Sprint's lack of the nation's most popular phone, the Motorola RAZR, has been frustrating. But rather than grabbing a RAZR V3c away from Verizon and Alltel, Sprint decided to leverage their exclusive relationship with Sanyo to produce the Katana -- an extremely RAZR-like phone, in four colors, launching very soon.

The Katana is 0.6" thick (the same thickness as Verizon's RAZR V3c) and has the characteristic RAZR antenna bulge at the bottom. But unlike the metal-clad RAZR, the Katana is plastic (perhaps alluding to the Japanese expertise in making ceramic knives?) It's also $129.99 with a 2-year contract, or $279.99 without a contract. That's considerably cheaper than the RAZR started out at, though it's much more expensive than the free-to-$50 RAZRs you're seeing on the market right now.

The RAZR doesn't have high-speed data, unlike the V3c, it doesn't support Sprint's Power Vision TV or music services, and the camera is only VGA. But it does have Bluetooth, and the main screen is a delicious 320x240 resolution. Like the RAZR, this is primarily a good-looking voice phone. Sanyo is famous for their good reception and voice quality, so I can't wait to test it.

The Katana launches July 10.