Buy Microsoft Office Home & Student
- Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 61 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
-
16 out of 17 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Great Phone, once again CNET misses in my opinion"
Pros: Slim, stylish, great reception and sound
Cons: Sometimes hard to tell if you press the buttons, location of battery/headset hookups
Summary: This is a great phone. It sounds great, looks great, feels great, and have great reception. I bought it to replace an LG MM535 (it was the 2nd of two LG phones that I have owned since I've been with Sprint, and both have been defective) that pretty much decided that the screen no longer wanted to work. In my office where I formerly had very very patchy service, I now maintain at least about 1 bar with this phone... no more dipping in and out of service constantly.
Anyway, that being said, I have a comment to make. I come to this site strictly for the user reviews, and once in awhile take the CNET review into account. They have a strong tendency to review items for what they want them to be, rather than for what they are. Yeah, this phone isn't loaded with features and all the extras, but it wasn't intended to be anyway. It's great at what it was designed for. It's not trying to be an MP3 player, or a Sprint TV phone. Yeah, it would be cool if it had those features, but to claim that as a negative aspect of the phone? It just seems naive, in my opinion. This phone IS great at what it was designed for. The reception is great and I haven't had a dropped call thus far--that's more than I can say about my previous phone, which scored a higher 7.3 on CNET.
So, for those of you looking at this phone with the intention of it being able to play MP3s and allow you to watch TV on it. Well, sorry, but it won't do that.
However, for those of you who plan to read the specifications and the feature set of the phone, well, it performs each and every one of those features with a feel of grace.
This is a great phone, and aside from a few MINOR gripes about the inconsistent feel of the keys (and by inconsistent, I mean it only feels weird sometimes), and the location of the hookups and volume keys, it's a great phone!
- 4 replies to this review
-
I do agree with cnet that the camera is HORRIBLE though. But, contrary to what everyone else says I love the buttons, they are the easiest buttons for texting because my fingers just glide across and they aren't hard to press.
-
However, there have to be standards by which the phone is judged. This phone claims to be a mid-tier phone, and compared to other mid-tier phones (i.e. similar features, similar price points), the Katana falls short. Does that mean the phone itself functions poorly? Of course not. The review even said that it does, in fact, have good quality calls. But it has to be judged against something, and the industry sets the standard for what a mid-tier phone should be able to do. They're certainly not judging the Katana against a Blackberry Curve, so there is some level of thought put into what phones this one is judged against.
But you have to judge the phone on what it does do. The camera is fairly unimpressive, and I can attest to that. Similar mid-tier phones offer megapixel cameras, so compared to the other phones in its class, the Katana falls short again.
And the review is not simply intended to tell you whether or not *you* should get this phone. Others have different circumstances. For example, let's say I am in a situation where I'm changing carriers. I have the option to go with Sprint or Verizon. Sprint offers the Katana, while Verizon offers the V3m (similar phones in the same mid-tier class). Verizon's phone offers a megapixel camera, music player, a Micro SD card slot, and support for VZ Navigator. The Katana offers a VGA camera with mediocre performance, Sprint Navigation-capable, no music player, and no card slot. It also has a lower-quality screen and slower-speed network connectivity, which are actually steps down from the *original* RAZR, let alone the V3m. However, the Katana (at the time of this writinig) could be had for $79.99 on contract, where the V3m would cost $119.99. So I'd have to now consider if the extra features and capabilities are worth the extra $40 for me. But at least with this review, I'd know what I'm getting for my money.
Taken in a vacuum, the Katana's review doesn't make much sense, because it works pretty well. But compared to the offerings from the rest of the industry, I could clearly see that the Katana does not stack up as a mid-tier rival to other carriers. -
Aikenben is right on the money regarding the reviewing process of CNET. CNET has a disturbing pattern of reviews that are scored based on what the reviewer thinks should be in the phone. The manufacturer has reasons for making the phones with or without certain features...one of them being the final cost of the phone! Great job at the expose, aikenben!
-
Couldn't have said it better myself. Don't review a product based on things it's not meant to do! It's like giving a sports car a poor rating because it performs badly offroad!
%20user%20review%20and%20rating%20-%20CNET%20Reviews&srcUrl=http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phones/sanyo-katana-6600-black/4864-6454_7-31967588-2.html){kind=small}