Samsung Katalyst Review

Published on: 24 January, 2008 by PhoneArena Team

Keywords:
T-Mobile
Samsung
Budget

Review index:

Performance:

With the Katalyst being slim, our concern was that reception would suffer but we are happy to report that it has strong reception. We managed to have signal almost anywhere, even to places where the majority of the handsets couldn’t. In our location where we were testing the @Home connection, we were receiving one to two bars on the GSM network but once we connected to the router, no less then four bars were seen constantly.

Sound quality was just as impressive as voices came through clearly and crisply through the earpiece but once you switch to the speakerphone, things go slightly downhill. Everything sounded somewhat muffled and hard to understand at times. The other end didn’t see as dramatic of a change and we came through loud and clear. When connected to the @Home router, sound quality improved greatly and the people on the other side thought we were using a landline.

The ringer was very quiet and muffled since it is played through the speakerphone. In quiet to moderately loud environments, we experienced no difficulty hearing a call but once in a loud area, it could not be heard unless the handset was close to our ear.

Battery life is just astounding during our single charge test. The Katalyst is rated for 5 hours of talk time but we got 8 hours and 5 minutes in our experience. When using the @Home network, it lasted for 7 hours and 36 minutes. Standby time is rated for 250 hours.

Conclusion:

So, the Katalyst may be a boring handset with so-so features but it performs great where it needs to, during usage. It has a great reception strength, strong battery life, and clear sound quality. On top of that, the Hotspot @Home service is just another perk whether or not the plan is used. So, if you want to save some money by not getting a landline but have little to no reception inside the house, definitely check out T-Mobile’s Hotspot @Home and the Katalyst will add onto that even when you’re traveling around.

Pros

Great sound quality
Strong Reception
Long battery life
Hotspot @Home is a bonus for those planning to ditch landlines

Cons

Pointless web browser
Mediocre photo quality
Quiet Ringer

PA rating

Design 6.5
Display 7.0
Camera 5.0
Sound Quality 7.0
Battery 9.0
Connectivity 4.5
Multimedia 4.5
Organizer 6.0

Good

6.5

out of 10

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User comments

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1.

Benjamin @ 05 February, 2008 01:48:02 AM

This phone is a must for those who still make having a cell phone for communication above and beyond everything else. Not only has it filled in a couple of cellular gaps using WiFi in places outside my coverage area it also has given me a stronger signal on network and allows me to hold signal in locations where other phone drop out completely. This alone makes this phone a keeper for me. I can deal with a so so camera if my phone actually works as a phone

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2.

vzw employee @ 15 March, 2008 03:01:43 PM

I just recently bought this phone for my girl and she loves it. She currently lives in a area where the service is poor but she has internet connection at home. So, she's using the phone connected to her wifi and it's working awesome.

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3.

gypsywoman35 @ 20 November, 2008 12:08:03 PM

I recently bought this phone and overall I am very pleased. The reception is great, no dropped calls or static at all. I love the clarity of the display and the camara is pretty good. The only downfall is the number keys are rather smooth and not easy to text in a hurry. But overall a good phone, and a good buy.

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