Good Phone Great Texter lots of sytle
I got this along with a new 2 year contract with Sprint in Austin Texas. So all my observations are based on that network.
When i was looking for a phone there were several key features. I wanted a full keyboard for Texting. I wanted a real number pad on the front so I didn't have to hunt and peck on sub sized keys to use my cell phone for actually making a call. I didn't want it to be too big because I always carry it in my pocket. I wanted a good keygaurd to prevent accidental calls from my pocket (previously I had used flip phones). Beyond that reception and battery life were important.
The Sanyo Incognito seems like the perfect combination of what I wanted.
Overview
The Icognito is a slick looking phone when not active the key face is totally slick black with beveled edges. When you activate the front face they "keys" light up. The Front keys are touch sensitive spots on the face you don't really press them so much as tapping them on a keyboard. The keys are electostatically activated which means that you can't peck them out using a pencil or a glove it takes a bare finger or other body part (or special devices).
The screen can be locked or unlocked with a slider switch on the left hand side (you flick it and it returns to position automatically). I find the switch to be a little on the small side but your unlikely to flick it by accident. If you have keygaurd on you have to flick this switch to answer or make a call and at the end of the call (because the keygaurd goes back on after a number of seconds) you have to flick the switch again if you want to hit end call. Slightly annoying.
Pressing the keys takes a little getting used to they are VERY sensitive. Each time you tap a key it activivates the vibrate mechanism so that you get some type of tactile feedback (the whole phone vibrates) when you tap a key.
After a few days use you begin to get used to the whole thing (hitting the right keys using the keygaurd not hitting keys by accident). Its not as good as a real keypad with real buttons but its slick.
One downside I found is that if you are in a very very high moisture environment (I just got out of the shower in steamy bathroom) the front keypad will not work. The condensation on the unit prevented it from detecting the bodys electrostic signals. I took it out of the room and wiped it off and it worked fine.
Another issue I have with the front keypad is it doesn't have full functionality. You can't T9 Text assign functions to the arrows and some other stuff I could do with a conventional sanyo keypad. Also the "glow" goes away after a few seconds of not using it (saves power) but if your tapping in PIN numbers or navigating a phone menu this key be annoying (hit 2 to leave a message ahhh where is 2?) as you have to do something to activiate the light then hit your buttons.
Looking at the right side of the phone (the left side has nothing other than keygaurd) there are several buttons. One seems to call up most recent history there is the volume control the Micro SD card slot (comes with a 1Gig card) and the charging/data port. Uses the Micro USB format charger.
Flipping it open revels the real beauty of the phone. A generously sized QWERTY keyboard (be cell phone standards) and a nice 320x240 screen. They keys on the keyboard have a nice tactile response. There are keys dedicated to common IM/Texting things (smiley face @ ? and period. For less common symbols there is a FN key that lets you use the marked symbols on the key. Clicking FN will make your next key click the symbol you don't have to hold it down uless you want multiple symbols. There is a 4 way navigator pad with central OK button. One touch buttons for camera text messaging and speakerphone.
The screen and UI are nice. Its not an Iphone but nice. There is a floating strip (called the carosel) across the bottom that lets you have shortcuts to items like the web facebook any of the phone tools settings other websites etc. Really nice if your doing facebook or twitter updates. It can be personalized. The screen is sharp and crisp. In BRIGHT sunlight it is still a little dim as are the keys on the front keypad. Still usable but not vibrant.
The back of the phone contains the camera and the speaker. The camera is a 2mp CMOS unit and doesn't take especially great pictures. The speaker is pretty good. No flash or mirror for self portraits. Also the placement of the camera is such that when you activate it (By opening the keyboard and pressing buttons) your finger is usually covering it. You have to remember to move your finger. The placement of the camera button while using it is a little awkward as well. If taking really great camera phone pictures is your thing this isn't your best choice.
Functionality
So it's a cool phone but how well does it work. The answer is pretty good.
As a cell phone it has decent reception and battery life. My previous Sanyo (a basic flip model and a earlier version of the Katana) had slightly better reception but this one is pretty good. No real complains in the Austin area. The volume and clarity of the speaker are average it could certainly be louder and clearer. It is comfortable enough in the hand and thick enough to clamp between the check and shoulder. T
Battery life is good seems to run about 3.5 days of normal use (at least 5-10 calls and 10 texts a day). Recharge time is a few hours.
Texting is great. The full keyboard with generously sized keys makes typing a breeze (for a cell phone). The screen is nice and easy to read. Texts are threaded by contact and date. Adding attachments to a text would be fairly easy but they do consume KB and are not covered under just the text plan.
As far as web surfing GPS and internet use I don't know. I didn't subscribe to the data package because its not worth it right now. Looks like status updates and uploading pictures from the phone would be a breeze and I'm sure email would be nice.
So to Recap
Pro's
Slick design very clean lines
Full QWERTY Keyboard with great keys and a few extras
Decent reception and battery life
Good UI
Excellent Texter
Cons
Front touch panel has issues and lacks some functionality it could have.
Keyguard is a bit annoying
Camera is poorly placed and pictures are not top quality (even for a cellphone).
(All relate to compromises for the slick design).
Conclusion
If you are looking for a cool slick phone and you do a lot of texting and/or email this phone is an excellent choice. It's a texters dream. Its got a rich feature set good UI decent reception and battery life and the best cell phone keyboard I've ever pecked on. Its not a one trick wonder either it handles all of its tasks well and doesn't leave you wanting for much.
If your not doing significant texting or email there are better choices for phones unless your just in love with the style. It's a capable web browser but other phones with a larger touch sensitive screen would work better.
But for what I wanted and what I use it for this phone was one of the best phones out there.
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