PCS Phone Toshiba VM4050 (Sprint)

Rating:
Summary: Winning Blend Of Form & Function Distinguish The VM 4050
Review: I bought this phone based upon the "glowing" reviews (pun intended) I'd read for it's exceptionally large and vivid screen display, and this feature is indeed superb, with better visibility, readability and "WOW" factor than any comparably priced phone I'd seen. A pleasant surprise, however, is the overall ergonomic appearance and easy, intuitive icon-driven navigation of menus and features. Phone and speakerphone sound quality is above average, battery life is acceptable and I've not noticed the heat during calls issue raised by another reviewer; with the screen set to dim after 30 seconds it's not an issue.

Overall, I can recommend the Toshiba VM 4050 as a winning entry by Toshiba into the cell phone market. It sports a bright, superior display, solid build quality, slick menu navigation, not to mention a decent camera with built-in flash! Any Sprint PCS customer looking for a fun, intuitive and solid performing phone should strongly consider it.

Rating:
Summary: Best phone I've had yet.
Review: I go through phones about 1 per year. And I usually get the latest and greatest. Yes, I'm a guy, and yes I like flashy gadgets :-)

The screen is absolutely phenomenal. I was sold after I saw it. Super bright and displays pictures perfectly.

The camera is good, for a camera phone. I was disappointed with the zoom, or lack there of (only 2x). And you have to set the zoom after you reduce the resolution of the pictures. Which you have to do in the menu and can't do while you're framing your shot.

The video camera is neat. Not a great frame rate at all, but hey, it's a phone. It's a cool toy.

I've read some of the other reviews that say the battery life is average. I've found it to be quite good. I use my phone about 30 minutes a day, either calling, taking pictures or being on the web, and my charge lasts several days.

The signal and call quality is as good as my other phones. I live in LA, so the Sprint coverage is pretty good.

The one knock I have is the battery and battery cover. They are two seperate pieces and if the cover comes off, the battery just comes spilling out. I was at a concert and tried to remove the phone from my pocket and accidentally hit the battery cover release. Both the cover and battery came right off and diappeared into the darkness.

Other than that, this is one terrific phone.

Rating:
Summary: Good Phone - Fantastic Screen!
Review: I had a Samsung before decided to go with Toshiba vm4050, and I'm NOT regretting at all.
Its signal strength is excellent, I think this model had problems but manufacturer has fixed all issues, so if you buy this model make sure its latest release. The phone itself has all standard features, and then some: voice activated dialing, speaker phone, camera and video camera with flash, etc. The best part is the screen - its FANTASTIC, large very sharp - I can easily show pictures on it and all other screens look tiny and fuzzy by comparison.
Battery life is ok, due to the screen power drain, and speaker is not the best. And surprisingly this phone does not get hot after long use. Overall, I definitely would recommend it.


Rating:
Summary: Great Phone!
Review: I have used cellphones from approx. 10 years. The Toshiba VM4050 is one of the best ones I've used. I was hesitant to go from a solid one piece design to the "flip" style phone.I was surprised at this models durability. The camera and video features are nice. The only drawbacks are the fact that the phone does heat up quickly and the battery life is not as long as some other models

Rating:
Summary: Buy this excellent phone, great pictures, tons of features!!
Review: I'm overall happy with this phone. It has the best screen I have seen with pictures and 15 sec video clip. Takes excellent pictures, has a flash and even a zoom setting. It has a great menu screen and easy to manipulate. The main menu includes a call history, phone book,messaging, web, downloads, pictures/video, voicemail, settings,and tools!! I like the ability to also set up your own special quick menu instead of having to go to the main one and by just by pushing the up button. The keys are soft, blue lit and big enough to use.
The sound quality is excellent, however I did pick up a conversation while I was ending my call one time, making me think if the other person heard my conversation as well.
Anyway, I'm overall happy with it and also for the price. Right now, with all the instant rebates...it is the lowest and best phone per dollar hands down!!!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Phone
Review: I've had this phone for 3 months. This isn't my first cell phone, I've had 5 others (2 AT&T Nokia TDMA phones, an AT&T Nokia GSM phone, and an AT&T Sony Ericsson GSM) and this one is by far my favorite. When I walked into the Sprint store, desperate to get a new phone but incredibly disappointed by AT&T's GSM network, I only wanted a cell phone that was durable and had good call reception, and if it could browse the web, so much the better. I chose this one solely based on its durable look, awesome display (and is there yet a better display on a cell phone?), and I would let the other essential factor, its call reliability, be proven over my Sprint 14 day trial period. I got all of the above with this phone. But beyond those features, I got its picture taking ability, voice recorder, huge screen for actually usable web browsing, and impressive calendar functionality.

