Sanyo MM-8300 Cell Phone

I've had this phone since October of 2004, with few problems. I bought it to replace an old Samsung phone (I'm currently on Sprint). The only major issue I've had with it is that it will frequently freeze while I'm in the middle of composing a text message. This seems to happen when the phone is getting a software "update." It then has to reboot itself, and of course I've lost my entire text message and have to start over. This wouldn't be such an issue if it weren't so hard to text on this phone in the first place. The keypad buttons, which are flush with the phone, make it hard to compose text messages. Then again, I'll be retiring this phone soon and going with an iPhone, which is touch-pad only, so I'd better get used to it.

Also, the camera doesn't have great resolution. That said, it IS almost 4 years old, and cell phone camera technology has come a long way during that time.

Reservations aside, I must say that this has been an extremely durable phone. I've dropped it countless times (the the point that it has dents and there is paint missing!), and most recently it's been drooled on excessively by my 8-month-old. The most notable example was last night, when he apparently released about a quart of drool into the phone (mind you, I'm not going to let him play with my iPhone like this, of course). It ended up "wonky" for several hours, and I thought he'd actually shorted it out (the arrow buttons, and eventually all of the keypad, ceased working). I left it plugged in and charging overnight, fully expecting it to still be dead this morning, but it resurrected itself! Alas, no emergency iPhone purchase on the horizon today.

I also have appreciated the slim design of this flip phone: it fits perfectly into one of the slots of the center console in my Honda CR-V.