Nokia 5100 Cell Phone

Introduction
I'd been a AT&T customer for a few years when I decided to switch over to Sprint. I'd been fairly pleased with sprint, but wanted a more cost effective family plan. After looking at the available phones, I decided to go with the Sanyo PM-8200, as it had the style and features that worked best for me. So far, I've been pretty pleased with the phone. Here are my thoughts on the phone and it's many features.

Ease of use
Overall, I find the phone easy to use and figure out. From the keypad layout, to the organized menus, I've had no problem getting the hang of it. When I first got the phone, I found that it was easy to set up and get to chatting with it. Simply install the battery and charge it for approx 3 hours and you're good to go. I've found that the battery holds its charge really well, enabling me to have fairly long conversations with callers. The menus are easy to negotiate, which make changing setting, ring tones, etc a snap. One thing worth noting is while most cell phones require a simple action of pressing talk to access the recent calls, with this phone, it takes a few presses of the centrally located ok button to get to the same menu other phones can access at the press of one button. Not really an inconvenience, just something that takes some getting used to.

Sound Quality
At first, I wasn't sure how clear my calls would be, since I switched to a new phone and cell phone company, but overall, the sound quality is pretty good, at least comparable to AT&T. The phone holds its signal really well, though I do occasionally encounter a dropped call or two every now and then. Though the quality is pretty good, I have noticed that it's much more clear with using the headset that comes with the phone, and even clearer when using a more upscale headset unit. I have noticed that the way the phone is held plays a big part in the sound clarity as well, so be sure to follow what the PDF user guide lays out, and you'll likely be pleased with the clarity the phone delivers.

Camera Phone
The camera part of the phone works pretty well, though I will admit it seemed to work a little better when I first got it. There are a lot of nice features, ranging from flash, zoom, and even little frames for the digital photos. The number of photos that can be taken depends solely on the amount of space you want to use for each photo. You can choose from 3 different sizes, resolutions, and quality settings, so it's easy to find a setting will suit what you like. The number of photo's left is conveniently located in the bottom corner, so users always know how many shots they have. Oddly enough, though I keep the settings at about the midway point, they seem to revert back to the high quality setting. Not a big deal, but it can get inconvenient to keep changing it back in between pictures. The main feature I think is worth noting is the fact that they've been thoughtful enough to add a zoom function to the camera. When on middle quality settings, you can zoom in 8x, and on the lower settings, 20x. Only on the high quality settings can zoom not be used. All in all, the camera part of the phone works well enough, but there are other phones out there that can do better photo wise.

PCS Vision
I've used the PCS vision feature several times since I've had the phone. It's been nice to have the ability to check a sports score, movie showtimes, etc while mobile. Vision establishes connection really well with this phone, and is always sure to ask if you really want to connect(unless you tell it not to ask anymore, which is a rather simple settings change). The fact that it does make sure you want to connect is nice, especially since vision can be quite expensive without the monthly service add on(which is $15/month for the first phone, and $5 for each phone after that. The only downside is that the screen is on the smaller size, though increasing the size would only compromise what makes this phone so great. It's small, convenient size.

Notable Features

Speaker phone
The built in speaker phone is a really nice feature that few cell phones have. It's fairly clear and convenient to use, and it has quickly become a feature I use more often than I thought I would. I'm sure it would benefit other users as well. From using in the car, to having conference type calls with family, friends, and the like, it's nice to be able to access a speaker phone at the touch of a button.

Ready Link
From what I understand, this is something to compete with the walkie talkie style nextel phone. I haven't had a chance to use it, as I don't know other people with it, and I'm not really willing to pay the monthly fee for it. The ready link button is in a easy to access location, the left side of the phone, to be exact. It can be accessed

Ring tones
The ring tones that come with the phone are ok at best. Pretty much just the basic ring tones that most phones have, none special that are worth noting. The good news is that you can use PCS vision or sprint.com, in addition to many other online venders to buy new ring tones that will probably suit your personality a lot better. One bad thing about all this, is that the ring tones do expire, usually after 90 days. I've found that most last longer than that, but it's worth noting. It'd be nicer if whatever ring tone purchased, was yours for the duration of phone ownership, but oh well.

Voice Dial
Voice Dial is a fairly nice feature to have, but it would be even more enjoyable if it were executed a little better. Thought it can be convenient to be able to simply say the name of the person you'd like to call, and have it dial automatically, I've found that it isn't always reliable, as sometimes it can get frustrating repeating a name into the phone. It'd be nice if Sanyo could somehow engineer a way to get it to respond better. At least Sanyo has made it relatively easy to access the feature. Simply press talk or speaker on the phone, and it will ask you to say the name of the person you are calling. It's that easy. Personally, I find it much more convenient to just use the speed dial function.

Negative/Main Concern
Prior to writing this review, there was a major problem I had with the phone; one that was extremely frustrating and almost led to my giving the phone a lower rating. The problem was one relating to the battery/charging function of the cell phone. Sympthoms I had included, sporadic charging, having to position the charging wire in odd ways just to get the phone to charge, hours of charging with the battery still low with no change, and a constant annoying beeping sound signaling that the phone had a connection then lost a connection. All in all, the whole experience was very displeasing, so much so that I almost decided to ditch the Sanyo phone and try another model.

All that talk leads me to the solution. The problem listed above occurs solely as a result of the charger and charging slot on the phone being faulty. So if anyone reading this review owns the phone and is having problems with the phone charging, take the phone the your local Sprint Dealer, and let them know about the problem. When I had the problem, Sprint told me that the charging problem associated with the Sanyo PM8200 is common and that Sanyo allows them(being Sprint)to replace the charger free of charge with a horizontal, flat ended one. If for some odd reason, Sprint gives you trouble regarding a free, replacement charger, I reccommend you go ahead and just buy the flat charger(the charger that plugs into the horizontal, flatter slot at the bottom of the phone). After doing this, it solved the
problem right away for me, as it should for other Sanyo 8200 owners.

Conclusion
Overall, you can't go wrong with this cell phone, or Sprint for that matter. Though not without it's flaws, it's sure to please most people looking for a nice, stylish phone with the features they desire. It's especially a great buy for those coming into the sprint family for the first time, when they offer great rebates and discounts. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this phone to anyone, so go ahead and grab one of your own, you won't regret it.