I think this phone is under-hyped, which is why I'm spending time writing the review. Not only can it do something I could only hope to do with newer AT&T phones (receive and originate phone calls virtually anywhere), it has an incredible user interface. A user interface is unfortunately one of those features that is worthless in the store when you pick up a phone to try out. But it's really one of the most important features. I, like many other people, get impressed by animated high-color graphics, sleek design, sounds clips, and general glitter. But a good user interface is something that allows your phone to become a daily time saver and sophisticated tool. This phone's user interface is so intuitive yet powerful that even if I knew I could not convince one more person to buy this phone, I would still continue raving about it in hopes that another top cell phone manufacturer can learn to make a better product from it. For instance, with *one* button press, it's possible to enter camera mode (to frame a picture), browse the web, look at the phone book, voice dial (up to like 50 people). With two buttons I can: dial up to 9 presets (for either regular or speakerphone conversations), take a picture, go to virtually any extra function if I set up a short cut (like alarm, scheduler, timer, etc), record a reminder to myself, or browse my picture library. And it's snappy; its response to these button presses (except for picture taking) is fast (less than 0.5s.)

For durability, it has withstood two nasty drops (one ejecting its battery -- but I experienced no problems with loose batteries or battery cover plates as other reviewers have.) And withstanding drops and still retaining all its phone functionality, as mind-numbingly obvious a criteria as that may seem, is something I could not say from my Sony Ericsson experience. I still doubt it's as durable as those Nokia TDMA military-grade phones, but so far so good. :)

Here are a few other goodies they packed into the phone that are not usually mentioned. 100 short cuts, but virtually unlimited others because if you type in the last few digits of a phone number in your phone book, it calls the number. Calculator with +,-,/,*,= all accessible within one button press. And even better, an automatic tip calculator. Laugh all you want, but 99% of the time I want to a cell phone's calculator, I just want to figure out how much I owe in tax/tip. You give it the tip/tax rate and it calculates the tip proportion and total with a single button press. And it's calendar application allows for repeating events, like weekly meetings, mortgage payment reminders, and birthdays.

I've yet to see a better phone, but to try to give my review more credibility, I'll also mention its shortcomings. My biggest gripe is that I wish you could view the phone book while making a call. This is necessary for those times when someone calls and asks for a mutual friend's number that's stored in the phone. This unfortunate omission is partially forgiven by virtue of the phone's cool ability to record the other party's voice during a phone call -- making it quite easy to take a phone number while driving, for instance. Secondly, it could have a longer battery life, though it's never died within a day of talking, just over multiple days without recharging. Even still it's not up to the battery life standard of old Nokia TDMA tank phones. Part of the cause of its shorter battery life is because the screen is extremely bright, making it visible in direct sunlight (and a viable emergency light) so I'm actually okay with this. Thirdly, I wish it could vibrate on received calls in addition to ringing at a medium level (it either vibrates with no ring, or vibrates with the loudest ring.) And finally, I wish it had bluetooth or an included USB cable for synchronizing calendar/contacts with a laptop. Of course such USB/synchronizing software is available for the phone, but it's extra, and much more importantly, it not endorsed by Sprint/Audiovox, meaning that most people won't even bother if they didn't mind spending the money.

So overall, this device meets and exceeds my requirements for a cell phone. I'm impressed by its capabilities, and think that even now, about a year after its announcement, it's still one of the best phones you can buy for any network, and certainly the best for Sprint.

Rating:
Summary: Toshiba - Sanyo - Toshiba - Sanyo ..... Toshiba!
Review: Looking for a new phone with camera and web functionality, I considered the Toshiba VM4050 and the Sanyo VM4500 and ended up with the Toshiba. Both have good VGA quality cameras and camcorders; the Toshiba screen is much better than the Sanyo; I don't need the PTT (push to talk) feature; and I don't use the speakerphone much (prefer an ear bud). But, having said that, I did initially purchase the Sanyo and returned it because friends on the other end of the line said the voice quality was awful ("in a tunnel", "far away", "didn't pick up much sound"). I didn't think the voice quality on my end through the ear piece sounded that great either. I tested several phones - including my trusty old Nokia, lower end model Sanyos, Samsungs, and finally the Toshiba - of all of them, the Sanyo VM4500 was still the worst (though the Sanyo 8100 was considered good sound quality, the Sprint lady at the Wilshire store told me that there are none to be found anywhere - uh huh). So I returned the Sanyo VF4500 and got the Toshiba instead.

