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Sprint releases Sanyo Katana II
Looks like Sprint has dropped the drapes on Sanyo's Katana II handset, as it is showing on Sprint's website as of now. The SCP-6650 Katana II makes a few decent strides over the EV-DO-less original Katana from last year, including a refined design and a more RAZR-esque profile, but with the Katana II sportin' a positively ancient VGA digicam and lacking EV-DO data of any kind, this apparently-minor refresh to the Katana design may not win many converts from the original or otherwise. But hey, at under $100 with a new two-year contract, we can't complain too much -- although $50 seems like a more appropriate price right off the bat.[Via Phone News]
Sanyo Katana II in the flesh
Any excitement we would've had for the coming of the Katana's replacement has been tempered by a totally bogus lack of EV-DO -- but as a thin, inexpensive flip, it looks like the Katana II should be able to hold its own against the competition. This here is the first decent picture we've seen of the device -- or devices, seeing how it'll apparently be available in black, pink, and silver -- showing a reasonably attractive shell with the same VGA cam as its predecessor. The display's apparently up a fifth of an inch to 2 inches in total, but there ain't much else to talk about without upgrading to the slightly higher-end Katana DLX. Look for the Katana II to hit next month for a shade under $50 on contract.
Sanyo Katana II met by the FCC's warm embrace
The Katana II has been a rumored device on Sprint for quite some time, but what we haven't been able to find out is whether it makes good on the original Katana's critical failure to include 3G. The device was originally billed as a low-cost alternative to the RAZR, but let's be honest: the RAZR ain't the king of the hill anymore, and EV-DO is finally a commodity feature in even entry-level CDMA handsets. Sadly, the Katana II's FCC filing doesn't shed any light on the sitch -- all we know is that it's a CDMA handset with Bluetooth -- but we do get a handful of sketches in the ID label documentation (think of it as a sort of color-by-number Katana II, minus the numbers). If the original rumors hold true, expect the phone to hit as soon as June.
