Guest SoundTone Posted January 7, 2011 Report Posted January 7, 2011 So i bought this T-mobile Pulse, not new, used. Had problems with it the day i bought it - random rebooting, sometimes no response at all - searched the web for this problem, i spent a whole night just reading posts on this forum. So the problem was as follows, faulty hardware. Every solution to this was sending the phone back to T-mobile and get a new mainboard replacement. Readed the posts - a random rebooting on this device is somehow caused by temperature, it's cold here so i tested it - turning the phone off, cooling it down by leaving it next to the window. When it was cold to the touch, it worked fine for some time without crashing.. heated up a little - crashing again. Useless. The last thing i needed was a hardware problem, i have no warranty for it and all i know that it was on the default firmware. Previous owner has not installed anything on it. So i tried installing a custom firmware, i'm new to android so it took a little time to learn this and that. I got many problems with boot images, recovery images, updates etc, but i got it working, atleast to the point where it would allow me to install updates. I reinstalled the default firmware first, with december update. It showed on screen "Update completed, Restarting...", i waited 30 mins, no response. Unplugged the USB, rebooted and whalla.. blank screen, no usb detection at all, no response to key combos. Tried to force it to update again, end key + vol+, result - blank screen with blinking key backlight. I had this phone for 2 days and now i wanna crush it with a f****** bighammer!! I know that it's never a good idea to buy used electronics, but this is ridicilous.. i found so many posts on the web about problems with this phone, even with a brand new one just bought.. damn waste of money. Much better off to go with HTC Wildfire.
Guest Richard_Arkless Posted January 7, 2011 Report Posted January 7, 2011 (edited) So i bought this T-mobile Pulse, not new, used. Had problems with it the day i bought it - random rebooting, sometimes no response at all - searched the web for this problem, i spent a whole night just reading posts on this forum. So the problem was as follows, faulty hardware. Every solution to this was sending the phone back to T-mobile and get a new mainboard replacement. Readed the posts - a random rebooting on this device is somehow caused by temperature, it's cold here so i tested it - turning the phone off, cooling it down by leaving it next to the window. When it was cold to the touch, it worked fine for some time without crashing.. heated up a little - crashing again. Useless. The last thing i needed was a hardware problem, i have no warranty for it and all i know that it was on the default firmware. Previous owner has not installed anything on it. So i tried installing a custom firmware, i'm new to android so it took a little time to learn this and that. I got many problems with boot images, recovery images, updates etc, but i got it working, atleast to the point where it would allow me to install updates. I reinstalled the default firmware first, with december update. It showed on screen "Update completed, Restarting...", i waited 30 mins, no response. Unplugged the USB, rebooted and whalla.. blank screen, no usb detection at all, no response to key combos. Tried to force it to update again, end key + vol+, result - blank screen with blinking key backlight. I had this phone for 2 days and now i wanna crush it with a f****** bighammer!! I know that it's never a good idea to buy used electronics, but this is ridicilous.. i found so many posts on the web about problems with this phone, even with a brand new one just bought.. damn waste of money. Much better off to go with HTC Wildfire. Im sorry if I sound harsh but what do you really expect 1. For its time it was an incredibly cheap phone, this was a direct competitor with the htc hero which at the time was £400, this was just as good as the hero except it had a bigger screen and a front facing camera 2. If I was in the same shoes as you where I had to find a phone in todays market I wouldnt even consider this phone, its old, slow, it is from the 2009 era when 1.5 was the cool new firmware on the block, I would pick like you said either the HTC wildfire if you want a high quality built phone or if you want one for cheaper, bigger screen with better specs then I would go for an orange san francisco which is £99 in the UK 3. like you said its a used phone so you shouldnt expect everything to work like it would if you bought it brand new from the shop, really its nothing wrong with the pulse in general, I have had this phone since november 2009 and never had a single hardware problem with it. You shouldnt really trust reviews especially from a normal everyday user who cant tell the difference between a software problem and a genuine hardware failure. If you are on the default firmware then yes you will recieve general slowdowns and random reboots I had the exact same issue because tmobile made the firmware so unusuable but as soon as I replaced it with a custom firmware everything got