Should I buy the T-Mobile Pulse?

[Guest Willz]

I'm sorry if there's already a thread around the forums like this, but I don't really have time to search around now.

My current phone is almost completely broken now, so I'm looking for a new one, and someone on the o2 forums recommended me the T-Mobile Pulse. So I've been looking for reviews, Youtube videos etc. and they all make the phone out to be all round decent. However I have heard that the screen is often unresponsive and the battery life can be bad - is this true? Even if so, is it so bad that it would affect me greatly? I don't tend to use my phone much as it is, but with the internet and a touch screen, I can see myself using it more often than I do now, which is why I'm curious.

I was also wondering how the Facebook app is, what's it like? And uh, I noticed you can turn the phone on it's side when in the internet browser and music player, but can the same be done for texting, giving you a wider keyboard to type on? And one final question.. would I have to have the phone unlocked to use an o2 SIM?

Again, I'm sorry if these questions have been asked around already, it's just that I'm at work right now and I don't have time to have a good look around. Hope someone can give me some answers to my questions, as I would really, really appreciate it.

Thank you. :(

[Guest david_dawkins]

Battery life: Poor

Screen responsiveness: Good

Wide keyboard for texting: Yes (also check out alternate keyboards, including awesome Shapewriter)

Facebook app: Good

Overall: Battery life is manageable , pack your charger wherever you go. I like this phone, glad I got it.

Unfortunately, it's in repair at the moment for what looks like a common weakness in the USB socket, which came loose.

Call quality can also be an issue, depending on which ROM you have installed. The T-Mobile December update appears to fix

call quality issues; mine seemed to degrade after installing custom ROMs.

[Guest mapero]

I'm sorry if there's already a thread around the forums like this, but I don't really have time to search around now.

My current phone is almost completely broken now, so I'm looking for a new one, and someone on the o2 forums recommended me the T-Mobile Pulse. So I've been looking for reviews, Youtube videos etc. and they all make the phone out to be all round decent. However I have heard that the screen is often unresponsive and the battery life can be bad - is this true? Even if so, is it so bad that it would affect me greatly? I don't tend to use my phone much as it is, but with the internet and a touch screen, I can see myself using it more often than I do now, which is why I'm curious.

I was also wondering how the Facebook app is, what's it like? And uh, I noticed you can turn the phone on it's side when in the internet browser and music player, but can the same be done for texting, giving you a wider keyboard to type on? And one final question.. would I have to have the phone unlocked to use an o2 SIM?

Again, I'm sorry if these questions have been asked around already, it's just that I'm at work right now and I don't have time to have a good look around. Hope someone can give me some answers to my questions, as I would really, really appreciate it.

Thank you. :(

I dont think the screen is unresponsive when using in your hands. It will not respond very well when lieing on a table, cause then it has no earthing.

The battery life is bad. But u get used to it. When i go to sleep, i charge my phone. But its a problem of all/most smartphones. Had the same with my MDA Vario.

Yes u get a wider keyboard when rotating the phone.

As far as i know the UK Phone is simlocked. My german phone wasnt simlocked. So depends where u buy it. But unlock is not that expensive. There is a Sticky Thread in this Forum with a special modaco offer.

[Guest robot1000]

I'm sorry if there's already a thread around the forums like this, but I don't really have time to search around now.

My current phone is almost completely broken now, so I'm looking for a new one, and someone on the o2 forums recommended me the T-Mobile Pulse. So I've been looking for reviews, Youtube videos etc. and they all make the phone out to be all round decent. However I have heard that the screen is often unresponsive and the battery life can be bad - is this true? Even if so, is it so bad that it would affect me greatly? I don't tend to use my phone much as it is, but with the internet and a touch screen, I can see myself using it more often than I do now, which is why I'm curious.

I was also wondering how the Facebook app is, what's it like? And uh, I noticed you can turn the phone on it's side when in the internet browser and music player, but can the same be done for texting, giving you a wider keyboard to type on? And one final question.. would I have to have the phone unlocked to use an o2 SIM?

Again, I'm sorry if these questions have been asked around already, it's just that I'm at work right now and I don't have time to have a good look around. Hope someone can give me some answers to my questions, as I would really, really appreciate it.

Thank you. :(

Hopefully I can help.

1) The phone screen is capacitive and responsive only when held in one hand and with the screen protector is removed.

2) The battery life is terrible when the data service is active. If you use the internet alot, you'll probably need to recharge every day or two.

3) To my knowledge the facebook android app is not great compared to the iphone one, but it's fine to be used through the browser

4) The phone can be turned on it's side for texting, notes etc and you can download different keyboards to make typing easier, e.g. swype, Better Keyboard etc.

5) You can either buy a 'network unlock sim attachment' from dealextreme £3, (which I'm currently using) OR get it unlocked through the sticky on this forum (about £13)

Plus it's getting the 2.1 android OS in the upcoming months which is a real bonus!

Edited March 3, 2010 by robot1000

[Guest Spooke]

I think otherwise about the battery tbh

Battery life: Good, I recharge my phone everyday anyway :/ Dont see why you wouldnt...

