MetroPCS' first LTE phone in some time, the Samsung Galaxy Attain 4G Android smartphone offers a very decent set of features for a manageable price.
Jessica Dolcourt
Jessica is a passionate content strategist and team leader across the CNET family of brands. She leads a number of teams, including commerce, performance optimization and the copy desk. Her CNET career began in 2006, testing desktop and mobile software for Download.com and CNET, including the first iPhone and Android apps and operating systems. She continued to review, report on and write a wide range of commentary and analysis on all things phones, with an emphasis on the iPhone and Samsung devices. Jessica was one of the first people in the world to test, review and report on foldable phones and 5G wireless speeds.
Jessica began her leadership role managing CNET's How To section for tips and FAQs in 2019, guiding coverage of topics ranging from personal finance to phones to home. She holds an MA with Distinction from the University of Warwick in the UK.
The Samsung Galaxy Attain 4G, available in the next few weeks from MetroPCS, is a midrange Android 2.3 Gingerbread smartphone that manages to offer satisfying features while keeping costs at a reasonable $200 off-contract. Did I mention the Attain runs on the carrier's LTE network?
2 of 11Josh Miller/CNET
Pushing some buttons
The Galaxy Attain 4G has a nice, silvery design with something we haven't seen for a while--a quartet of physical navigation buttons below the display.
3 of 11Josh Miller/CNET
Cameras
The 3.2-megapixel rear-facing camera was surprisingly good outdoors, with autofocus and a flash as well. The front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera also did OK. Stick with this slideshow for test shots from the phone's camera.
4 of 11Josh Miller/CNET
Bottom view
The Micro-USB charger is on the bottom of the phone.
5 of 11Josh Miller/CNET
Snake eyes!
The power button (left) looks quite a lot like the 3.5mm headset jack (right).
6 of 11Josh Miller/CNET
Studio sesh
The Galaxy Attain's camera took a pretty blah shot of our studio scene. (All these camera photos have been resized, but are otherwise untouched.)
7 of 11Jessica Dolcourt/CNET
The lovely Lynn La
Ditto CNET's Miss Lynn La, whose skin tones are grayed out. The photo could also be more detailed (she did comment that the flash is extremely bright.)
8 of 11Jessica Dolcourt/CNET
Outdoors win
The camera did much better outside in even lighting.
9 of 11Jessica Dolcourt/CNET
Close up
Here's a close-up of a mural I shot with the Attain 4G.
10 of 11Jessica Dolcourt/CNET
People!
The details could pop more, but the skin tones are right in this outdoor shot.
11 of 11Jessica Dolcourt/CNET
Colors
The camera phone did a good job of capturing color in this outdoor photo.
