Rating: 
Summary: Terrific phone, but don't expect much in image quality
Review: The Sprint PCS 8100 is a terrific camera phone. It's the second camera phone to be sold here stateside. Size-wise, it could be a bit thinner like the Panasonic GU-87 GSM phone for AT&T Wireless; but, to be fair, the 8100 is already quite compact, and much smaller than the very first camera phone to hit the U.S. market: the venerable Sanyo SCP-5300.Compard to the 5300 (which is still being sold by Sprint), this 8100 phone has a very bright main LCD, albeit slightly smaller (1.8" vs. 5300's 2.1"). Its 56k color range is very good, and did I mention it's super-bright? Definitely the brightest and clearest phone LCD screen I've seen so far -- and I've personally checked out lots of phones on sale in the U.S. and also in Europe. BTW, an interesting thing about the 8100's screen is that, even if you turn off the backlight, the main LCD is actually still backlighted (backlit?) at a lower level. So for the 8100, backlight on means very bright backlight, and backlight off means dim backlight. The main LCD supposedly uses some new technology developed by Sanyo that draws less power than other LCD screens even when it's backlit. (I read this on some geek website.) The external sub-LCD (on the flip cover) is squarish and also capable of 56k colors, but at 96x96 its resolution is quite low. One interesting use of the external sub-LCD (other than displaying picture caller IDs) is to use it for taking self-portraits. Since I'm an unapologetic narcissist, I simply adore this feature! :) As a cell phone the 8100 shines, no pun intended. The reception is just exceptional! If you've read my other phone reviews you'd know I live in a basement apartment here in the outskirts of New York City. The 5150 and 5300 I had owned before used to get 2-3 bars on the signal strength indicator, but the 8100 regularly gives me 4 bars! I'd say 3-4 is my normal strength, occasionally it drops to 2, and very rarely it goes to 0-1. The built-in earpiece has good voice quality, and it's definitely the loudest earpiece of all Sanyo phones sold s far -- and better than other Sprint PCS offerings. Close to 20 high-quality ringers are included, ranging from simple ringing tones to melodies; they are pretty loud at the highest setting, although a perfectionist such as myself always thinks we can use a bit more volume. The phone functions are easily laid out and responsive. The user interface is clean and simple. You don't need to read the user's guide to figure most things out, as the phone uses a pop-up menu system extensively. One nice touch is the "Mi Amigo" animated character. I won't tell you what it is, though, as you have to see the fun little thing yourself. (Hint: it bathes, exercises, sleeps, beams down from Mars, etc.) Of course, the main draw of this phone is its built-in camera. Compared to the older 5300, this one's resolution is a step down, something like 172x220, vs. the 5300's true VGA (640x480) resolution. The 8100 also doesn't have a built-in flash like the 5300, and you cannot do special digital effects (e.g., digital zooming) as on the 5300. The picture quality is also lower than on the 5300. On the other hand, you get two distinctive pluses vs. the 5300: 1) it takes surprisingly decent pictures in low light, so party photos should come out ok -- in fact I've seen a lot of users take party pics using their 8100s and many would come out surprisingly well, 2) it's much easier to organize and share (or upload) picture files on the 8100 than on the older 5300, and you can also store more pictures due to the smaller size. With each picture, you can upload to Sprint's free picture-sharing website, or you can save to the "picture wallet" folder, from where you can assign them to wallpaper or caller ID. Last but not least, you can simply keep your best on-the-go pictures and laugh silly at them on your commute! It ought to be emphasized that you mustn't expect too much about the picture quality. It reminds me of the first-gen digital cameras that came out back in 1995. Fuzzy and distorted colors best describe the images. The quality is also very sensitive to hand shakes, so often I use one hand to hold the phone steady and the other to press the shutter button. This is especially true when you use the self-portrain mode. I personally find the camera work best in low-light settings like inside a bar, and also on beautiful summer days. The minimum distance to subject is around one foot in order to get a focused picture. The point is, the 8100 is more a fun toy than a serious (or semi-serious) digital camera. Snapping quick shots of people fighting outside Yankees stadium is fine, but family get-together photos are no-no on this. Now a word of warning: in places like New York City cops have started arresting people who surreptitiously take pictures of girls' behinds and legs and whatnots. Please use your phone responsibly! One more virtue of the 8100 is its affordability. In short, this is a terrific camera phone that you'll get addicted to easily. Many other users seem to agree: less than a year after its release, it's already the best-selling phone in Sprint PCS's entire history.
