Kata i3s Unboxing and Review, It Is Incredibly Sleek |
INTRODUCTION:
Kata Digital is one of the regional mobile players in the country, they may not have many devices compared to local brands, but they have been successful with most if not all products that they release on the market.
Recently, they unveiled the Kata i3s, an incremental follow up to their successful Kata i3. We mentioned incremental mainly because after almost a year since the launch of its predecessor, the specs remains almost the same except that it now runs on Android 4.4. KitKat.
CPU Z Info |
The Kata i3s sports a 5-inch IPS display powered by a 1.3GHz quad core MediaTek MT6582 processor coupled with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of ROM.
UNBOXING:
Unboxing Video
Retail Package |
The packing of the i3s is practically similar to what we have seen for Kata, a white box wherein the front is almost fully covered by the picture of the phone while the sides has the company logo as well as the model name. Inside the box you will find the unit, 2000mAh battery, charger, USB cable, headset and user manual.
HARDWARE:
Front |
The front is fully laminated with glass, it is not a scratch-resistant one so better install a screen protector to avoid unwanted marks. The capacitive touch keys are located below the screen while the earpiece grill and secondary camera are placed above the display.
Back |
Although the back has a matte-finish, it is still susceptible to fingerprints and smudges. Both the fish and Kata logos are made of contrasting material and are evenly flushed within the back's surface. Meanwhile, the primary camera is located at the upper left near the edge followed by an LED flash directly below it.
Back without cover |
The back cover is removable, you need to take it off if you want to access the regular SIM, micro SIM, micro SD card and the 22500mAh battery.
Top |
Bottom |
The top holds both the 3.5mm audio jack and the micro USB port while there is nothing at the bottom.
Left |
Right |
The left and right sides are mounted with metal strips, the volume rocker is located at the former, while the power button can be found in the latter.
Design wise, I can honestly say that the i3s is the most premium and sexiest among all Kata devices so far, not to mention that the build quality is awesome.
DISPLAY:
Display |
5-point touch |
The i3s has a 5-inch display made of IPS panel and has a 1280x720 resolution. The viewing angles are relatively awesome with the right amount of brightness. In terms of multiple touch, it can support up to 5 fingers and during the review period, there is no touch issue encountered.
SENSORS:
Sensors |
This latest Kata device has accelerometer, proximity and light sensors that are all functioning properly. CPU-Z and Quadrant are detecting magnetometer and orientation sensors, but they are not working since there is no gyroscope.
BENCHMARKS:
Antutu - 17310 |
Quadrant - 7148 |
Vellamo, Browser - 1805, Multicore - 1216 & Metal - 779 |
NenaMark2 - 54.6fps |
The benchmark results are typical for a device that has MediaTek MT6582 processor and runs on Android KitKat.
INTERFACE:
About Phone |
Start-up |
Interface |
The Kata i3s runs on a near-stock version of Android 4.4.2 KitKat with some pre-loaded apps from the company.
BASIC FUNCTIONS:
Basic Functions |
The basic phone functions such as telephony and messaging to name a few are all working as they should, no dilemma encountered.
MULTIMEDIA:
Gallery:
Gallery |
The gallery houses all the photos and videos stored on the device, whether it is from the internal storage or the memory card. You can arrange them by albums, locations or times. There is also a photo editing app and video trimming app incorporated into the gallery.
Video Player, Music Player and FM Radio:
Video Player, Music Player & FM Radio |
The entertainments apps include the stock video player, music player and FM radio plus the MX Player is also installed by default. In terms of handling video contents, it can play most of the common containers including FLV and MKV. Watching on its 5-inch screen is delightful plus the sound coming out from the loudspeaker is strong and clear.
Camera and Video:
Camera and Videos |
The camera and video interface uses the stock Android camera UI. Unlike most Android smartphones with the same interface, the i3s does NOT crop the subject when taking videos.
Sample Shots:
Day |
100% Crop |
Close-up |
Night without Flash |
Night with Flash |
Night HDR |
The main camera can shoot up to 13MP photos, in general the images are good when there is a good lighting condition, close-up photography is also good with nice bokeh. However, during the night or when there is an inadequate source of light, the camera starts to struggle, digital noise is evident and the picture quality is lower than it normally would during day time.