Screen responsiveness: Perfect if ur holding it in your hand, Ok if its on a table, there are some trick to make it more responsive

Wide keyboard for texting: Yes, I use HTC_IME which is great!

Facebook app: Good, although its kinda missing some features that the iphone version has, Im sure it will be updated sooner or later though

I also dont believe the screen is resistive, Im 99.99% sure its capacitive :/

[Guest Daz555]

1) The phone screen is resistive.

The screen is capacitive - finger friendly and no stylus.

[Guest robot1000]

The screen is capacitive - finger friendly and no stylus.

Thanks for noticing that, I meant to say capacitive

[Guest Willz]

Wow, thanks a lot for all of the fast replies guys. I'm glad this is a popular forum too, so if I do decide to get the phone, I can always have my questions answered. :( Battery life seems to be average from what most have said. I have my phone on charge every night, or whenever I am home really, so it shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Well, I have been well and truly convinced. I do think I'll buy the phone this weekend, or next week. Thanks everyone!

Oh, and one more question I guess.. I see there's a lot of hacking threads on here for the phone, is it worth hacking it? If so, what more would I get from it? Extra themes? Free stuff from the store, or something?

[Guest bounty123]

Battery life is not bad at all. Once I used the Pulse mainly just for calls for some days and after 3 days it was still at 40%. Of course wifi/gps and always updating/badly written widgets can drastically shorten it.

[Guest jrec]

Hi,

I'm also on the cusp of going for a Pulse, subscription, and have consumed a lot of info when comparing it with the Galaxy Portal (No - 128MB RAM?!), Hero (No - overpriced), InTouch Max (No- apparently no update to Android 2.x, 3" screen) etc. The above points though are really useful lists of pros and cons!

I have to say though, I'm less concerned about the inbuilt apps, Facebook etc., as the future-proofing of the hardware (insofar as this is ever possible). My main concern is ROM - only 256MB on the Pulse right, versus 512MB across most every other Android device. So, not only is there (so I read) only c70MB free ROM for apps, using 1.5, how much of that 256MB will be taken up by Android 2.1 as and when it hits? Anything left internally at all for apps? And any room for future Android releases, should they filter to the Pulse? This seem to be main downside of the Pulse from what I've read. Happy to be contradicted though! I'd be planning to stick with the stock ROM for a bit, perhaps rooting only, and have heard of A2SD (and it's reboot corruption bug), but in-built ROM is a concern, esp. as Google Earth for 2.1 is apparently a 25MB install on its own!

I'm coming from 3 WinMo devices (currently custom Orbit ROM), but can really see the end of the line there. Am excited by the Android buzz and far too much time spent on Modaco already... :(

jrec

[Guest psionandy]

1) The phone screen is capacitive and responsive only when held in one hand and with the screen protector is removed.

Mine works fine with the screen protector on, and even when I've placed it on a table

2) The battery life is terrible when the data service is active. If you use the internet alot, you'll probably need to recharge every day or two.

Nokia users, Iphone Users, Windows mobile users, all users of smartphones complain about battery life, especially when using the internet a lot. Most of those would be incredibly happy if they only had to recharge every day or two.. Personally the Pulse holds up pretty well against other phones I've used, and has much better battery life than my previous smartphones (HTC TyTN and TYTN II)

Plus it's getting the 2.1 android OS in the upcoming months which is a real bonus!

The 2.1 android upgrade is probably coming. Much rumour and speculation has bounced around forums, but as yet nobody has managed to produce definitive proof of IF it will actually happen. Personally I'm betting that it probably will, but there is no guarantee that it will definitely happen.

As to memory on the device, if you use on of the modaco roms you can use a2sd. The reboot problem is a pain.. but it only means you have to run the fix/repair when you reboot the device. And I haven't rebooted mine for ages...

The big benefits of 'hacking' the device (and all i've really done is installed a custom rom...) is that its a faster device, and I can install apps and not have to worry about how much space they take up.

The biggest problem with the device (which may be a show stopper for some people) is the camera. Its truly awful. Its incredibly slow to take an image and hence has problems with blur/sharpness... Its not a problem for me, I don't really use it and i'm happy with my pulse.

[Guest robot1000]

Mine works fine with the screen protector on, and even when I've placed it on a table

It works, but it's not that responsive. A protector is not needed, as it's a glass scratch proof screen

The 2.1 android upgrade is probably coming. Much rumour and speculation has bounced around forums, but as yet nobody has managed to produce definitive proof of IF it will actually happen. Personally I'm betting that it probably will, but there is no guarantee that it will definitely happen.

There have been a number of videos proving that 2.1 is running on the Huawei U8220, plus the confirmation emails coming from their technical staff

[Guest _melchett]

yes

Not sure how much more you want me to say but yes you should buy it. I would love to have been able to afford the Hero but the Pulse does Android proud. Yes battery isn't brilliant, but its a smart phone. I used mine as an MP3 player to and from work, at lunch times = about 3 hours a day. Call about 30mins-1hr a day and keep wifi on after 6.30pm till i need to charge it (using the internet quite a lot.)