Rating:
Summary: Great Phone
Review: i have owned this phone for more than 6 months now and well i have never had any complain of dropped calls, or poor signal reception. I find strong signals in areas where my previous samsung phone or motorola phona didnt have signals. the camera is okie nothing great, yet goodenough for camera wallpapers, but honestly you need a phone not a serious digital camera. The organization of menu and battery life is decent. Overall i love this phone, but wish it had infrared or bluetooth connectivity to my other devices.
Rating:
Summary: Sanyo SCP-8100
Review: I recently purchased the Sanyo SCP-8100 3G phone, and I am extremely pleased with it's performance and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a 3G phone that overperforms. The only things I would improve are it's lack of faxing ability(Sprint has it hardwired into the unit, so you can only dial #777 for it's data service) & I wish Sprint gave you more in the line of technical information ! I've had a Qualcomm QCP-2700 before,(also a very good phone)and the throughput was limited to 19.2k, but now I am averaging at least 50-60k average with my SCP-8100, built in web browsing too. Not too bad, V.92+ speeds on a reliable CDMA 3G phone, and before I forget I have never gotten one dropped call either. Sanyo keep up the good work !!
Rating:
Summary: ...Awesome Phone, Stunning and Endless Vision Services
Review: I have used pretty much all Samsung phones while being on the Sprint PCS service. When I switched to the Sanyo 8100, I was amazed by the quality of it. The outside feels very smooth, not rough like the Nokia-Series phones. Secondly, almost every single aspect of this phone is customizable, right down to the phones 'Power On\Off Sound' The cameras reaction time can be a bit slower than some of the other phones in its class, and you have to hold the camera still about 3 seconds before you snap the picture, but other than that, the pictures look great! You can easisly upload them to your own personal Sprint PCS Website, e-mail them, or instantly send them to other PCS Vision users. Then theres PCS Vision, which in one word is, Awesome. I signed on, and almost flipped when I was watching movie trailers on the thing, with full-sound comming out the rear-speaker, and decent, full color video appering on the screen. They even have news, sports, entertainment and other movie-clips you can view on the phone. And, for an extra 9.99 a month you can get a service called MobiTV, you can get TLC, Discovery, MSNBC, CNBC, ABC News Live, College Sports TV, CMC, IMN, cNet TV, the list doesnt end. Try getting that on Verizon! Check it out at www.MobiTV.com. Sprint PCS Service can be shakey in some areas, but I tend to get good to great call quality wherever I go (Most people cant tell im calling them from a cell phone) The phone is a little bulky in the pocket, but nothing crazy. I'd have to say, this is qutie the phone. Hope this helps!
Rating: 
Summary: Great phone, Great features, but ...
Review: I bought this phone two weeks ago. It is very nice as a phone - compact, light, with enough volume in the headset so I can hear it with the car top down (but not at 80 mph!). The keyboard is logical and lightly backlit. All the set up and control functions can be accessed at the press of a button. It has lots of really nice features. The 1.8" screen is bright and colorful, with good resolution. It has a built in camera which takes fairly good pictures which you can use as your screen's background. You can also e-mail and upload the pictures if you pay for the service. The battery lasts forever. The phone has PCS web access. You can also download games and programs to make the phone more functional. It has a built in calculator. You can use it as a modem if you purchase a USB cable and software (which Sprint no longer provides). You can upload the pictures to Sprint's web cite and then e-mail them. The pictures you take or d/l can be displayed as four to a screen thumbnails. So, what's the catch? "Sprint" charges for everything. And the contract is for two years. You can upload pictures, backgrounds, ringers and software from your computer -- if you buy for the cable and software, which Sprint no longer supplies, but I can't find software to d/l my pictures directly to the computer. (The cable and software can be purchased separately, but not together! There are three sets of software -- again each sold separately!) If you want access to your pictures, you have to upload them to Sprint's web cite, and then download. Sprint charges for this service. I bought a USB cable to try to use the phone as a modem. I used it for a very short period, and had my phone turned off the next day because I ran up a bill of $80.00. In some ways, it is kind of offensive. At least they reversed the charge because I had two months free trial!
