Sanyo Katana DLX Cell Phone Review - Multimedia
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Alfredo Padilla Published on August 06, 2007 Comment on this |
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Accessing Music Software (0.0)
To test how easy it is to get music playing on the Katana DLX we timed how long it takes to go from phone closed to playing a song. We repeat this test five times and take the average for our score. The Katana DLX took an average of 11.86 seconds to get a song playing. This is not a good time, and is related to the use of Sprint's music software, which takes a long time to load. We opened the phone and used the Music shortcut on the home screen to access the music software. You can also get a song playing without opening the phone by using the exterior shortcut and volume keys, however this method took a second or two longer than opening the phone. | Cell Phone | Time (sec) | Score |
| Sanyo Katana DLX | 11.86 | 1.69 |
| Nokia N75 | 4.04 | 4.95 |
| Sprint Upstage | 6.54 | 3.06 |
| Motorola Krzr K1m | 9.94 | 2.01 |
| Sanyo M1 | 5.50 | 3.64 |
| LG Chocolate VX8550 | 2.04 | 9.80 |
Dedicated Music Controls (2.0)
When the Katana DLX is closed and playing music only two buttons control music playback. The shortcut key on the right side of the phone acts as a play/pause button while the volume keys on the left side of the phone control the volume (of course).
Music Software Functionality and Organization (4.6)
The Katana DLX uses Sprint's standard music software, which is used to access Sprint's music store as well as play back music. When the software is launched you are taken to the music store. You will notice there are two tabs, one for the store and another for the player. Left/right on the directional pad will easily switch between the two. Once you are in the player view you have two options. You can view all of your music or you can create a playlist. If you have playlists loaded on the device they will show up. We're pleased to see support for standard .pls playlists. Sprint's music software recognized the tags for our MP3 and AAC test files. You can view your music by title, artist, or genre, with three tabs along the top when you choose to view all your music or a playlist. Album art is displayed during playback, however there were no visualizations or rating capabilities. All compatible music files that are located on the "music" folder on your MicroSD card are automatically added to the music player, however it does not search your device or memory card for additional compatible files. There is no equalizer, nor can you play music in the background while you access other phone functions.
As always, we found Sprint's music software provides decent basic functionality, but isn't as good as the music player found on Series 60 phones like the Nokia N75 or even the LG Chocolate XV8550. Both these phone's music players support advanced features like searchable music and equalizers, which the Katana DLX lacks.
Online Song Downloading (8.0)
The Katana DLX supports Sprint's Music Store. We like the store a lot better since Sprint decided to drop it's prices to a more reasonable 99 cents per song (from $2.49 previously). As we've mentioned before the Sprint music software is slow to load up, but fairly quick once it is loaded. The front page of the music store shows you a simple list, with featured music at the top and music categories below. At the bottom is the search function. We find this a little backward, and would have preferred to see the search function at the top of the page. You can search for artist, title, or both.
Streaming (0.0)
Unfortunately the Katana DLX was unable to play back streaming MP3, Windows Media, or Real audio.
Podcast Support (0.0)
The Katana DLX does not include any software that allows you to download or organize podcasts.
Music Sync with PC (0.0)
Out of the box the Katana DLX does not support any synchronization with a PC or Mac. You will need to remove the memory card and use a card reader to move music from your computer to the phone. You can purchase a USB cable from Sprint that allows you to directly connect the Katana to your PC, but we would expect a "deluxe" device to include such accessories. The Sanyo M1 did, and it's currently available for less than the Katana DLX goes for.
Music Formats and DRM (2.5)
The Katana DLX supports AAC and MP3 music files. There is no support for other formats like Windows Media, Real, or Org Vorbis. The only DRM supported by the Katana DLX is Sprint's proprietary DRM. This means you won't be able to play your iTunes or Napster purchased music on the device.
Music Interruption (7.0)
The Katana DLX's handling of an incoming call while music is playing is good, but not perfect. We found we lost a couple of seconds of music playback while the phone processed the incoming call. We also found there is significant lag after the call before the music begins playing again.
