closing the phone. The hinge is also spring assisted, and springs are much more likely to wear out sooner. Overall we felt that the M1 was middle of the road in terms of construction: the LG Chocolate and Motorola Razr V3m felt more solidly constructed, but we have seen worse than the M1.
| Previous Next | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
