vB Easy Archive - Ended up with a 8100. Observations inside

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Ended up with a 8100. Observations inside
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Posted by: Tekknikal

So I ended up getting a 8100 over the 5300. So far I can't complain, I see some very nice things with the phone and I see some things that could use modification...

First, I dont think the size issue is big with the phone. This phone seems as big as a 5150 + incl battery (=5300 w/ extended battery, if i'm wrong correct me). And thats giving the 8100 the benefit of the doubt. In reality it might be a fraction of an inch larger. My point is that a 5300 w/ compact battery would be noticably thinner. To many it wouldnt mean much, but to me that says that the 8100 has little-no advantage over the 5300 as far as size goes. Yes it is shorter but in your pocket thickness is as important if not more. Thats what I think. Your opinion may vary.

The LCD inside is ok- it's very bright which is good, although it looks as if my 5150 had better colors, even though it had far fewer. I wonder how the 5300 compares in these regards.

The keyboard is horribly lit. I dont know what else to say. My 5150 puts it to shame.
The keyboard layout on the other hand is very nice. I like how they've laid it out, for such a small area.

The external LCD seems ok, its better than a monochrome LCD although its kinda wierd.. maybe this is what it looks like when you have a high dp? I dunno.

The camera feature isnt very good. People say that this doesnt matter but to me it would, you're already going to be paying for the vision + picture pack plan, and you're already spending this much on a phone. Sure I wont print out pictures, but for using them as camera backgrounds and caller id pics I'd prefer better . That said I do like the way it's implimmented. Very nice. Also I like the fact that you dont have to go offline to take pics, and finally the fact that you can adjust the pics so you can see how itll look as the desktop display and also how it will look on the sublcd. very very nice.

Those are the negatives, the positives are that 1- this phone HAS a camera, 2- this phone HAS a color sub lcd, 3- the interior lcd isnt bad AT ALL (its better than some more expensive phones' lcds), 4- being a sanyo flip (nuff said), and intentionally saved for last...
price.
Personally I feel that this phone is worth the $162 I paid. Very worth it. Is the 5300 worth $400 (or $300) ? Depends on how much money that is to you. These comments may seem overly negative, but Ive made them this way because I see some 8100 users knocking 5300 buyers (past and present) I feel that is unwarranted. If $3-400 was to me, what $162 is to me now, I'd definitely go for the 5300. I'd get every bit as good of a phone + exclusivity.
Which brings me to my last point.
Ive said this is a good phone, it is. Be ready to see a lot of these. I saw a girl who must have been no older than 14 in a BB getting one activated (yesterday)......

Posted by: Aurora

Tekknikal,

Thanks for the great review. You're probably right: there will be a lot of these phones around. And it's a great deal, so ya can't blame people!

Glad you got your hands on one

Posted by: krock

any one have comments on the battery life so far? I have to say that it is appearing that the 8100 is much gentler on the battery than the A500 was.

I am still at full strength after:
1. fully charged the phone
2. programmed all of the speed dials/voice dials
3. browsed and set all the settings I wanted
4. made a few 10-20 minute calls
5. browsed around and dl'ed all the ringers/games/pix I had on the A500
6. played all the ringers to see how they sounded
7. played a little Ms. Pacman
8. been 24 hours since it came off the charger

I did not want to start a new thread on this (and maybe one already exsists, I didn't check). This one just seemed appropriate.

Posted by: silentone19

the battery life is nice.....i can do alot and not have 1 bar drop off the power meter. Im wating for the extended battery to come out jus to physically see how long it can last. Need an actual test run not specs to really be amazed

Posted by: Tekknikal

youre welcome Aurora, trying to do my best for the people who've done a lot for me (but dont know it)

krock, yes I have made some observations today on that. I've run my battery dead. It seems to be very close to my 5150 (but maybe 15mins shy, hard to say). So I'd give it about 2.5hrs of talk time. I also took a few pics and browsed vision for a few mins, FWIW.
I will try to get a better est. tomorrow.

*edit-
Another comment, probably worth a new thread, is that the LCD dimming on the 8100 is a feature, not a flaw. It starts at full brightness and if you let it idle it'll dim to the 5300's level. And if you let it sit longer the backlight goes off.

Posted by: Solema

Price was also the biggest factor to me. Had I been a new subscriber, I would have definitely jumped on the 5300 when places like Best Buy and most retailers had them as low as $225 AR for new subs. But, since I am a "less-priveledged" current subscriber, I just couldn't afford, nor justify, the price of the 5300. When I went into Best Buy on Saturday and saw this phone sitting there, it was like my prayers for a good phone were answered! Since I have the Service Plan for Best Buy, I finally got rid of my $180 POS n400 and switched to Sanyo Goodness!

As a side note, I personally don't mind the lower quality of the pictures. They are more than acceptable for me to use as Caller ID pics.

