HMD Fusion Review

From his change from Nokia to HMD, Human Mobile Devices has been launching some smartphones and phones of interesting features. These phones focus on quality and practicality instead of raw power and performance. With the fusion of HMD, HMD focuses on reliability and self -repair (all its smartphones are repairable) but also adds a modular turn, which makes it a fun and exciting device to play. It has a price of RS. 17,999 in India, which presents it with some very competitive budget smartphones of Chinese brands.

HMD fusion design

The phone is mainly design; In fact, I could call it with confidence a design exercise. And that is really strange because, for a phone focused on the design, it is only available in a single finish: black.

But don’t worry! This is where the modular ideas of the phone reach the rescue.

Fulfill the modular HMD outfits

There are two types of SNAP-on-on cases as attire. The informal outfit comes in the box and is a soft TPU box that can be connected to the phone. While it provides a better durability of the drops, it also makes the phone thicker. Unfortunately, HMD only sells basic black costumes in India.

The striking attire offers a flash that functions like a ring light

Then there are the smart outfits, and HMD has launched two of these: the striking attire and the attire of games in India. Despite its appearance, the striking attire (with a price of Rs. 2,999) hides a unique feature. The blue box has a high silver ring that protrudes around the phone camera module. There is a hinge at the top, and you can remove the lower edge of the ring and turn it into a dedicated flash unit or ring light when vloguear and illuminate your subject or yourself. The LED can also be opened halfway, doubling like a turned stand to hold the phone when watching videos. The plastic cover is also quite resistant and provides good general protection, reminding me of the oldest Nokia XR20.

The second, the game attire (with a price of Rs. 2,999), does not need any explanation. It works as a game controller, giving physical buttons to mobile players and keeping the fingers off the screen.

The game attire in action

Smart equipment is connected through 6 contact pins at the bottom of the box, allowing users to control the characteristics related to the outfit through the phone. An icon that represents a bulb appears in the camera application viewer when the striking attire mounts. It allows you to turn on and adjust the LED ring brightness and also allows you to change or customize your tone to any degree.

Contacts on the game outfit are used to connect the controller to the phone. Once connected, the controller works well without any problem. This also reduces any delay that is generally found in Bluetooth controllers. I tried Riptide GP 2, and worked as expected without problems. You must delete the phone from your default informal case before attaching it to any other accessory.

In practice, both outfits were practical and worked as expected. You must connect the phone perfectly in your place so that the game attire detects it. HMD also encourages its users to design their personalized outfits (using the HMD fusion development tools) for fusion using 3D printing.

The game attire has its battery and a C connector

As most HMD smartphones, Fusion also focuses on repair itself. All you have to do is take off the TPU box to get access to screws and battery. Nor is there a need for a plastic registration tool (HMD calls it GEN 2 repair), since you can use the phone without the casual outfit.

Leaving the modular bits aside, I like the basic design of the phone and its translucent rear panel. It is quite thin, and the screws around the back provided a very industrial appearance. Its basic IP54 rating (dust and water) meets all the requirements for a 5G budget intelligent telephone.

HMD fusion specifications

The HMD Fusion includes a Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 socio, which is manufactured using the 4NM manufacturing process, which should do it good enough for most processing requirements related to smartphones with budget. There are also 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage, which can be expanded using a shared slot for a microSD card. The phone only offers two SIM card slots, which can accept two Nano SIM cards or a SIM + SD card combination. The Qualcomm chipset provides a robust connectivity, which admits several 5g bands, Bluetooth 5.1, Wi-Fi 6, USB type C (2.0) and standard global positioning systems. The phone works with a 5,000 mAh battery.

HMD fusion yield

There is a 6.5 -inch LCD+ IPS LCD panel with an 90Hz update rate that does not sound like much, even for a budget smartphone. He gets the basics and is bright enough to be used outdoors, but cannot address direct sunlight, which becomes a slightly problem with the application of the camera. Nor is it so clear, so the text and images seem a bit soft. Despite forcing your maximum update rate, you simply cannot deliver with notable ghosts when you move.

All smart assemblies have a 6 -pin connector at the bottom

We executed our usual reference tests, and the results (as expected) were not great. With daily use, the phone runs the applications very well, but will notice decelerations and stuttering when trying to perform multiple tasks. The games work well, but in low to medium configurations.

Despite its appearance, the Android 14 software is full of numerous third -party applications. These include games, call applications, VPN applications and more. The good thing is that all this can be uninstalled, which can bring it back to its almost existing state. However, even without all these applications, the software does not feel as receptive as the underlying hardware should be given.

The phone has only two cameras. The 108 megapixel primary chamber produces grouped images of 12 megapixels on daylight while administering images of little decent light, provided that it uses the dedicated night mode. The details are on the lower side, but the dynamic range is good. The Selfie Chamber takes passable images of 12 megapixels despite using the striking outfit, but that does not offer many details.

HMD Fusion Fusion Primary Camera (touch to expand the images)

HMD Fusion Selfie Chamber Sample with striking light (touch to expand the image)

Despite the electrical efficiency processor, the HMD fusion is somehow not large enough for battery life. I executed our usual video loop and administered only 16 hours and 13 minutes, which is well below the brand for a budget smartphone. Surprisingly, the 33W charger in the box served decently, managing a complete load in 1 hour and 44 minutes.

HMD fusion verdict

In a sea of ​​smartphones in the form of a bar. HMD fusion stands out for two reasons. Not only is it modular, but it can also give its users easy access to its internal parts to play and repair. After using the HMD fusion, it is not too difficult to conclude that HMD’s typical philosophy of delivering the basics follows.

The phone is an adequate design exercise and, for the first time, it has the goodness of modular smartphones to a budget package. The last time I experienced something similar was in the Z Motorola series, which covered the average range to the Premium segment. Nothing is CMF Phone 1 (review) is also sold at this price and adopts a modular approach for a smartphone, but all its beautifully designed accessories are functional, non -intelligent.

Of course, fusion is not an artist, but modular bits surely keep the fun and exciting things. There are tons of smartphone for the best budget, such as the Moto G85 5g (review) and Realme 13+ (review), under RS. 20,000. However, HMD fusion shows that the company can build a modular platform, and for now, that seems sufficient, since it has the potential to recover the modular trend and possibly make smartphones fun again.