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+14 [18 votes]
With new fashion phones launching every day, it’s difficult to stand out. While some might see this as offputting - or as an excuse to churn out a dull-but-serviceable handset - Sprint have obviously viewed it as a challenge. Their Katana II cellphone, an exclusive to the carrier, goes to show that entry-level needn’t mean poverty-spec.
First thing that grabs you with the Katana II is the fact that it feels pretty well made. There’s certainly something of the Moto RAZR about the clamshell’s exterior - no bad thing considering the V3 was, and still continues to be, a big seller - while the plastic body has the look (and resilience) of a more sturdy material. It’s pretty small, too: 3.7″ x 1.9″ x 0.6″ and just 3.1oz, making it true shirt-pocket material. Unlike many “fashionable” phones it’s not aimed soley at the female population, either; in addition to the requisite pink, you can have the Katana II in black and steel-grey.
Inside the slick casing things are more cutting edge than you might imagine. True, the camera is only VGA, but having GPS built-in goes a long way to making up for that, and the handset works smoothly with Sprint’s excellent Navigation guidance service. The expected bevy of messaging and productivity features are present and correct: SMS and MMS picture messaging for the former, calendar, scheduler, to-do list, world clock, calculator, stopwatch and alarm clock in the latter. Email is the only disappointing omission, especially given the relatively well-spaced and tactile keypad (which trades eye-catching gimmick layouts for easily-thumbed, regular buttons), although the phonebook will, a little confusingly, store email addresses along with numbers and web shortcuts.
Sprint’s high-speed Power Vision data connection is similarly absent, obviously too much to hope for on an entry-level handset, but the Katana II will still work as a tethered modem, albeit at lower, Vision-service speeds, and wireless contact backup keeps a server-based replica of your phonebook should your phone be stolen or lost. Bluetooth is onboard making picture transfer simple, though there’s no A2DP stereo headphone support. Downloaded wallpapers and screen-savers display cleanly on both the large 1-inch external 80 x 80 LCD and QVGA 2-inch 240 x 320 internal display. Neither will win awards for standout performance but they easily hold their own in their class.
In terms of performance, with a fair signal the Katana II can deliver decent sound quality and little echo. Data speeds were, unsurpringly, nothing to write home about, but plenty fast enough for sending and receiving picture messages and occassional web browsing. If you really want to make the most of the mobile internet, however, you’d be better off looking at a Power Vision handset from Sprint’s range (such as, perhaps, the Katana DLX - also launched today).
As a serviceable, dependable cellphone with more than a minor nod to fashion, the Katana II could readily fit the bill. Unless you’ve a real taste for email or IM, or have designs on using your phone as a high-speed modem, it makes sense to check it out.
More picture of Sprint Katana II below.
Overall, not too bad.
Cons: handset volume control is is located in a very clumsy location, making it difficult to adjust the handset vol while talking.
Also, the camera shutter button is active as a “mute” button while having a call so it is easy to accedently mute out your caller while fumbling around for the vol control.
I do not like the ergonomics of the phone while talking on it, however the keypad and menu are good when programing.
I would give it a 7 out of 10 overall reating. Had it one week. Only use phone, not text mail, not picture mail, not PCS vision. I only use it as a phone.
i just got that katana 2 for christmas this morning,i think its pretty good for my first phone,im not gonna rate it,its just the only thing i dont like about it is that it can only take pictures and cant record video,im savin up for a helio,ITS GONNA BE LONG AND HARDDD!!!!!
k so this phone is cool for like first timers. its boring to text on and the predictive text gets slightly annoying sometimes because you dont know how many times to click the next arrow to get to your word when using t9. i’m a heavy texter so i’m obviously going to get a full key-boarded phone but this one worked nice as a cheap and cute alternative until i made the money. also, this phone is available through the qwest service just to let you know. its nothing special, i think i would’ve enjoyed it more in sixth grade when i got my first cellular device. oh, and the vibrate is super loud! which is good for some things, and not so good for others. hope this helped :))
My phone is cute, i have the pink one. But over all its pretty horrible. The buttons when you text are pretty hard so your hand gets tiring after a while. And lets say you talk on the phone and you dont put your phone on battery save mode it will automatically die in an hour and a half. And when you put it on battery save mode the light on the display darkens and the light on the buttons arent even light, so when you’re in the sun you can’t see the time nor the text. And at night when you get a text since the buttons arent lit you can’t see a single word on the cell. Its horrible. I dislike this phone. And usually i dont care what kind of phone i have but this one is annoying. Everything else but that is good. Except the dying of the battery. I rate it a 4 out of 10.