I also saw in a Sanyo/Sprint Press Release for this phone a quote from a Sprint Official saying that he wouldn't be surprised if the 8100 became the best-selling Sprint phone ever. And I have to say that I agree with him! For $99 for a new subscriber, there simply isn't a better phone on the market. It's just too bad I will have the same phone as all the teeny-boppers, but I'll get over it.

Posted by: Aurora

Quote:

Originally posted by Solema
<snip>
It's just too bad I will have the same phone as all the teeny-boppers, but I'll get over it.

rofl...teeny-boppers.

Yeah this phone is going to sell like hotcakes.

I don't plan on leaving my 5300 until the upgrade to the 5300 comes out... Probably will be a while, too.

Posted by: Solema

Yeah, the upgrade to the 5300 will be about the only phone I might consider in the future. I'm glad I re-upped my Service Plan at Best Buy for another two years!

Posted by: teetoo

Solema -

What did you say to the Best Buy people to do the swap on the phones with the service plan? They've always given me a hassle about bringing things in with the plan.

Posted by: Solema

I told them my n400 didn't last 4 hours before it was dead, and that it spent 90% of its time looking for a signal. I guess I am just fortunate to have a Best Buy that is VERY lenient about service plan implementation. When my a400 died, and I was trying to decide on what to replace it with, I was not happy with any of the flip phone choices. The Sprint PCS guy flat-out told me to "Get the n400 to hold you over, and bring it back when the new ones are out and switch to that. I do it all the time."

BTW I go to the Mayfield Heights store in the Cleveland area, for anyone who is from around here.

I guess the main way to get a replacement is to follow this plan:

1. Be upset but calm at the piss-poor quality of your phone.

2. Describe problems to them that they can't possibly resolve in the 5 minutes they would look at it, such as "It drops calls like it's its job" or "The phone hardly lasts a few hours, and I can't be stranded when driving from <city> to <far away city>" or "It freezes up a lot and randomly resets."

Posted by: teetoo

Thanks Solema

Posted by: everything

(i always have the fear that the guys at the stores read these forums)

I had quite a lot of trouble yesterday trying to get BB to take back my 4900. While I have someone who wants to buy my phone (thanks!), I thought i'd take it in for one last try at PSP replacement. I called on the phone to check it out. Luckily, there are three or four BB stores in my immediate area, so if I burn a bridge, its no problem to go to another.

The girl on the phone said, bring it in. If there's something wrong with it, it's no problem getting another kind of phone. I smiled all the way there. I brought it in, in box, with the charger. I told them that sometimes Vision would kick out, keeping me in an endless loop of "Retry/Cancel" prompts until I shut the phone off/on two or three times. This has happened, but rarely. I knew this was probably a problem with the phone, not the service, and told them it would probably be difficult for them to replicate. They said they MUST SEE SOMETHING WRONG, or get a letter from the sprint store across the street.

My options were 1) Leaving it there overnight; or 2) taking it across the street to the Sprint Store and cross my fingers.

Right away, the guy at the Sprint Store noticed that my username was all lowercase, and that indicated that I had to be reprovisioned. OK, FINE. Problem would be solved. F uck. So I asked them, could they just run the diagnostic to see if something might pop up (i told them i'm looking for BB replacement)? They did, and 40 minutes later, I had my phone list printed out in my hands, and a good-as-new phone.

Took it back to BB. Got a different CS rep. Told them that Sprint apparently fixed the problem, but it's not guaranteed and i'd really just like to pay them a few more dollars and get a new phone. Stone wall.

Mind you, there actually was a defect in my original purchase. The original travel charger unexpectedly snapped at the plug, but that PART could maybe be replaced under warranty (I was told earlier it couldn't), not the phone .

Before you flame, I understand that they're following their policy. My phone works fine, but you can't fault me for trying.

From what I hear, CC is more leniant with their plan, so I plan on making my 8100 purchase there.

Posted by: Solema

Your story makes me not want to move away from the Cleveland area! Both Best Buy's in my area are very lenient on replacements. They used to be lenient, then when the first color Vision phones came out, the did exactly what you are saying, they required a letter from the Sprint store. They changed their policy because they didn't want people superfluously upgrading. But then they got A LOT of customer complaints from people, especially people at the Mayfield store because the nearest Sprint store was 20 miles from there. After the new "Color Phone Craze" died down they went back to their old ways.

Posted by: cd1000

Best Buy is the same way here in Denver--it's like pulling teeth to use their performance plan. PDA'S, phones are all the same. They tell you you can switch for any reason at any time to sell you the plan, but when you want to take advantage of it then you have to jump through hoops. That is why I use Circuit City--they will pricematch without hesitation, have a 30 day return policy (except computers) , and don't charge restocking fees.