Katalyst Phone Works With T-Mobile's Home Wi-Fi ServiceKatalyst Phone Works With T-Mobile's Home Wi-Fi Service

T-Mobile on Monday began offering the Katalyst by Samsung, a new mobile phone that works with the carrier's HotSpot @Home Wi-Fi service.

The Katalyst -- model number SGH-t739 -- has built-in Wi-Fi technology and is designed specifically for T-Mobile HotSpot @Home service, which the carrier launched earlier this year. HotSpot @Home costs an extra $20 a month, and seamlessly switches subscribers back and forth between cell phone calls and calls made over Wi-Fi.

Besides using home-based networks, subscribers can also make calls using T-Mobile Wi-Fi hotspots at about 8,500 locations nationwide that include popular venues like Starbucks.

The Katalyst is a new addition to T-Mobile's lineup of phones that support HotSpot @Home, such as the Nokia 6086 and the Samsung SGH-t409.

"Since launching T-Mobile HotSpot @Home in June, we've worked closely with companies like Samsung to expand our selection of HotSpot phones. The Samsung Katalyst strikes a great balance of style and features with an affordable price, and gives customers who want the calling benefits of HotSpot @Home a great new handset choice," said Saj Sahay, director of product marketing at T-Mobile, in a statement.

The phone also comes with Bluetooth, a music player, a 1.3-megapixel camera, and instant-messaging capabilities with support for widely-used services like AOL, Yahoo, and Windows Live Messenger. It has expandable memory with a microSD memory card slot.

One thing you won't find on this quad-band phone is built-in 3G cellular technology, since T-Mobile is still in the process of building out its 3G network, known as HSDPA. Instead, the Katalyst supports GSM/GPRS/EDGE, and consequently offers slower cellular data speeds than some competing phones.

The Katalyst costs $80 with a mail-in rebate and a two-year subscription to T-Mobile.