I have decided to post some reviews on my previous phones, yeah ive had about 5 or 6 phones in the last 3 or so months! all with Sprint PCS! Ive used Nokia's 6195. Nokia 6015i. Nextel's i90. LG PM 225.Sanyo 8200. Sanyo 8300. Sanyo 9000. ( yes im a huge sanyo fan ) I have also had alot more phones that i will review and write about, another time, another post.

*Note: 10 is the BEST possible rating.


Screen: The good thing about the pm8200 is you can download free wallpapers that can be resized to fit the entire screen of the phone, which i love! I wish you could just use your custom title while the wallpaper option is on. The screen is incredibly clear, even with the clear protective cover on it. Rate 8

Feel and Looks: This phone feels sturdy, solid and very small in your hand. Sanyo used the best possible quality when manufacturering this phone. This phone definately looks professional. When you open and close the flip, there is a creak to it. It gives the phone a solid feel to it, which can get annoying after a while. The good thing about this phone is, it comes in 4 different colors. Red, Forest Green, Silver and Dark Blue. I had the Dark Blue, which in the sunlight, you can see small specs of sparkle. There are many phone case options out there now. Which cost about 10.00-15.00. I loved this phone! I cant tell you how many times ive accidentally dropped it and it always worked perfect after. I never had ANY problems with the 8200.
Rate: 9

Reception: Incredible! ive NEVER had ANY dropped/failed calls. Always had reception in places where most phones wouldnt.This by far is the most reliable phone I have ever used. No problems with it, at all. Again, great job Sanyo.
Rate 10

Ringers: The ringtones are very low on this phone. That was my only gripe about the Sanyo 8200. If the phone was in my bag, I wouldnt hear it and would miss important calls. Unless I kept the phone in my hand at all times, it was frequent that I missed calls. There is a vibrate feature, which doesnt help much, as it isnt as strong as most vibrate features on other phones. This phone does, however, support QCP downloadable ringers from a variety of free sites. I have noticed that ringers, even downloaded from the Sprint site are extremly low and sound almost muffled.
Rate: 6

Earpiece: The earpeice on the Sanyo 8200 is okay. Nothing great. It does sound as if you are talking through a cardboard box when the volume is higher than 4 or 5, on a level of 8. I found it incredibly hard to understand people when they were talking unless the volume was all the way down. When the volume was all the way down, i had a problem hearing them all together. Also, there are 3 little pin holes to hear through. If you move your ear, even slightly, you won't be able to hear the caller so, you must keep your head positioned just right in order to hear the person on the other end.
Rate 6

Camera: I used the camera constantly on the Sanyo 8200. The camera does include a flash. Pictures were okay, they did come out a bit blurry. If you moved while you take the picture, it wont come out at all. Pictures at night or in low light are terrible. If the flash didnt also work as a flash light, it would be close to useless.
Rate 7

Menu: The menu is very boring. There is no option to use either words or graphics, only words. You can not change the menu colors, fonts or words. You can only store ONE short cut key, which is the left key on the middle menu key. I definately think Sanyo could of done a better job with this one.
Rate 5

Web: The web on the 8200 is fairly fast. I could remember browsing the web in a matter of minutes, when even my EV-DO enabled sanyo 9000 could be slower then the Sanyo 8200! I definately think the web was on of the better abilities on this phone. Downloading is also at a pretty fast rate, as well.
Rate 9

Outter LCD: The outside LCD is really nice and clearly legible. I like the fact that i can click the side button and see what time it is, without having to open up the entire flip. Nice touch. Also, there is no way to put a diffrent wallpaper on the outside LCD. Whatever your wallpaper is on the inside, will be your outside lcd wallpaper, as well.
Rate 8


Extras: The push to talk feature is nice! Also, you get a "buddy" who crawls across your screen, does a dance as you dial a phone number, he wears a pumpkin head to be funny, and does all sorts of other tricks. That to me was a definate plus, i LOVED the little bear, he was so cute! There is an option to take him off. He does infact, show up on the outside LCD as well, when the flip is closed. good. One of my co workers have the Verizon version the a970, played with mine for 10 minutes and started the process to port his number from Verizon to Sprint.

Battery: Incredible! It charges literally in 30 minutes to its full capacity! I have never had a phone charge as quick. It lasts up to 5 days on stand by ( with NO use what so ever ). I am a heavy cell phone user, always on the web too and the battery lasted me ALL day and all night, i didnt charge my phone till about 1 hour before going out and even than it was fully charged 30 minutes before i was about to leave. There is a blinking red lite that blinks when you have a missed call, voicemail, text message, calender alert, or anything to let you know. I think that was a nice touch. Its a very small light, dont worry. Nothing huge!


Overall: I REALLY liked this phone alot. That was the phone i first used when i signed up here at Cell Phone Forums. I definately recommend this phone to those of you who dont mind not being able to customize alot on this phone but want a basic phone with some cool features.

Overall Rate: 7.5

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