- Average user rating: 2.5 stars out of 40 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
-
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful
3.5 stars
"Finally another H@H phone"
Pros: sleek design, big bright screen, sturdy solid build
Cons: heavy for its size, so-so keyboard, music capabilities are a joke
Summary: Since I moved in with my girlfriend about six months ago, I've been living in a cell phone dead zone so Hotspot @ Home was a must for me. When T-Mobile officially launched it in 2007, there were only two (rather lame) handsets available. If you don't count the Blackberry Curve or the pre-launch phones (only available in the Seattle test market), this is the third traditional handset to support Hotspot @ Home and the only slider so far.
T-Mobile has cleared up the problems with the earlier H@H handsets (like the Samsung t709) and the whole WiFi calling operation is extremely smooth. I'm still occasionally unable to connect to my wireless network at home, though strangely my girlfriend's t409 almost always stays connected.
The build quality of the Katalyst is probably its most striking feature. It's got shiny metal trim around the outside front face (possibly contributing to its heft) and the plastic parts are well made. Nothing about it feels flimsy. The buttons and d-pad are relatively comfortable and placed intelligently. If you're a heavy texter (like me), the RAZR-esque keyboard may leave a bit to be desired.
What peeves me most about this phone (and the wireless industry in general) is the rush to put half-baked features into a phone that don't really work. Here's the problem: The Katalyst has both a media player and a microSD expansion slot, leading you to believe you could conceivably use the device to listen to music. The next logical add-on would obviously be a pair of headphones. But guess what... they don't make any! If you go to the Samsung USA site and look for accessories for the Katalyst, all you'll find is a mono headset. The same is true on T-Mobile's site. Want a real hoot? Call T-Mobile's customer service line and ask a sales rep about it. So how exactly are we supposed to enjoy the musical capabilities of this phone -- through the built-in speaker? As the CNET review points out, this isn't a substitute for a proper MP3 player but come on, what the f*** were they thinking? To be fair, some of the stereo earbuds they have for sale on Samsung's official site *might* work but that's just a guess.
That aside, it's a generally very good phone. I seldom use speaker phone but regular non-speaker call quality is fine and reception on the regular cell network seems as good as any other phone I've had. I'm a pretty big fan of current Samsung software. The menus are nicely laid out and generally easy to navigate and it actually has some useful extras. The tip calculator is great -- you type in the total, tell it how many people are paying and it tells you how much each person owes. The alarm feature is better than Motorola's but could still use some improvements. For instance, it stops going off if you snooze it (by hitting any of the keys on the side) more than three times. I could be wrong about this since I'm not exactly coherent when it happens but it definitely stops after a certain number of snoozes, which seems like a generally bad idea for an alarm. And I have to believe more and more people are using their cell phones as alarm clocks, making it more than just a novelty.
One thing that's relatively easy to do is use your own MP3's as ringtones and you don't even need a data cable. If you email yourself an MP3, it can be saved to the phone's memory and used a ring tone but NOT as a message or alarm tone, which just seems odd to me. This is another bizarre Samsung oddity but there are only a certain set of message tones to choose from. You can't use the ringtones as message tones and vice versa. Same goes for alarm sounds. Again, that just seems weird. When you're in the screen to choose a ring tone, you have more options than when you're choosing a message tone.
The camera is your basic, bogus cell phone cam. No flash, no real focus mechanism, and you're not gonna get **** unless you're taking a picture outside, in broad daylight, of an object 3 to 8 feet in front of you. I hate seeing any slider phone that doesn't take advantage of the form factor as a lens cover. The lens for the camera is on the back of the phone and, like any other phone cam, is always going to be gunked up. Ideally, the lens should be concealed when the phone is closed and revealed when it's slid open.
If you're familiar with Samsung's sofware, and are looking for a sleek slider, or you want a cooler looking Hotspot @ Home than the boring one you've got, the Katalyst is your man.
Samsung Katalyst (T-Mobile):
%20user%20review%20and%20rating%20-%20CNET%20Reviews&srcUrl=http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phones/samsung-katalyst-t-mobile/4864-6454_7-32790414-3.html){kind=small}