solved recommendations, either get a refund which you are entitled to do before the 30 days of purchase (This is in the UK, dont know about in other countries) or keep it and follow these steps to install a custom firmware 1. follow this guide to install official 2.1 http://android.modaco.com/content/t-mobile...e/#entry1318835 2. once done remove the 2.1 update files off the sd card and now start to install a custom recovery here http://android.modaco.com/content/t-mobile...on-your-device/ 3. once dont take out the battery and put it back in and then download flb 1.7 from here http://www.flibblesan.co.uk/android/flbmod/flbmod_v1.7oc.zip and put the .zip on root of the sd card (DONT EXTRACT IT) 4. boot into recovery by holding menu and the red button then first wipe then factory reset then go back and go to flash zip from sd card 5. choose the flb 1.7 zip and wait till it finishes then just reboot and you should have a working phone Edited January 7, 2011 by Richard_Arkless
Guest sentroy Posted January 7, 2011 Report Posted January 7, 2011 (edited) That's some bad luck you got there. I've read maybe one of these problems per phone, but you got them all. I think we all know that this phone isn't made of the best hardware out there (even when it came out) but for most people this phone has shown us the amazing world of Android for a fair price (Thanks to the Modaco community). I've been lucky with my U8220, only problem I've had was that the power button didn't work all the time. I've also had the heating issue, it seems like the battery gets some kind of surge and heats up. Wasn't able to install anything without the phone fc:ing. Over time it went away, formatted it and installed CyanogenMod 0.4 (Thanks again Tom for froyo :unsure:). Been running smoothly ever since. And the "not restarting after update" seems to be common (for me it is). Just pull out the battery and insert it again. I for one would pick the Pulse over the Wildfire any day of the week. I think that it still has a couple of aces up its sleeve. If this is your first Android phone, I say keep it (after you've returned it for service once more B) ). It's a great phone to play around, installing new roms etc. I believe it's easier to revert back to an original rom than on any other phone. And ever since the San Fran came out the Wildfire seems to have died out a little bit. It's both better and cheaper. Hope my rant has given you any insight and/or direction. Don't give up on Android because of this phone :angry: it has got a lot of potential. EDIT Another phone i've been looking at is the LG Optimus One, it's a froyo phone with a 3.2" screen, 600MHz processor. And it's officially getting Gingerbread (2.3) Edited January 7, 2011 by sentroy
Guest arlindo.costa Posted January 7, 2011 Report Posted January 7, 2011 So i bought this T-mobile Pulse, not new, used. Had problems with it the day i bought it - random rebooting, sometimes no response at all - searched the web for this problem, i spent a whole night just reading posts on this forum. So the problem was as follows, faulty hardware. Every solution to this was sending the phone back to T-mobile and get a new mainboard replacement. Readed the posts - a random rebooting on this device is somehow caused by temperature, it's cold here so i tested it - turning the phone off, cooling it down by leaving it next to the window. When it was cold to the touch, it worked fine for some time without crashing.. heated up a little - crashing again. Useless. The last thing i needed was a hardware problem, i have no warranty for it and all i know that it was on the default firmware. Previous owner has not installed anything on it. So i tried installing a custom firmware, i'm new to android so it took a little time to learn this and that. I got many problems with boot images, recovery images, updates etc, but i got it working, atleast to the point where it would allow me to install updates. I reinstalled the default firmware first, with december update. It showed on screen "Update completed, Restarting...", i waited 30 mins, no response. Unplugged the USB, rebooted and whalla.. blank screen, no usb detection at all, no response to key combos. Tried to force it to update again, end key + vol+, result - blank screen with blinking key backlight. I had this phone for 2 days and now i wanna crush it with a f****** bighammer!! I know that it's never a good idea to buy used electronics, but this is ridicilous.. i found so many posts on the web about problems with this phone, even with a brand new one just bought.. damn waste of money. Much better off to go with HTC Wildfire. Quite likely the person who sold it to you did so because of the problems. Buying second hand instead of new leaves you open to all sorts of hassles! HTC Wildfire PC Sync Leaves Screen Blank Posted in: Other Phone Problems I plugged my phone into my USB on my computer to put music on it the phone went blank... Leave an answer My Gripes with the Vodafone HTC Wildfire! Please comment Posted in: Other Phone Problems Hi All, I hope that I’m not the only one going to gripe about the wildfire. I... 1 Answer HTC Wildfire Bluetooth