T-Mobile Pulse There haven’t been that many Android smartphones in the UK yet, but T-Mobile is already looking to capitalise on the burgeoning demand Google's operating system by releasing the Pulse, the first pay-as-you-go Android handset. T-Mobile Pulse T-Mobile's Pulse: Android goes PAYG Running Android 1.5 - aka Cupcake - the Pulse …
Someone has actually designed an attractive Android phone, shame about the 2.5mm socket, who uses 2.5mm headphones or headsets? Bluetooth is widespread now.
I would wonder if the touchscreen can do multitouch or if this is a software limitation.
Can't really go wrong for £180. But will it get updates?
I have a G1, as far as I know the USB cable isn't for any kind of automated syncing, just data transfer and charging.
BTW I got my G1 not long after it first came out, as new and unlocked for £206 from a certain well-known online tat bazarre, which I consider amazing value - it's currently running Cyanogen's Android 1.6 / 4.2.3.1
firsly, I live in a Tmobile dead spot (had a virginmobile phone before so know all about it ... Tmobile want to build a new basestation nearby but there's a well organised local tinfoil brigade to stop that)
secondly, all very well launching phones like this on PAYG but no-one seems to do decent data rates ... Tmobile seems to be £1/day or £2.50/5days if you remember to text a code. If a network came up with a data only monthly tariff with PAYG top-ups for calls texts then I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd sign up.
Sounds like a nice bit of kit but I just wanted to point out that HSDPA 7.2Mbit/down 2Mbit/up translates more accurately to 0.5-2Mbit/down 0.5-1Mbit/up - 7.2 would require you to be the only user on the cell, with clear LoS and no adverse atmospherics or nearby interference. It's a good speed for a phone, but even the Japanese 23Mbit/down HSPA networks advise users to expect no more than 4Mbit/down actual speed.
T-Mobile themselves are meant to be quoting 4.5Mbit, but this seems to be easily forgotten by sales teams ... I can't speak for the other networks since I don't work for them (hence AC)
"Oddly, the Pulse has a 2.5mm socket in the top of the phone rather than a standard 3.5mm jack"
Are they really that stupid?
The phone was looking quite nice up until then, but who the hell wants to mess around with a fuggin 2.5mm adapter?
It might have already been answered - but will it be able to be upgraded to the latest andoid os?
AC wrote:
<<<secondly, all very well launching phones like this on PAYG but no-one seems to do decent data rates ... Tmobile seems to be £1/day or £2.50/5days if you remember to text a code. If a network came up with a data only monthly tariff with PAYG top-ups for calls texts then I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd sign up.>>>
There are two new TMobile internet boosters that don't seem to have been publicised yet (but are explained in an leaflet with the Pulse) that should satisfy you:
a) monthweb, "one month's worth of internet access " for £5
b) 6monthweb for [hold onta your socks!] £20.
Yep, £3.30 a MONTH.
(Both are activated by text and deducted from your PAYG balance. You can get a reminder when your balance hits a definable value.)
Works for me! :)
Part of the problem is that it looks ok in the surface, might even last a few months, but frankly, there is no substitute for quality.
Almost all Huwaei product is shoddy, plastic toss and for T-Orange to be asking for £180 is shameful. This is Kellogg's give-a-way item, or maybe should be gracing the inside of a Happy Meal box.
Does anybody know if Android can sync with Lotus Notes? I know that Nokia and Blackberry can out of the box, and WinMo by using EasySync Pro, but Android? Or the iPhone, for that matter...
And yes I know there are 3rd party apps to do the syncing for me, but I like a purist approach and would like the standard software that comes with the phone to handle the sync without loading my system with yet another app.
6 months internet for £20 looks very interesting ... only issue will be the small print to find out if there's a "usage" limit with punitive fees over that. Free internet with £10 topup doesn't work for me as I make relatively few calls (probably a generational thing but I see no need to be constantly talking to someone on the phone) and with my current phone major need to top up is the 50p vodafone charge me for using the internet on any day.
So only thing stopping me getting one of these is the local tinfoil hat brigade and their anti mast campaign!
It is disappointing that the memory map is so small. Why no Donut? Also its a big put off that Eclair is unlikely to visit this handset.
Okay, so it is a budget Android - but that is no reason for such inadequate devices to come to market and thus sully the reputation of Android, which it will for some. It is when you see this kind of manufacturer behaviour that you can also see why some OS manufacturers refuse to licence their code.
Possibly a tiny win for Huawei and T-Mobile until Android 2.0, and then probably all hell let loose in 2010 as people see their, tiny, investment in technology was so short lived.
The more I find out about this Huawei the less I want to even think about it!
The problem I experienced (and I found several similar accounts in Android forums) is that the Pulse SIM registered on the network as a USB modem at a £2/day connection charge. (And no way to activate the Internet Boosters.)
All it took was a forceful chat with CS and they switched me to the Mates Rates tariff and I was then able to get the Boosters).
Makes you wonder what kind of testing T-Mobile completed before releasing the phone (late) to payg customers...
No, no. You misunderstand: the now-withdrawn SIM was faulty, in that it registered the Pulse incorrectly on the mobile broadband tariff.
Rather than get new buyers to automatically call CS, TMobile have been 'shamed' into delaying sales!
And I'm not interested in that PAYG offer as I only really intend using it for data on the £5/mth booster. (Though I guess I could do a £10 top-up for one month's data and then use the credit for the next two months' boosters... )
@ all those people complaining about 2.5" headphone sockets...
Completely essential on a phone where you want to use if for music. No stupid bluetooth headsets running on battery and no really bad headsets with their proprietory connectors.
Back on topic... I really want to have a go on an Android handset to see how Java applications work. The only negative about my SE P1i is the way the Symbian UIQ OS interacts with Java applications... it's a total mess. Being able to run Trekbuddy with all my OS 1:25k explorer maps is essential.
I'm on O2 and the only phone they seem to want to sell me is the you know what. I don't want a phone made by the "democratic peoples republic of lockdown apple" thanks
@Ben 47
Well, Android doesn't *contain* Java, but development of Android Apps is mostly done in Java (with an escape to C via the Native Development Kit for really low-level stuff). OK, it's not J2ME, more like J2SE minus Swing, with the addition of the Android GUI and other extensions.
So, the original comment from batfastad about programming an Android handset in Java does stand up.
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