Huawei M735

Huawei M735

The $99 Huawei M735 is a textbook example of a cell phone gone wrong. It looks okay, and it has a decent array of features, on paper, that is. But it's almost impossible to type on, which renders it useless for texting, e-mail, or IM. Combine that with the M735's stubborn user interface and poor voice quality, and you end up with a bad cell choice for MetroPCS customers. The svelte Huawei M735 measures 4.1 by 2.2 by 0.5 inches (HWD) and weighs 3.7 ounces. The textured matte plastic feels fine, if a bit flimsy. At least the handset is slender enough to fit into a pants pocket. It comes in bright white, which is probably its most distinctive feature. Hey, if Huawei can build a white phone, why can't Apple? (Yeah, yeah, it's about the glass; we know.) The 2.8-inch, plastic resistive touch screen offers 240-by-320-pixel resolution, which is standard for budget feature phones these days. The M735's panel was too dim, though, and had poor contrast and readability off center. It was also stubborn and unresponsive. Most everything I tried required several fairly strong presses before each one registered. That said, I found I could dial numbers as long as I took my time and pressed each number key stiffly.