Can Pair But Not Connect Posted in: Phone Software Problems will pair via bluetooth with other phones but will not connect. [Read more...] Leave an answer HTC Wildfire Cannot Play MP3 Player and 3G Network Together Posted in: Other Phone Problems Using 3G network and playing mp3 player on same time causes sometimes a problem.... Leave an answer HTC Wildfire Android Phone Frequently Rebooting Posted in: Phone Software Problems I am using HTC Wildfire since one month. Its awesome budget smart phone. I really... Leave an answer HTC Wildfire Will Not Charge After Powercut Posted in: Phone Hardware Problems My power went out in my house on my new phones first charge, It had about 15% of... Leave an answer HTC Wildfire Screen Goes Blank, Please Help! Posted in: Other Phone Problems Recently just got the wildfire (3 weeks ago). Of recent the screen has been going... Leave an answer The HTC Wildfire has absolutely no problems!!! even new! :unsure:
Guest SoundTone Posted January 7, 2011 Report Posted January 7, 2011 Richard_Arkless - I expect a functioning phone, no matter if it's new or old. It has to function properly, i'm not expecting a 1ghz processor power out of a 500mhz one. I went through most of the guides, did everything right, the 2.1 android fw is not supported for every Pulse model i think. As i heard, there are two 'generations' for this phone, the older ones are with 1.5 fw original, the newer ones 2.1 original. hardware is matched, older ones = less memory, haven't looked at the processor power & everything else precisely. Anyways, mine is bricked and i cannot send it in for repair, atleast not to T-mobile. I live in Europe, Latvia, T-mobile is not in the provider list here :unsure: I could just go to a repair shop and give it to them, hoping that the guys know some things about hardware repairs for touchscreens (cuz most of them here can't even repair any problem that is beyond basic on older phones). If it can be fixed - it will cost more than the phone itself, most of the time it's just how it is. So better off to buy a new phone or fix it yourself. arlindo.costa Nothing is perfect, Wildfire is a low-budget one as well, but as much as i heard of it, it's a good piece of hardware and gives exactly what the price can offer. Here i'm talking about a production bug, as for Pulse, Huawei has a problem with it's mainboards and not a 'fix it yourself' one. It's like you get lucky if you use the phone for a year with no problems, or you get a faulty one that malfunctions after a few days of use.
Guest SoundTone Posted January 7, 2011 Report Posted January 7, 2011 btw, thanks to Modaco community, you guys are really doing a great job!
Guest arlindo.costa Posted January 7, 2011 Report Posted January 7, 2011 Richard_Arkless - I expect a functioning phone, no matter if it's new or old. It has to function properly, i'm not expecting a 1ghz processor power out of a 500mhz one. I went through most of the guides, did everything right, the 2.1 android fw is not supported for every Pulse model i think. As i heard, there are two 'generations' for this phone, the older ones are with 1.5 fw original, the newer ones 2.1 original. hardware is matched, older ones = less memory, haven't looked at the processor power & everything else precisely. Anyways, mine is bricked and i cannot send it in for repair, atleast not to T-mobile. I live in Europe, Latvia, T-mobile is not in the provider list here :unsure: I could just go to a repair shop and give it to them, hoping that the guys know some things about hardware repairs for touchscreens (cuz most of them here can't even repair any problem that is beyond basic on older phones). If it can be fixed - it will cost more than the phone itself, most of the time it's just how it is. So better off to buy a new phone or fix it yourself. arlindo.costa Nothing is perfect, Wildfire is a low-budget one as well, but as much as i heard of it, it's a good piece of hardware and gives exactly what the price can offer. Here i'm talking about a production bug, as for Pulse, Huawei has a problem with it's mainboards and not a 'fix it yourself' one. It's like you get lucky if you use the phone for a year with no problems, or you get a faulty one that malfunctions after a few days of use. It would be interesting to know what the statistics are like... Total units sold / Units with defects. B) From what I gather the Pulse used to be an extremely popular fone.
Guest JimJam707 Posted January 7, 2011 Report Posted January 7, 2011 The Samsung Galaxy Spica is very decent phone for it's price. justsayin'
Guest SoundTone Posted January 7, 2011 Report Posted January 7, 2011 The Samsung Galaxy Spica is very decent phone for it's price. justsayin' maybe it's more like a personal taste, but i'd go for HTC or iPhone. no doubt that iphone is way too expensive for it's possibilities, but atleast apple gives quality. HTC - wildfire, legend, desire, evo .. There's one very cheap phone, it costs 60 Ls here, that would be 35 - 40 $ in USA, it's Nokia 5230. resistive screen and no wifi, those are the only reasons why it's not for me lol.
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