Having the Toshiba home and using it for a while, the screen is INCREDIBLE. The battery life is indeed short (as has already been reported) - I'm already at one bar left on the phone and I "only" used it for two hours yesterday. Granted, I used it for 20 minutes searching the web; another 15 minutes taking photos; another 30 minutes talking on the phone. But still....

Another thing that I found after taking home the Toshiba - that I had not read about yet from other reviewers - is that the phone heated up so much while on a call. I think it's heat from the INCREDIBLE screen. I think I figured out a way around that - other than having to use an ear bud all the time - I changed the main screen setting to turn off after 30 seconds. That should also help out with the battery life.

Still not sure about this phone - mostly because of the heating up. If anyone else has had experience with this, I sure would appreciate hearing about it. Also, the Toshiba does not feel as good in the hand as the Sanyo brands - both up and down that line. It feels almost like a thinner Treo in your hand against the side of your head.

Checking my corporate email account is easy and uploads quicker than the Sanyo VM4500 that I tested. Could have been the time of day and the traffic on the server, but then again, I haven't had that problem with the Toshiba.

The Sanyo does have some great options - you can close the clamshell during a call to use the speakerphone - the Toshiba cuts off the call if you do that; more options for choosing screen colors; fun camera graphics. But in the end, the Toshiba has won out (at least for now) for the great screen and better voice quality.

Rating:
Summary: Exceeded my Expectations
Review: This is a very good phone. I was skeptical at first because this is Toshiba's first non PDA phone for Sprint. I was deciding between this and the Sanyo 4500 and it was a tough choice, until I saw the phones side by side in the store.

The Toshiba's screen is MUCH larger and MUCH sharper. The screen is computer screen quality.

PROS
- Large screen
- Fantasic resolution
- Very easy to navigate
- TONS of settings for customization
- Good quality pictures and photos (in optimal lighting and close distance)
- Very easy to send pictures to other phones or email addresses
- Easy to upload and maintain pictures and video
- Very clear calls
- Locks nice and tight when you flip open the phone
- Solid construction
- 50$ cheaper than Sanyo 4500

CONS
- Extremely average battery life
- Can't be answered while closed (I believe sanyo 4500 can)
- Only 2x zoom for pictures (sanyo 4500 can do 4x)
- End button very hard to see in dark lighting
- Not Ready Link compatible (but who cares??)
- Battery and battery cover are separate pieces (most cell phones make it a single piece)
- Buttons on side of phone are a little small

I would definitely reccommend this phone. It currently has the highest resolution of any cell phone out there (or at least for Sprint). Content is very easy to manage with this phone, and taking and sending pictures are a breeze (make sure to populate your address book before sending pictures or email, things will be MUCH easier).

The reason I'm not giving it 5 stars is because the battery life is only average and there is no bluetooth or infrared port. Other than that I couldn't be happier.

Rating:
Summary: almost perfect
Review: this is a VERY nice phone that takes some great pics, has easy to use menus, and good customization. i've uploaded DOOM midis as my ring tones which rocks big time, and many high res jpegs for screen savers. i like the layout of the 300 entry phone book and the phones size as well. the few problems that i dont like are that sometimes i'll come acrossed a glitch in the 'OS' that will freeze a menu for a few seconds, the battery door is too thin and cheap, and uploading and downloading on the sprint network is a little bit slow. battery life is decent but not stelar. all in all, i like this phone alot and i would buy it again.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Phone With Just A Few Hangups
Review: This is an outstanding phone. Virtually everything is customizable, the camera is outstanding and lightning quick, and it is all around satisfying. The phone book is the most powerful I've seen, the calendar is flexible, and it met my needs. Other reviews can tell you how great it is, and it is.

I want to point out the problems I had with it, and why I ultimately had to return mine and get a different model, the Samsung VM-A680, after trying all three of the Sprint video phones. Toshiba's is definitely the most powerful. A ton of RAM, the most flexibility, all of the functions are easily reachable.

But it's big. Slightly bigger than the rest, but just enough that it seemed disproportionately awkward in my pocket.

It also doesn't have a side key guard (yet?), and every time I sat down, the camera would get activated and it would run live video of the inside of my pocket until I noticed and turned it off, wasting battery life.

Twice I encountered a problem where it froze trying to enter my picture gallery, and after waiting thirty seconds for it I finally took off the battery to restart it.

I also managed to mess something up such that every time the minute of the time changed, it would abort whatever it was doing (like uploading pictures, taking pictures, typing an event in the calendar) and go back to the main screen, but resetting the phone to factory defaults fixed that, whatever it was.

All around, it's great. And if the size and camera button problem don't bother you, it has the most gorgeous screen. My calls were clear. But convenience is really what matters to me, and having the best screen doesn't cover that.