Rating:
Summary: Pretty neat phone...
Review: ... but like someone else said, it's easy to get nickel-and-dimed by Sprint, especially for ringtones. I'm downloading my ringtones from http://muwap.com for $10/year instead of $1/ringtone, and have a different sound every week :) They just started giving amazon users 10% off with coupon code "amazon". Oh, and at first my phone could play the ringtones but not download them, but the guy who runs that site got the phone working in like an hour.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent choice for quick pictures!
Review: While you shouldn't expect this phone to replace your digital camera, there is something great about having the ability to send someone a picture on a whim. The Sanyo SCP-8100 would be a great phone even without the camera! The menus are very easily laid out, and very easy to read. The screen is large enough to read 9 - 10 lines of text off the web (I love reading SI.com's writers' columns). Adding the ability to take pictures just makes it better! I travel some with my work, so I enjoy getting pictures of my children while I'm on the road. Photos can be sent to up to 10 e-mail or phone addresses at a time. Voice messages can be sent along with the photo. Sprint's service even allows people to reply to the photo, so I can get comments attached to the photos. The only reason I don't give this phone 5 stars is due to resolution for pictures. It would be nice if the resolution was a little larger, so you could print off small photos. In spite of that, I'd certainly recommend this, along with the plans provided by Sprint. Great plans...great phone!
Rating:
Summary: good phone but sprint has major overbilling problems
Review: The Phone is great, Sprint service is another issue. I, along with most people i know have had problems where sprint over bills them. Sprint really doesn't seem to care that they have a cronic overbilling problem. If u call and complain (after about 10-20 minutes on the phone with a rep) they do fix it, but u will have to watch your bill like a hawk and call monthly to get it adjusted. They really need to work on their customer service. They dont really seem to care about GOOD customer service.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't buy this phone.
Review: I'm surprised how many other reviewers liked this phone. I can't imagine that they've actually used it much. This phone suffers from poor usability all over: It's a little too slick to hold, it's hard to open with one hand, it's hard to hear unless you hold it just the right way to your ear, the reception is awful (this is compared to a cheaper phone at the same place and time on the same Sprint network), the menuing system is clunky, and it uses it's sloooowww web interface to compose email (including SMS texting... it takes 10 to 20 seconds just to get into the message editor). This is just one of those products that you know the makers don't actually use themselves. It would take a lot of convincing to get me to try another Sanyo product after this experience. I may just go back to Nokia.
Rating:
Summary: Great phone, bad company
Review: I have enjoyed using my Sanyo a lot. I switched from T-mobile just for this phone, even though I was happy w/ their service and had complaints about Sprint in the past. I realy wanted small camera phone so that I would have a camera w/ me at any time. However, the resolution SUCKS! It is fine for attaching a picture of someone to a phone book entry, but other than that, the pictures are not worth it. It has some other cool features, though. I can plan events into my calendar and decide how far in advance to send a reminder as well as the ringtone for that reminder. The quality of the ringtones I can download is awesome! I had "Baby Boy" by Beyonce on there for awhile and people thought it was the radio. Most of my complaints have to do with Sprint. They charge $15 per month extra to be able to send the pictures to anybody or send text messages. They do give a $5 credit per month for downloading games and ringtones, though. However, the internet service is insanely slow and doesn't work half the time. You have to log on to the internet to send text messages and then it takes forever to type them in b/c there autotext is crap. Sprint also put a spending limit on my phone and if it gets even near that, they shut it off until I make a payment, even though my payments are always on time and I have never exceeded the limit. The other day my phone was going to voicemail automatically and telling people I was busy for no reason. The customer service rep was supposed to send me to technical support and sent me to collections where the lady was rude to me and told me I had to pay the bill for last month even though it was not due until the end of the current month and I hadn't even received the bill for it. If I could get out of the contract, I would, but it's $150. Bottom line: UNLESS YOU ARE DYING TO HAVE THIS PHONE, USE ANOTHER CARRIER!!!
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