Synopsis: (out of 5)
Value – 5
Physical Quality – 4
Appearance – 4
Customization – 2
Speaker – 2
Screen – 4
Battery – 5
Applications – 3
Features:
MP3 – 3
FM Radio – 4
TV – 2
Camera – 1
NES Emulator – 3

I’ve had my HB758 for about a week now and it seems pretty good. From a value for money standpoint its great; for me it was only about 1/3rd the price I would have paid for a similar ‘proper’ brand phone locally with the same features.

It has quite a few features but sadly is impeded by the average to below-average quality of said features. For instance:
The phone has stamped on it “3.2 megapixel” but the photos it takes certainly arent up to that standard. Their maximum size is only 640×480 and they arent all that clear. Of course its only a mobile phone with a camera for photo’s on-the-go, if you want to take high quality pictures you should probably get a proper digital camera…

The TV function is average, all things considered. It has a pretty low framerate – probably only about 10-14fps but with good reception its clear enough, good enough for tv on the go. It’s ability to find channels is probably lacking; you cant just type in your local station’s Hz rate, you need to select a kind of preset range within the phone and there are only so many of these presets. On the plus side there is a ‘search’ function, but no ability to tweak the auto-found stations. As I am in Australia I was a little dissappointed to find no Australian preset, and with the search I can only pick up 3 of my local stations.

FM Radio is fine.

MP3 player is average, though I have heard better speakers in other mobile phones. You cant expect anything so small to have any bass of course, but its not greatly clear either. Its passable but best with the headphones. This also goes for the voice quality for incoming calls. The minimum volume for the speaker is still somewhat loud, especially in the NES games.

The built in NES emulator is ok. I copied a few ROMS i found on the net onto the phone and could play most of them, some would only show up as graphical artifacts but those were the minority. It runs a little ‘slow’ but still playable.

I tried copying a few mp4′s onto the phone to play them but it didnt, said they were an unrecognized format. (The same videos i could play on my ipod so they are proper mp4′s with no weird codec issues). The phone came with a video clip of its own already on it and this was in .3gp (or .3gpp) format, I havent tried converting anything to that yet to further test.

The battery seems to last well. When you first get it the manual suggests completely draining the battery, then fully charging it, then completely draining it again to increase its effectiveness. I let the phone run most of a day playing mp3′s at mid-volume and it only got down to about half way. Eventually I set it to play the TV at full volume for an hour or two longer before it finally ran out.

Its touchscreen is alright – its not quite at the tech level of, say, an iPhone, and so for precision you are encouraged to use the little stylus pen that comes with it instead of a finger or fingernail, though they are passable.

Another thing with the screen is that its made to be viewed with the phone upright, but when you want to go full-screen tv or playing the NES games, you turn it on its side. The pixels of the screen are made in a way that they dont do too well looking at them from different angles when its on its side, and you strongly get a feeling that one eye sees a dark screen while one eye sees a light screen, which can take a bit of getting used to.

I havent figured out how to use its ‘shortcuts’ feature, nor change the tone for calendar alerts – the manual tells you how the buttons interact with the applications but not how the applications work. When I first got the phone it took a while of fiddling to set it up how I wanted.

Overall its a good phone with some nifty features for its price. Its physically sturdy except for the data-cable plug socket at its bottom (be careful when plugging things in you dont bend the tab inside it! but a lot of phones have this issue). Its large enough without being too big or heavy.

Out of 5 i would give it a 3. Good value, good features, average quality, average customization. I like it and would recommend it if you dont want to pay an arm and a leg.

I hope this review has helped you decide if this phone is for you.