Video
Video Software Access (2.34)
To test how easy it is to get a video playing on the Katana DLX we time how long it takes to go from the home screen unlocked until we have a video playing. We repeat this test five times and take the average for our score. The Katana DLX took an average of 8.54 seconds to get a video playing. This is a slower time, but not ridiculously so. You can see from the table below that the Katana DLX was faster than the Nokia N75 and Sprint Upstage, but significantly slower than the Sanyo M1 and Chocolate VX8550. We found the album software we used to launch the video was slow to load, which slowed us down significantly.
| Cell Phone | Time (sec) | Score |
| Sanyo Katana DLX | 8.54 | 2.34 |
| Nokia N75 | 13.12 | 1.52 |
| Sprint Upstage | 10.92 | 1.83 |
| Motorola Krzr K1m | 10.34 | 1.93 |
| Sanyo M1 | 3.70 | 5.41 |
| LG Chocolate VX8550 | 2.71 | 7.38 |
Video Controls (5.0)
When playing back video you have a decent number of controls available. Up/down on the directional pad toggles between various views, including a full screen landscape view. Left and right on the directional pad rewinds and fast forwards the video. The left soft key is assigned to play/pause, while the center select key on the directional pad does the same. The right soft key stops the video and returns it to the beginning. Of course the volume keys do their thing as well. We would have liked to see the ability to skip to the next and previous tracks, but alas, it is not to be.
Video Software & Organization (2.0)
Like most regular phones the Katana DLX doesn't have dedicated software for organizing. Instead, the same album software used for organizing photos is used for organizing videos, with images and videos mixed together. The software automatically shows any videos placed in the MicroSD card's DCIM folder, but will not find videos stored in other locations. Videos are displayed as small thumbnails in a 3 x 3 grid. You can move between the thumbnails using the directional pad, but surprisingly the center select key will not open a video. Instead it will "select" the item by putting a check mark in the corner of the thumbnail. This is meant to allow you to delete or move multiple files at once. To play the video you need to first hit the left soft key, which expands the video, and then hit the center select button to get it playing.
As you would expect from the fact the album software is used, you won't see any advanced features here like playlists, organizing by video type, search, or background play. We're not impressed with the Katana DLX's video software, but we weren't meant to be impressed. The video playback software is really only meant to allow you to watch low quality video you take with the phone, not to carry around and watch movies or TV shows.
Video Sync with PC (0.0)
As with music, there is no way to synchronize videos on the Katana DLX with a computer out of the box due to the lack of a USB cable. You will need to pull out the MicroSD card and move files onto it manually to get video on the Katana DLX.
Video Formats (2.0)
We were disappointed with the inability of the Katana DLX to play back video formats. Like most phones, it doesn't support things like Quicktime, Flash, and Real video, but unlike most phones it also had problems with our test 3GP file encoded in Mpeg-4, and our MP4 file encoded in H264. It was only able to play back our 3GP files encoded in H263. We don't believe Sanyo expects anyone to use the Katana as a video playback device, which probably explains the dearth of support.
Video DRM (0.0)
The Katana DLX does not support any type of video DRM.
Video Playback Smoothness (7.0)
To test how well the Katana handles playing back video we attempt to play five 3GP video clips encoded at increasing bitrates, topping out at 768 Kbps. The Katana DLX was able to handle our first three clips without problems, but we detected some stuttering with the 360 and 768 Kbps files, although they were still watchable.
Online Video Downloading (0.0)
The Katana DLX does not support direct downloads of videos to the handset.
Video Streaming unscored
As with most modern Sprint handsets, the Katana DLX supports Sprint TV, which gives you access to a variety of premium streaming video content. You will need to make sure that you have a compatible data plan before you begin using it though, as you may end up with some ugly bills otherwise. We're happy to see that streaming 3GP content from YouTube Mobile and Zoovision Mobile played just fine on the Katana DLX. Streaming Windows Media from Windowsmedia.com did not work.
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