T-Mobile Pulse Mini

'Smartphones For All' is the thrust of T-Mobile's latest marketing campaign, and destined for the sharp end of its crusade to get the pay-as-you-go brigade on board is the Pulse Mini, a fully functioning Android handset with a PAYG price tag of under a ton. T-Mobile Pulse Mini T-Mobile's Mini: second in the Pulse canon …

[JeeBee]

Looks good for the price

Looks like a good Android phone for the PAYG price it is being offered at.

It's not quite a Hero, but it does have the latest Android (which the Hero is nowhere near getting currently) including the sat nav.

It bodes well for next year's budget Android handsets, which will probably be 800MHz ARM Cortex A8s, rather than the 528MHz ARM11 that this phone has (and shared with the Hero).

[Piloti]

Chinese crud.....

With more and more countries banning the import of Chinese made telco' equipment, India being the latest, is it right to question the import of these cheap toys ?

Huwaei's ownership is not clear and there are some fairly substantial rumours it is a cover for the incumbent regime in that bastion of human rights that is China.

Personally, I would not touch this with a barge pole, Android or no Android, sub ton or no.

No, for me, dump it inthe bin at Felixstowe and have done with it.

[Sean Timarco Baggaley]

Hypocrite, much?

The UK doesn't have a flawless track record on human rights either.

Or have I only imagined the past 13 years or so of New Labour's illegal-invading, torture support, and civil-rights-eroding administration?

[DrXym]

Sad to say but...

Virtually every retail electronics product was fully or partially manufactured / assembled in China. Even Japanese brands like Sony, Toshiba etc. farm a lot of the assembly and manufacturing out to China.

So calling it crud because it's Chinese is somewhat missing the point. Everything is Chinese these days.

[KenBW2]

Looks good

Now where's Android 2.1 for the original Pulse?

[Russ Tarbox]

Touchscreen and SatNav for under £100?

That is unbelievably good value.

[Richard Chambers]

A title

This phone shows exactly why Android will eventually beat Apple.

[Giles Jones]

Specs

Was reviewing the specifications and it was ok until I saw "Stylus".

Argh, who in their right mind produces a phone with a stupid stick these days?

[Anonymous Coward]

stylus - whats your problem?

I much prefer a sylus to having greasey prints all over a capacitive screen.

Also i can use my phone in gloves with a 'stupid stick'!

[Danny 14]

you dont need to use it

just because it has a stylus doesnt mean you have to use it. Its called choice.

[Anonymous Coward]

Article material here, surely?

"BT have just completed a 'pull out' of a whole pile of Huwaei made equipment because of concerns about security"

Really? Where can I read more about that?

Just over a year or so there was an article [1] on here, but it seemed more like rumour mongering (El Reg reporting other folks' rumours) than fact.

If BT are getting rid of Huawei kit, isn't it more likely to be because it's become irrelevant since BT abandoned the rollout of the voice part of their much-delayed much-overhyped 21CN? (Another rumour El Reg could use an article on?).

If we have to abandon all Chinese-manufactured electronics kit we're in deep doo doo (but maybe we've solved the UK's energy shortage at a stroke, as there'll be no electronics in operation).

[1] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/30/huawei_threat/

[Dan Price]

Huawei? Who are we?

This may sound strange, but I'm sure I read once that HTC (that other big Chinese smartphone manufacturer with a penchant for Android) stood for Huawei Technology Company. This phone sure reminds me of the old HTC touch, too. Am I just imagining things or is this a cheaper sideline from HTC?

[Anonymous Bastard]

@Dan Price

The popular consensus is that HTC stands for "High Technology Computer".

But I'm not one for letting facts get in the way of a good conspiracy theory.

[xconan]

HTC is taiwanese

can't say that Huawei is original but their main selling point is that as long as their design sells it doesn't matter how it's designed or whose styling cue they nicked it from.