As promised, the SCP-2700 has come to Sprint, bringing that famous Sanyo... ah, "sensibility" to the low-cost QWERTY game. Don't expect EV-DO, but you'll still make off with AGPS, a 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, and a dedicated text button (surprisingly important in this market segment) for your hard-earned $29.99 on contract in your choice of Impulsive Pink and Deep Blue.

[Via Boy Genius Report]

Modern phones deeply rely on the ability to efficiently switch between two, three, or even more bands, a sad reality of the patchwork map of available spectrum the nations of the world have imposed on themselves. That kind of multiband tech requires really awesome miniaturized antenna tech, and a Spanish company, Fractus, says that a whole bunch of the world's top-tier manufacturers are blatantly violating its IP in the field. It's suing Samsung, LG, RIM, Pantech, Kyocera, Palm, HTC, Sharp, UTStarcom, and Sanyo for allegedly infringing on a total of nine patents it holds; the company doesn't specify what kinds of damages it's seeking, but something tells us it's a huge-ish number. Considering that we're pretty big fans of reception, this is a suit we can kinda get behind -- assuming Fractus' claims are legit, of course.

[Via Phone Scoop]

With devices like the Samsung Magnet competing directly in this mega-low-cost portrait QWERTY space, expectations for quality and style are pretty frigging high here. Does Sprint's SCP-2700 from Sanyo deliver? Truth be told, we came away with the impression that it didn't feel good enough to cost $29.99 on contract after rebate; free before rebate, perhaps, but that's about it. We found that the 2700's awfully thick and bulky (while still feeling cheaply light) for its lease in life as a fashion-forward texting machine for the kiddies -- odds are that since it's a Sanyo it'll probably be able to take a beating, but what kind of 15 year-old cares about reliability? Are these the people that grow up to be actuaries?

As the handset news begins to flow at CTIA, we've got a new duo from Kyocera splashing down in CDMA land. Up first is the G2GO M2000 (a follow to the Lingo M1000), which sports a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, Bluetooth, 1.3 megapixel camera, 2.4-inch QVGA display, MP3 player, an accelerometer and a microSD expansion slot. Next, we're looking at the Laylo M1400 slider (shown after the break), which features Bluetooth 2.0, a calculator, scheduler, stopwatch, timer, tip calculator and little else. Not a peep on pricing, availability or what carriers will be picking this up, but we'll keep an ear to the ground for more.

[Via MobileBurn]

Not that we're blindsided by its official introduction or anything, but it's still good to see Sanyo's SCP-2700 in one clear, crisp, cohesive press photo. Available exclusively on Sprint, the QWERTY-equipped handset boasts a 1.3 megapixel camera, Sprint Navigation, threaded text messaging support and Bluetooth. Prospective buyers will need to choose between Impulsive Pink (with a subtle floral overlay) and Deep Blue (which has a tactile square designer pattern on its back), but considering that you've got until May 10th to decide, we'd say there's no real hurry. Oh, and pricing? $29.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and signing away your cellular soul for two long, painful years.

There aren't terribly many surprises in the latest roadmap docs leaked out of Sprint, but there are a couple -- and we finally have some target launch windows around a few of the more anticipates devices we've been expecting this year. Perhaps least surprisingly, the Palm P100 -- that's the Pre for you lay folk -- is still on track for the second quarter of the year, which could mean anything between April and June. Staying in the landscape QWERTY smartphone realm, we'll see the HTC Cedar (or Willow, depending on which slide you're looking at) and a new Samsung Ace -- creatively named the Ace II -- in the second and third quarters, respectively. The landscape HTC Rhodium will likely replace the Touch Pro in the third quarter, and the hotly (and we do mean hotly) anticipated BlackBerry Niagara will be hitting in the same three-month period.

Things are getting interesting down in the dumbphone realm, too, with both the Instinct Mini and a true Instinct successor -- the Dash with an HVGA display -- in the pipe. The Sanyo 2700, dual-slide Samsung Cello, and the Samsung Chianti (which looks suspiciously like a Propel) will all follow the Rumor 2 down the text-centric path, and a handful of new ultra-basic devices will fill in the bottom of the range. For data, Sprint will be launching Novatel's totally awesome MiFi portable hotspot, which warms our hearts. What doesn't warm our hearts is the utter void of Android devices here -- but we can hold out hope, and as always, all of this is subject to change. Stay tuned!

[Via Boy Genius Report]

Okay, so we can safely establish that Sanyo's SCP-2700 QWERTY phone will come in at least two colors: blue, which we've previously seen, and now a stylized floral pink. At the $39.99 on-contract pricing we're hearing ("Sanyo" and "cheap" usually go hand-in-hand in Sprint's lineup), this could be a big winner -- tweeners will probably be able to beat on it for a year or more with little to no ill effect. Come on, Sanyo fans, you know you're frothing at the mouth right now, no need to hide it. We're all friends here.

[Thanks, lakecharlesws]

Sanyo users on Sprint seem to swear by the quality of their phones more than any other group of fanboys and girls -- only problem is, the Kyocera division's selection has amounted to little more than a bunch of low-end flips for the past year. Where's the excitement? That might come in with this little gem, which our tipster alleges to be the SCP-2700 -- not a form factor Sanyo has a lot of experience with, but then again, it's no secret that text-centric feature phones are the name of the game for American carriers these days. It's no Katana, but then again, that's kind of the idea. We'll keep you updated as we hear more.

[Thanks, r0fl]

It's only been a year since Kyocera snapped up Sanyo's cellphone business in a bid to expand its mobile empire, but it looks like the company is already being forced to reorganize its handset businesses into something leaner and, it hopes, meaner. The biggest shake-up comes in the company's U.S. offices, which will now be focused exclusively sales, support, and business development, leaving all the handset design to be done at its Kyocera Wireless and Sanyo Telecom units in Japan, which themselves will be further consolidated in an effort to "enhance the efficiency and competitiveness of the combined global handset business," according to company President Rodney Lanthorne. All of that will result in the loss of some 360 jobs, most of which will come from Kyocera's operations in San Diego and Chatsworth, California, as well as its subsidiary in Bangalore, India.

[Via Phone Scoop]

We've seen no official confirmation or anything, but MobileSyrup has it that Sanyo's cutest couple ever (that'd be the Pro-200 and Pro-700, of course) are headed to Bell Canada in just under a month. The rugged handsets are both made to withstand the pressures of everyday life (and a few off-the-wall encounters with Alaska, poisonous snakes and playground swings), and outside of that, you'll also find Bluetooth, GPS, a speakerphone and 3G data connectivity. The Pro-200 will reportedly cost between $149.95 and $349.95 depending on contractual obligation, while the Pro-700 will go for $50 more across the board.

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]

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 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.