I am now the owner of a Sanyo Katana phone, which, as you can probably guess by the blade-themed name, is Sanyo's trim-bodied response to the Motorola RAZR. Although it contains a camera (which I'll probably use twice) it doesn't play MP3s, doesn't have a wide selection of first-person shooter games, doesn't cook rice to perfection, fails to make its internal GPS system (I know it's in there) available to the user, and certainly doesn't function as a floorwax OR dessert topping.

It's just a cell phone.

My purchase was based mostly on the cell phone store guy's report (he did repairs) that the RAZR has a lot of issues, and the Katana gets much better reception. Also on the fact that I'd been quite happy with my previous Sanyo cell phone (though years ago I was a loyal Motorola fan). I also find the RAZR's keypad annoying, since I often like to dial by touch, not sight.

Pluses: Within mere hours of purchasing it, it popped off the belt clip (not the phone's fault), slipped between the stairs and cement wall, and fell an entire flight before smacking into the unpadded cement stairs a flight below. Then, it bounced, slipped again between the stairs and wall and proceeded to fall yet another half flight of steps before impacting the cement floor at the bottom of the stairwell.

As it fell, I thought: Hmm... probably should have bought the insurance. (My phones generally survive for about 2-4 years, and insurance, at $8 a month, doesn't pay at that rate.) But amazingly, the phone worked fine: other than a dent in the case snapper, not a scratch on it I can find. So in gratitude, I'm giving it a positive review in this space: Yay Sanyo! Good, rugged phone!

(Also, it DOES apparently seem to get better reception even than it's predecessor, which was not a bad phone either.)

Minuses: I like to recharge my cell phone in my bedroom (in case I get an emergecy call on it at night). However, unlike its predecessor, the Katana insists on lighting up BOTH the internal LCD display and the smaller outside one the entire time it charges. Meaning I have an amazingly bright glow-worm I have to take time to cover up every night under a shirt or some other object. (That will be loads of fun on a hotel nightstand, I'm sure.) I've gone though the manual, tried a number of things, and can find no way to change this behavior. Grrrr.

Also, if you like using a tradition not-bluetooth headset, you have to carry around a special adapter (included) to connect the phone to the headset. Given my worries about losing that, I decided pop for a bluetooth headset (Plantronics) which seems to be working fine so far.

A quick scan of the CNET review of this phone shows CNET is kind of a joke these days. They've given the phone an undeservedly bad mark, it seems, primarily because it doesn't support "3G", which as far as I can tell, (a) doesn't actually do anything I need or care about (dreams of videophone cell phones? oh please), (b) isn't apparently widely available in the US anyway, (c) would require the carriers to completely rebuild their infrastructure, but yet (d) seems to be of all-consuming importance to the editors at CNET.

I can't help but wonder if they're paid off some 3G consortium.

They're also upset the Katana doesn't have a "megapixel camera". News flash: If I want a megapixel camera, I'll *buy one*, and get a much better one (with a better lens and more sensitive CCD array) than is available in any cell phone.

So in short, if you're looking for a 3G cell phone with a built-in MP3 player and "megapixel camera" (of questionable quality, as most seem to be), this is NOT the phone you should consider.

But if you want a trimline phone with Bluetooth support (which is, incidentally, named for one of my direct ancestors), good reception, good sound quality (as reported from those I called) and the ability to hit a cement surface (twice!) from a twenty-or-so foot drop, while your mileage may vary, I can tell you *I've* been pleased with the Katana.