HMD introduces Pulse+ Business Edition with extended software support and warranty

HMD is courting corporate customers with the introduction of the HMD Pulse+ Business Edition. Physically, the phone is the same as the consumer version. There is a difference in software and support that makes deploying this phone to employees and helping them out when something goes wrong is easier.

First off, the phone comes with an extended 3-year warranty. Also, the usual 3 years of security patches have been extended to 5 years to ensure that company data is kept safe. The phone will still only receive 2 years of OS updates, though.

As for hardware support, there are two options. The one that most companies are likely to go for is called Door to Door Care with DHL Express. It’s what it sounds like – if a phone needs repair, DHL will pick it up from anywhere in Europe, take it to a repair center and bring it back when it’s ready.

But if your company has staff with a skilled hand in electronics, some repairs can be done in-house with tools and instructions provided by iFixit. The HMD Repair Hub on ifixit.com offers replacement batteries (€20), charging ports (€15), back panels (€3) and even displays (€40) at very reasonable prices. Basically, the things most likely to break can be replaced in-house. And the battery is rated to maintain at least 80% of its original 5,000mAh capacity after 800 charge cycles, so it will be a few years before normal wear and tear makes a battery swap necessary.

The HMD Pulse+ Business Edition is designed to Android Enterprise Recommended guidelines and features enterprise security with biometric authentication, encryption and remote wipe. Setup is easy – it can be done by the company’s IT department before the employee even opens the box. And all data collected from the phone is stored on the Google Cloud Platform based inside the EU (and fully complies with GDPR requirements).

The HMD Pulse+ Business Edition costs €200 for a 6/128GB unit (the consumer version is €160 for 4/128GB). This isn’t something you can pick up yourself, though, but your company can get in touch with HMD to buy the phones and potentially sign up for some of HMD’s enterprise services (they have Enterprise Mobility Management, theft protection and more).

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