Sprint's customers who happen to like clamshell phones have, as of today, two new such handsets that they can buy from the third largest North American carrier. These are Sanyo Katana Eclipse and Motorola VE20 (also called MOTORAZR VE20).

Besides coming in clamshell form factors, both devices are mid to low-end, hence they don't have anything out of the ordinary to offer.

Released in Canada only a few days ago, via Bell Mobility, Sanyo Katana Eclipse now comes to lure US users too. Being the latest device from the Katana family, the Eclipse is also the most advanced one. Presented as a multimedia phone, the new Sanyo clamshell comes with "40 different lighting effects," including pulse, blink, echo and multi-color patterns. These can be assigned to incoming calls and messages, as well as to playing music and various alerts.

Together with the fancy illumination, Katana Eclipse also brings a 2 inch TFT internal display with 65K colors and 176 x 220 pixels, a 1-inch external display, internal GPS, Bluetooth, Web and email capabilities, a 1.3 Megapixel camera with video recording, Sprint TV, Sprint Music Store, Sprint Radio, speakerphone, expandable memory and so on. The clamshell measures 3.6 x 1.9 x 0.7 inches, weighs 3.4 ounces and packs an 840 mAh battery said to last up to 4.6 hours in talk-time mode.

Talking about the new Eclipse, Andy Kodera, president of Kyocera Sanyo Telecom, Inc., said, "Wireless users already love customizing their phones with ringers, wallpapers and screen savers. Now, the illumination effects on the Katana Eclipse provide a unique new way for people to expand on this personalization. For example, a user can assign a blinking blue light for calls from Mom and a glowing purple light for a text message from a girlfriend. A voicemail from the boss might show up as a red 'echo' effect. Some of the effects are quite subtle while others are flashy. This feature is not only fun, but also very practical in a lot of situations where the visual indication is quite useful."

Motorola VE20, the latest member of the RAZR series, is not too different from the new Katana when it comes to features. The VE20, however, can offer a bit more to end users: a 2.2 inch LCD internal screen with 262K colors, a 1.6 inch CSTN external display with 120 x 60 pixels and 65K colors, built-in GPS, Music player with touch-sensitive dedicated keys, stereo Bluetooth, a 2 Megapixel camera (with video), Sprint email and Web capabilities, NFL Mobile Live, Sprint TV, Sprint Radio, Sprint Music Store and a 256MB memory card. Moto VE20 weighs 3.5 ounces, measures 3.9 x 2.0 x 0.6 inches and includes a 910 mAh battery that should be able to provide up to 4 hours of talk-time.

Sanyo Katana Eclipse and Motorola VE20 can be bought for $99.99 each, with the signing of a contract agreement for two years. When it comes to the retail price though, the VE20 costs $329.99, while the Eclipse comes in for less - only $299.99.