KatanaEclipse
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Sprint gives revamped Katana Eclipse X its One Click interface
We had a sneaking suspicion that Sprint couldn't leave well enough alone with its current Katana Eclipse, and sure enough, we're now seeing reports that a mildly reworked Katana Eclipse X is on its way. As predicted, it'll be loosed in Nightlife Black and Hypnotic Pink, and the main difference over the existing iteration will be the One Click application, which enables users to "organize and personalize their homescreens with the most used applications, including Google search and e-mail." Everything else should remain the same, though we haven't heard if price is included in "everything."[Via CNET]
Sprint getting Katana Eclipse in more colors, Rumor replacement?
We've been slipped a handy little document that indicates the dates that Sprint is currently targeting for the release of a few of its fall hotties, and although we already knew some of this stuff, it's always good to have some corroborating evidence in these situations. First up, the Motorola Renegade V950, i365, and Samsung M220 and M320 are all still apparently locked for September 2, as is the Touch Diamond. We've heard a groundswell of concern from tipsters that the Touch Diamond may have been bumped out to October -- it certainly wouldn't surprise us, given our jaded, overwhelmingly pessimistic personalities -- but here's hoping, anyway. It also looks like the just-released Katana Eclipse in silver will be getting pink and black siblings come October 16, along with an "LG LX600 Messaging Handset." We're not sure what the LX600 might be beyond what a confidentiality-bound FCC filing tells us, but the Rumor is getting a little long in the tooth, so it could conceivably be replacement device or a slightly higher-end QWERTY set that would sit somewhere above the Rumor in the lineup.
Sanyo Katana Eclipse hands-on
Sanyo handsets are like cats: you either love them or you just really, really loathe them with every fiber of your being. Sprint and Sanyo both seem to be pretty okay with that; clearly, not every phone in Sprint's lineup is going to be for everyone, and the Katana Eclipse is no different. Sanyo fanatic or not, though, our gripe list added up pretty quickly with this one, so would-be buyers might want to put it through a good workout in store before taking the plunge.The phone's hinge design causes the upper half of the phone to rest behind the bottom half; that is, the intersection of the planes containing the two halves is not the center of the hinge (think MacBook, for example). We thought that felt a little weird against our face and made it more difficult to get a good seal between the earpiece and our ear. Also, the front of the phone -- arguably the most attractive of any Katana to date -- isn't the most user-friendly. The tiny external display was difficult to read even in a moderate amount of shade, and the music controls are nearly flush with the shell which makes actuating them trickier than it should be. Speaking of displays, the primary one is pretty small, leaving a huge gray bezel with no function whatsoever (don't be fooled by the white dots at the bottom, they serve no function other than to make you think that they're touch-sensitive soft buttons, which they're not).It's not all doom and gloom, though. The dedicated speaker key is a nifty parlor trick, you've got a 1.3 megapixel cam in there, and it does stereo Bluetooth. Plus, it's a Sanyo, and we know that for a few of you out there, that's all that matters. For you guys, you'll be able to pick up the Katana Eclipse immediately for $99.99 with a new two-year contract.%Gallery-29860%
Sanyo's Katana Eclipse flip phone lands at Bell Mobility
Merely hours after getting up close and personal with press shots of Sanyo's Katana Eclipse, folks up in Canada can now reach out and grab their own. Bell Mobility is offering said flip phone for $49.95 on a tear-jerking 3-year contract, $99.95 on a 2-year plan, $224.95 on a 1-year plan or $274.95 sans an agreement. Specs wise, you're looking at a 1.3-megapixel camera, 10MB of internal memory, integrated MP3 player, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, a 2-inch internal display (complemented by a 1-inch screen on the outside) and a 2-way speakerphone to boot. So, does simple do it for ya?[Via mobilesyrup]
Sanyo's Katana Eclipse in all its glory
Relax, take your shoes back off and put down your car keys -- the Katana Eclipse still isn't released, so there's no point in running down to your local Sprint kiosk just yet. We do, however, have a full range of photography that should temporarily keep would-be buyers' heads from exploding for a dearth of information about Sanyo's latest American clam. The phone looks like it might be the most attractive Katana to date, and Sanyo owners tend to be among the most fiercely loyal around, so we think this one should get some good play at the cash register. Check out the gallery, and keep the drool off your keyboard for once, will ya?[Thanks, Opie33]%Gallery-29373%
Sanyo Katana Eclipse does the FCC mating ritual
Well, there you have it: the very real-looking Katana Eclipse pictured in that leaked Sprint roadmap is, in fact, real. The upcoming clamshell flew right on through the FCC recently (filed under new parent Kyocera's name, no less) bearing the expected external music controls and an evolutionary design that's kinda sorta reminiscent of everything that makes the Katana series, the Katana series. We've got EV-DO in here, too, so if we had to guess, this will end up slotting in somewhere toward the bottom of Sprint's midrange when it goes on sale -- which may or may not be August 17 depending on the accuracy of said roadmap.[Via Cell Phone Signal, thanks Marco]
