The UI is almost stock Android as common in most of Kata smartphones and tablets that I encountered. The display is pleasing to my eyes with the 5 inch IPS HD display. I already expected the smoothness of a typical MT6582-powered devices which I also felt on this device.
In calls and texts, I got no issues in making and receiving calls as well for sending SMS. Connecting to either WiFi or 3G mobile internet is a breeze as I tried it from 2 leading telcos. Same goes with the Bluetooth as I paired it with my BT speaker and my other smartphone.
While I got no problems on connectivity, the RAM and ROM were a different story. I can't help but to compare with the i3. The phone as a typical 1 GB RAM but out of 16 GB ROM, only 3 GB is allocated for apps. Yes, there are chances that you can move some apps on micro SD but as most of it's competitors (plus the i3) have unified storage, this is a no-no for people who stock a lot of apps or heavy games.
On gaming, I got my dose of NBA 2K14 and Dead Trigger 2 and I had a pleasurable time on playing these Android games.
On camera, this device doesn't have the fastest camera shutter speed but not the slowest. The phone can shoot decent pics from the 13 MP rear camera and the 5 MP front camera. I also got no issues from shooting some vids. I turned on my flash for the night shots,
Day
Night
Kata i3s 13 MP rear camera samples
Kata i3s 5 MP front camera samples
On benchmarks, the i3s got over 19,000 in Antutu, it has 6 out of 9 sensors based on Sensor Box and 54 fps on Nenamark 2.4
On my battery test, things are not that good for this device as it only lasted 6 hours and 58 minutes from it's 2,250 mAh battery when I looped random HD MP4 videos via MX Player with their stock headphones on, 11 on volume, 7 on MX Player brightness, 25% phone brightness, Bluetooth, 3G and WiFi off and 1 sim on. The big factor to this development was the heating issues which is supposed to be not a problem for a MT6582-powered device (plus at that time, I also had another MT6582-enabled smartphone doing the same time with no issues at all). Another minus points to the i3s if you'll gonna compare it to my previous Kata i3 review which has same display size and resolution, same processor but lesser capacity at 2,150 mAh but it over 8 hours with the same battery test method. On my few days that I used it as a daily driver, I only maxed out this phone for about 16 hours with texting, calling, browsing, photo editing, blogging and some gaming with 5 1/2 hours of screen time.
On random oberservations, I'm quite sad for this device (again comparing to the i3) as it missed out a few points: no USB OTG support and non CTIA complaiant 3.5 mm. audio jack. The heating issues continued on my journey to this phone as even on my usual mobile surfing + audio (either on music player or FM radio), the device gets hot easily after 10 minutes. In the number of weeks that I had this device with 2 OTA updates, the battery and heating issues were still there.
What's good: Design, camera output, same a-ok display as the Kata i3, UI, thin phone
What's bad: Not that good battery life, heating issues, no USB OTG, not CTIA complaiant, only 3 GB out of 16 GB ROM for app storage (not unified storage)
Kata i3s is available in Kata kiosks nationwide and Lazada Philippines for Php 5,999. I'll gonna give the Kata i3s a 3 out of 5 rating