Its cheap and a great smart phone. Are there better, yes, is the price difference worth it, no.

Buy

[Guest martoto]

It's very simple - you won't find any better smartphone on the market for that price. Well, it is not as near as perfect and there is a plenty of other better devices, but for twice up to triple of the Pulse's price. And Pulse actually has everything that you need: 3G, WiFi, GPS, Digital Compass, big capacitive and glass touch screen, decent battery (yes, actually battery life is reasonable for a smartphone) and acceptable overall build and hardware quality (much better from Acer for example). As someone already said, the only real crap thing is its camera. But this, in my opinion doesn't matter, because I still do not know a smartphone with really good camera at all (just use DSLR if you want to take pictures :( ). And last but not least - we have a good community support here in modaco, which is a great plus as well.

[Guest Willz]

I really appreciate all these answers, cheers.

The deal I should be getting gives me 6 months free internet, but I'm wondering, does using the Facebook app count as using the internet? Because I'm wondering if that will cost when those 6 months are up.

I'm really not sure whether to go out and buy it from the shop today, or to order it online. D:

[Guest masterpfa]

I really appreciate all these answers, cheers.

The deal I should be getting gives me 6 months free internet, but I'm wondering, does using the Facebook app count as using the internet? Because I'm wondering if that will cost when those 6 months are up.

I'm really not sure whether to go out and buy it from the shop today, or to order it online. D:

If you going to buy it check out the T-Mobile online today only deal

Edited March 4, 2010 by masterpfa

[Guest Willz]

I've ordered it! Just spoke to a lovely lady over T-Mobile website chat, and ordered it sucessfully. She said it should be with me tomorrow, or saturday afternoon. Thanks for all the help guys, I'm sure you'll be seeing me around the forums very soon. :(

[Guest Neron]

I've ordered it! Just spoke to a lovely lady over T-Mobile website chat, and ordered it sucessfully. She said it should be with me tomorrow, or saturday afternoon. Thanks for all the help guys, I'm sure you'll be seeing me around the forums very soon. :(

Enjoy the Pulse is the best phone I have ever brought and I paid £180 for it :(

[Guest klutsh]

I too paid the £180 price tag, and for total cost of ownership (Including unlocking) you will not be able to get any other android device for less.

Yes it has fault's, but so does every other Android phone.

[Guest masterpfa]

I've ordered it! Just spoke to a lovely lady over T-Mobile website chat, and ordered it sucessfully. She said it should be with me tomorrow, or saturday afternoon. Thanks for all the help guys, I'm sure you'll be seeing me around the forums very soon. :(

Me Too!

I had been thinking about getting one myself for sometime, So I did.

OK of to the T-Mobile Pulse forums to see what's available

(all come at the right time, my Hero is in for repair and had to have an Android phone!)

Hopefully it comes by this week end! :(

EDIT: Spoke too soon OUT OF STOCK!!!! :(

EDIT: After the previous examples of T-Mobile and phones out of stock I decided to go in store and buy at the not so discounted price, hey still good for £15 more £149.99 plus £5 top up

Edited March 4, 2010 by masterpfa

[Guest Willz]

I think my order is completely messed up now. I don't know if the phone is even coming, or what.

Basically, when I first went through it, I clicked cancel on the visa secure thing which came up with an error, so I had to start again with everything. The second time, everything went fine and I got the email confirming. But then I also got an email saying my previous order has not been completed and I had to call them up. So I did, and the guy said that both orders have been cancelled due to "multiple orders" and that I should order it A THIRD TIME.

But I don't know what to do. I'd have thought I'd get an email to say that my orders have been cancelled, but I haven't. Any suggestions? :( I'm really angry right now.

Edited March 4, 2010 by Willz

[Guest biron_w]

I think my order is completely messed up now. I don't know if the phone is even coming, or what.

Basically, when I first went through it, I clicked cancel on the visa secure thing which came up with an error, so I had to start again with everything. The second time, everything went fine and I got the email confirming. But then I also got an email saying my previous order has not been completed and I had to call them up. So I did, and the guy said that both orders have been cancelled due to "multiple orders" and that I should order it A THIRD TIME.

But I don't know what to do. I'd have thought I'd get an email to say that my orders have been cancelled, but I haven't. Any suggestions? :( I'm really angry right now.

Try ringing them and asking to speak to a manager to find out what's going on.Might be your best bet.

As for the OP - you can't go wrong with this phone.I've had mine for maybe 6 months now and it's the best phone i've ever had.Screen is really responsive,battery life gets better over time.Then again i've disabled all data services and have it set to just 2g as I don't use internet on my phone.

Put the modaco custom rom on it and you have a superb,great value phone.

[Guest markleman]

Because I'm wondering if that will cost when those 6 months are up.

Best value IMHO is the 6months for £20 booster here

[Guest andy-andy]

EDIT: Spoke too soon OUT OF STOCK!!!! :(

where does it say this? I've just ordered another one.

[Guest andy-andy]

where does it say this? I've just ordered another one.

oh, got an email from t-mobile saying it is out of stock now. must have been a big demand for it! :(