One of the newer phones from Dapeng produced in China, that comes with some interesting facets, but naturally having some problems. Read on for a better close in look at this mobile phone.

The obscure outside China phone company Dapeng, has started marketing their catalogue of mobile phones outside China. One of their newest phones that are acquirable is the T998, marketed by Dapeng as a multimedia phone. Dapeng makes this assertion because they claim it is set up with a high end mobile phone speaker system, is ready to play both MPEG3 and MPEG4 digital files, will allow veiwing TV programs and hearing FM radio, and has the ability to see video files and pictures in 16:9 format.

Since I have had the opportunity tryout this mobile phone, these are my thoughts

The Good

Properly Blasting Speakers: As suggested, the speakers placed in the mobile phone are quite loud and clear. I had the chance to bring the mobile phone outside inside the primary station at a metro line, and just like what was said, the speakers were still very audible.

Multipurpose Accelerometer Control System: Besides simply navigating menus via keys or touchscreen, you are as well able to rock the mobile phone to transfer to the next screen (promoted in China as Shake Control). Not a system I had found before, I feel it is an an intriguing and fast mode to navigate the UI and manipulate phone apps.

Movie Watching In Widescreen 16:9 Format: The accelerometer also lets you flip your movies from a 4:3 to a 16:9 widescreen view as easy as pie by revolving the mobile phone on its side.

The Ok

Quadband And Unlocked: This mobile phone is quite nice in that it need not be linked to any carrier, and can be usable anywhere in the world.

Handsfree Bluetooth: I had absolutely no issues when I matched the phone with several Bluetooth devices, however the transmitting range on the mobile phone's Bluetooth was a nominal 1 ft, which is of little use if you want to pair with different phones.

The Bad

The Startup Music: The speakers the mobile phone uses are really good, but every time the phone is turned on, the speakers go FULL blast with the bothering start up music which you can not mute.

Internet Access: WAP is ok, but with no 3G and not even EDGE, is a disgrace. As Well, there is no wifi.

A Really Disappointing Camera: The phone's built in camera is very fuzzy when making pics, the pics you take most possibly will appear quite poor even by the low measures of normal camera phones.

Lack Of Java: I think this phone would have been a greater deal if I was able to upload some mobile java programs for acquiring some new abilities and get some new games.

Annoying File Format For the Movie Player: The movie player can only play 3GP files. When you use the video camera, it will record in AVI, but downloaded AVI files refuse to play.

Final thoughts

Like Dapeng has advertised, the phones media player is at least an acceptable one. The MP3 player and stereo mix is where this phone shines, but if you can find or convert some videos to 3GP format, then the video player works quite fine. You will find it has everything you normally find in phones, and also has enough extras to warrant its price.

Price. US$90.04