Sanyo Katana LX Review

Software and User Interface:

The Katana LX is similar in function to the Katana II. The main menu is broken into nine subcategories: (Call) History, Messaging, Tools, Web, Missed Alerts, Contacts, Pictures, My Content and Settings. It is laid out as a grid by default, but can be changed to a list view. In general the layout is good, with the exception of the bloated Settings menu. In this menu there are 21 further subcategories, many of which lead to an even deeper rabbit hole. It’s a simple matter or organization, and several of these subcategories (such as Browser, Data and Wireless Backup) could be grouped together, others (such as Contacts) would probably be better filed under a different main sub-folder and some (like Set Time/Date, which cannot be accessed when in digital coverage, meaning almost ever) could be done away with altogether. Unfortunately the end result can be an overwhelming experience, especially since this phone is targeted at the casual end-user and not the tech-savvy crowd.

As with all Sprint dumbphones, the LX runs Java applications allowing the user to download both free and paid applications. The VGA camera performs as you would expect a VGA camera to perform, that is to say its fine for snapping pictures to send through picture mail or post to your Facebook profile, but under any challenging lighting conditions it’s pretty much unusable.

Since the LX only has 1x data you will not find multimedia applications such as SprintTV and Music Store, but it does support GPS via Sprint Navigation. Web browsing is handled by Access’s NetFront browser. It is a simple WAP browser, and while it can render HTML pages, they are not optimized for the small screen and therefore are cumbersome to view. The LX has Bluetooth 2.0, with support for the HSP, HFP, DUN, OPP (vCard only) and PBA profiles.

The phonebook will hold up to 300 separate entries, with a total of 500 numbers, 600 emails and 300 web addresses. One thing we have always liked about Sanyo phones was the ability to lock the phonebook, which served as a great parental control feature. This would allow a parent to restrict not only who their kids could call, but would also reject incoming calls from numbers not in the phonebook. Unfortunately this feature looks to have disappeared with the Katana LX, an unfortunate omission. One thing we were very pleased to see on the LX was VoiceSignal’s voice dialing software. Until now Sanyo had only included this on high end models, hopefully this will mark a change in this policy.