Dapeng T998 Review - Not A Bad Multimedia Phone

Dapeng, one of the new mobile phone manufacturers from China, of late has begun offering their catalog of phones world wide. One of their newer mobiles one can buy is the T998, often referred to by Dapeng as an all in one multimedia phone. The grounds for that name is that they say it is set up with a high end mobile phone speaker system, has a MP4 and MP3 player combo, can provide TV watching and FM listening, and can present movies in widescreen 16:9 format or in 4:3 formats.

Since I have tried his phone out this mobile phone, here are my thoughts

The Good

Properly Loud Speakers: As per the marketing Dapeng made, the speakers built in the phone are very nice in that they produce sounds loudly and clearly. I took the phone outside inside the primary stop at a metro line, and the phone's speaker executed commendably.

Interesting Control Using The Accelerometer: Instead of just changing the menu utilizing keys or the touchscreen, you are given the ability to also waggle the phone to control it (promoted in China as Shake Control). It is an an entertaining and quick way to browse the UI and be able to control certain functions.

Movie Watching In Widescreen 16:9 Format: The previously referred to accelerometer also has the ability of fast switching video files from letterbox 4:3 to widescreen 16:9 as easy as pie by a revolution of the phone from an up position to a side position.

The Ok

Unlocked + Quadband: The T998 is without contract, and can be used worldwide.

Adequate Bluetooth Functions: User-friendly pairing with several Bluetooth devices, but sadly when I tested strength, the sending range on the model that I was testing was just around 1 foot, so not practicle for pairing to other's mobile phones.

The Bad

Music Intro On Power On: The speakers the phone uses are very nice, but every time you power on the phone, the speakers go FULL blow with the bothering start up music that is impossible to mute.

Old Hat Internet Access: Mobile surfing is viable if you don't care about using WAP, but no 3G and not even EDGE, is a pity. Likewise, there is no wifi.

God Awful Camera: The camera is very low resolution, your pictures will look quite poor even by the low standards of average camera phones.

Lack Of Java: I think this mobile phone would have been a greater contender if I could at least download and utilise java apps allowing the mobile phone to use at least a few fresh games.

Lack Of File Support For The MP4 Player: As far as I can find, the phone will only play 3GP file movies. The built in video camera records in AVI format, but when you download AVI files to the player, they will not play.

Final thoughts

Just like the title suggests, this phone doesn't disappoint, if not thrill, as a media player. I would say that it is better for playing music than movies, but if you don't mind converting your files to 3GP first, then the movie player is solid enough. This phone has all the basic functions you need, with enough extras to make it interesting.

Price. US$90.04