Sample Videos:
The i3s can shoot videos up to 1080p resolution, the quality is good and live up to our expectations. I will post the sample video soon.
Browser:
Browser |
The browser is the stock Android browser, it loads web pages swiftly, for example, our site teknogadyet.com is fully loaded in about 10 to 15 seconds. If you need a different browser, you can simply get on for free in the Play Store.
Gaming:
Asphalt 7 |
The casual games and games that are high in graphics are both handled OK by the i3s like most MT6582 devices normally would.
Storage |
Out of the 16GB ROM, 13.53GB is available wherein 2.95GB of which is the internal storage while the 10.58GB is the phone storage. Please take note also that applications are movable only to phone storage and not to the external memory card.
PRODUCTIVITY:
Productivity Apps |
The productivity apps and organizing tools include a calculator, calendar, file manager, sound recorder, clock and notes. On top of that, third-party apps, namely Acrobat Reader, WPS Office and Evernote are all pre-installed on the device.
CONNECTIVITY:
Connectivity |
This device supports dual 3G, you can set whether SIM 1 or SIM has this kind of mobile data connectivity plus tethering is also possible via WiFi hotspot, Bluetooth or USB. Other connectivity sets include WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth, wireless display, VPN and CTIA 3.5mm audio jack. The wireless printing is not available and it also does not support OTG.
GPS:
GPS |
The GPS module on this phone was able to get a satellite lock in about 10 seconds with A-GPS data pre-loaded.
BATTERY STATS:
Battery Stats |
Continuous video playback consumed around 85% of the battery after about 5.5 hours while playing high definition game rendered similar result. Please take note that before the test, the phone is fully charged and the volume and brightness are set to the median.
OTHERS:
Kata Apps |
The usual Kata software, namely Fish Market, Kata Cloud, Hotspot, Owtel 3G and Wipe Out are installed by default, if you want to uninstall them, root access is required. Meanwhile, within a few days since I acquired the i3s, wireless update notifies that an update is available for download.
Google Apps |
Apart from Gmail, other Google applications are there to stay.
CONCLUSION:
The Kata i3s is undeniably the most sleek and premium among all Kata Digital devices, the design is astonishing and the build quality is superb. On the inside, it packs enough processing power and memory to run it smoothly.
PROS:
5-inch IPS HD display
Quad core processor
16GB ROM
1GB RAM
Superb build quality
Awesome looks
CONS:
Camera performance struggles at low light conditions
A bit heavy at 168.9 grams
No OTG support
Specifications:
- Quad band 2G, Triple band 3G
- Dual SIM (regular+micro) dual standby
- 5-inch IPS capacitive HD (1280x720) touchscreen display
- Dimensions: 152.8mm x 79mm x 8.5mm
- Weight: 168.9 grams
- Android 4.4.2 KitKat
- 1.3GHz Quad Core Cortex-A7 CPU, Mali-400MP GPU, MediaTek MT6582 chipset
- 1GB of RAM
- 16GB internal storage, expandable up to 32GB via micro SD
- 13MP auto focus main camera with LED Flash,
- 5MP secondary camera
- Multimedia Player
- FM Radio
- 3.5 Audio Jack
- GPS with A-GPS
- WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
- Micro USB 2.0
- Bluetooth v4.0
- Sensor: accelerometer, light, proximity
- 2250mAh Li-Po battery
- Colors: gray, violet, blue
- Price: Php6,495
nice review!
ReplyDeletesuperb 5MP secondary camera and its build quality that gives it an awesome looks.
ReplyDeleteNice unit!
ReplyDelete22500k mah? Ashtig
ReplyDeleteHow can i use both sim for messaging. I chose always ask sa settinga but messaging is still default on one sim.
ReplyDeleteHi, I did not experience that kind of issue during review. Please restart your phone then check again. If still the same, you may try to do factory reset (all existing date will be wiped out).
ReplyDeletePARATING PALANG ANG KATA I3s KO.
ReplyDeleteAmazing gadget. :)
ReplyDelete