Kata Drive Review; Moving Ahead

Kata Drive Review; Moving Ahead

Kata has been in the business for years now, and the company now has a healthy portfolio of mobile devices with some boasting special traits of their own. We’ve seen the Kata V4 that came in with a unique back button that can perform a couple of things, and we’ve also taken note of the company’s push in digital entertainment in bundling VPNs and whatnot with their smartphones and tablets. Now, Kata has done it again with the Drive – a 6.95-inch tablet that, as its name suggests, is designed for the road.


UNBOXING:

Packaging and Inclusions

Unlike other offerings from the company, the Kata Drive doesn’t come with the signature Koi fish we’ve seen printed upfront. Instead, Kata goes all straightforward by telling what the Drive is all about. Once you prop open the box, you’ll be greeted with the tablet itself, a micro USB cable, wall adapter, and a manual.


PHYSICAL:

In terms of physical appearance, the Kata Drive is a clean slate upfront, with the earpiece, sensors, and selfie camera at the top and the Kata logo at the bottom. No physical buttons on this side, too. As standard with the tablets, you’ll have onscreen navigation and controls.

Left side

Right side

Both of the power button and the volume rockers are situated at the right side of the device, while there’s nothing on the other end of it. At the top are the micro USB port, and audio jack, and the microphone. Meanwhile, there’s nothing at the bottom of it.

See Also: Kata V4 Review; V For Value

Back/Bottom

Top

The back portion is also quite busy. There’s the primary camera alongside an LED flash, and below are Kata’s logo and the loudspeaker. You’ll also be able to access the two SIM card slots and the micro SD card slot by opening the cover at the top of the device.

Kata Drive Unboxing and Hands-on Video

To learn more about its physical attribute, you can check the above unboxing video.


DISPLAY:

Display

The Kata Drive sports a 6.95-inch IPS display with a 1280 x 800 resolution. It’s sharp enough based on the current standards, and viewing angles are also superb. You also won’t be having any problems with its sunlight legibility, since you’ll be using it inside your car or indoors most of the time.


SOFTWARE:

Interface

The Kata Drive features a heavily customized launcher designed for driving and navigation. Kata makes it a point by making the drive app the biggest icon on the screen, and tapping on it will produce launch Google Maps to get you directions. Also, on-the-go entertainment is handled with a bundle of apps, including YouTube, Music, Video, and a handful of streaming apps (there is a whole lot of them added in the package). Mind you, you can also use the Drive as a standard call and text device should you wish.


PERFORMANCE:

Benchmark Results

Basically, the Kata Drive has its own purpose – which is to navigate, provide entertainment for passengers, and do some basic call and texting if needed.  However, if you need it to play games, you can download some from the Google Play Store. The MediaTek MT8321 chipset with a 1.3GHz quad-core CPU, Mali 400 GPU, and 1GB of RAM will be enough for simple 3D games, but don’t expect much from it.


CAMERA:

Camera User-Interface

The camera interface is stock Lollipop as it gets, the basics are there and navigating though it is quite easy, especially if you have used any Android device in the past.

Day Shot

Day Shot with HDR

Close-up

It does feature an 8MP camera with auto focus and an LED flash, most of the times, it gets the job done with image quality as expected for a device under its price range. The same goes for the 5MP selfie shooter, it is able to give you snapshots ready for social media upload.

Also Read: Kata i3L Review, Long Live LTE


CONNECTIVITY:

micro SD and SIM card slots

One of the best things about the Kata Drive is its connectivity options. You won’t be enjoying 4G LTE connectivity with this, but 3G would be most likely enough for your daily navigation and browsing. It also has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and of course, the micro USB port and the audio jack, with the former having USB OTG capability.


BATTERY:

Battery Benchmark Test Result

In terms of battery performance, the Kata Drive scored a 5:44 rating from 90% to 0. That would be more than enough to give you directions for your drives from work to home and back, too. On basic usage, such as browsing and playing videos, we were able to achieve around 18 hours, with more standby times than screen times so to speak. Your mileage may vary, of course.


CONCLUSION:

If you’re the type of person that looks for a specific device for a specific usage, then the Kata Drive can easily be your thing. It does what it needs to do, and it does so without the hitches. Priced at Php3,999, the Kata Drive is one of the most affordable tablets that can be of great help to your travels and getting rid of you or your passenger’s boredom when it comes to that. It’s a matter of knowing what it is designed for, and why you need it. And the Kata Drive shines with that.

Pros:

Affordable
Dual SIM Card slot
USB-OTG capability
Drive Launcher is easy to use

Cons:

Too much bloatware

Kata Drive Specifications:

• GSM: 850/900/1800/1900MHz
• 3G: 850/900/1900/2100MHz
• Dual SIM, dual standby
• 6.95-inch IPS capacitive HD (1280x800) touchscreen display
• Dimensions: TBA
• Weight: TBA
• Android 5.1 Lollipop
• 1.3GHz quad core Cortex-A7 CPU, ARM Mali-400MP2 GPU, MediaTek MT8321 chipset
• 1GB/2GB RAM
• 8GB/16GB internal storage
• 8MP main camera with LED flash
• 5MP secondary camera
• Multimedia player
• FM Radio
• 3.5mm audio jack
• GPS with A-GPS
• WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
• Micro USB 2.0
• Bluetooth v4.0
• Sensors: accelerometer
• Battery: 3,300mAh Li-Ion, non-removable
• Price: Php3,999/Php4,699