HMD Pulse trio unveiled: affordable phones with 'Gen 1 repairability'

24 April 2024
You should be able to replace the battery with simple tools at home in 5 minutes. iFixit will sell repair kits that will also let you change the display.

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bulbulito.bayagbag, 24 Apr 2024Back to 2013 with 10w charging.Is that a racing snail he asked with a hint of sarcasm 😉

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    • Carol
    • mJ}
    • 25 Apr 2024

    Anonymous, 25 Apr 2024"OS updates are important, but more important are the ... moreWell, i'll argue again and say nope, it is not as important, not with the android updates that roll out. Hmm, maybe some vulnerabilities are version dependant, but all are core issues. I use android only since 2017 but from android 9 to android 12 there little to no core system changes, cosmetics and some functions here and there, but nothing to write home about. I do not know how many core changes android 12 actually brought, but what is clear, is that android 14 and most probably another 2 generations of android from now on, if not even more, won't bring anything new to the table besides bug crushing and optimizations, cosmetics changes and some new functions here and there. So yeah, OS updates are important but not as important as security update, especially when new updates fix some bugs and create other bugs that need to be fixed, And by the time they fix almost everything, there is another OS version comming out, pooring tones of bugs into OS again.
    Anyway, yeah this are new devices by a "new" brand and they do not want to risk to much, but most probably exactly there is the issue, maybe they should risk and instead 3 devices under 200€, they sould releasejust one and another with some balanced specs and good optimisation that goes under 300€. Could make a whole lot of difference for the customer perception. But well, they started with nokia 6 and brought some good devices above it on the market, so i only hope for them to bring something that is worth more to think about buying it then to not. For now, i'd rather buy x30 again and g60 instead. And i recomand other arround me to do the same. And that is not a good sign for something they want to sell and gain some market share with. Especially that i actually support their company politics and ethics, and will never think about investing in chinese companies and their garbage OS implementations. .

      At this price segment, nobody cares about repairability. They don't even care about updates. People are after whichever has better spec for the dollar. This is why Transsion is winning.

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        • Minu
        • IWU
        • 25 Apr 2024

        MindTheGap, 25 Apr 20241. Don't forget about the refresh rate. A03 is stuck a... moreThe G11 Plus uses a UFS 2.2 chip as per CPU-Z, stuck at UFS 2.0 speeds. The European 32GB variant uses an eMCP (eMMC) instead.

        Also, my laptop has a TN TFT, and the A03 I've tested has very similar colours and tint as my laptop, if not, marginally looks washed out. The OTG case might be region exclusive though.

          Minu, 25 Apr 2024There were compromises in the A03. For instance, eMMC stora... more1. Don't forget about the refresh rate. A03 is stuck at 60Hz lol.
          2. Doesn't the G11 Plus also use eMMC?
          3. A03 supports OTG though. Proof? I've tested it.
          4. For the display, idk it doesn't seems that bad, it's quite similar to IPS on many other phones. I understand what you mean, because at first I thought the screen quality might be similar to TFT screen on entry-level laptop which will turns black when you change your viewing angle. Guess I'm wrong.

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            • 64W
            • 25 Apr 2024

            Minu, 25 Apr 2024There were compromises in the A03. For instance, eMMC stora... moreDoesn't the A03 have a real 48MP sensor but the chip supports 24MP max

              Any phone which uses 2MP depth sensor in 2024 is just e-waste imo

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                • Minu
                • iwp
                • 25 Apr 2024

                MindTheGap, 25 Apr 2024Funny because it's the same price I got my Samsung A03... moreThere were compromises in the A03. For instance, eMMC storage, glossy TN TFT display, Li-Ion battery, micro-USB port with lack of OTG support (given that there was a noticable premium for Type-C based products at the time) and interpolated front and back cameras. I had to test the camera with open camera from one of my colleagues' A03 phones, and I was surprised by the fact that they included lower megapixel sensors unlike advertised.

                Regardless, that was the only decent Samsung-branded low end ever released post 2018.

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                  • Anonymous
                  • RIL
                  • 25 Apr 2024

                  Carol, 25 Apr 2024This comment is not for specs-sheet zombies that understand... more"OS updates are important, but more important are the security updates, for devices that are repairable, 3 years of security updates is just not enough, should be at least 5 years, why would i repair something that has no support?"

                  I'd argue that both OS AND security updates are equally important. Some of the would be vulns are actually vers' dependent.

                  Although I agree about the choice (or rather, their somewhat poorly made one perhaps) of SoC, as their 1st lineup and target price points it doesn't seem like it's an easily avoidable route. The thing about Snapdragons/qcom's even entry level SD4s = per unit's estd costs x margins could easily push past the $200+ per mark. Personally I wouldn't really mind thereabouts or a bit higher but as above it's just a threshold that HMD prefers to NOT cross over at the moment.

                  As an aside, I'd prefer if they'd try to also go for a 50-90% PCR plastic chassis moving on forward.

                    Minu, 24 Apr 2024And incredibly ironic when they retail their Nokia G11 Plus... moreFunny because it's the same price I got my Samsung A03 back in 2022. Literally the same as G11 Plus sans the fingerprint sensor + 1 gen older OS version.

                    Edit: I mean to reply your comment which state the launch price of G11 Plus, which is $110.

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                      • 64W
                      • 25 Apr 2024

                      Wafer, 24 Apr 2024Got my Pulse in Meteor Black coming tomorrow can't wait.Kind of a silly question but if you got it could you say something about the software? Curious to see if the HMD brand resulted in a different software experience

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                        • Delmar
                        • M5A
                        • 25 Apr 2024

                        Look at what Lenovo did with Motorola phones. That piece of trash called HMD

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                          • Carol
                          • mJ}
                          • 25 Apr 2024

                          This comment is not for specs-sheet zombies that understand tech like oma does boxing.
                          This time they forgot the balance.
                          While it is understandable that they want to test watters and start fresh, they kind of start "big" again. Why 3 devices with arround same specs? Waste of potential, there should be a maximum of 2 devices hack one should do it, but let's say two. One with T-606 the other with SD485 or something in those lines. OS updates are important, but more important are the security updates, for devices that are repairable, 3 years of security updates is just not enough, should be at least 5 years, why would i repair something that has no support? Well there should be something that could make people thinking about sustainability, and that is support for custom ROMs, hack even releasing a customer software that helps flashing the device with whatever, rhis will bring some fight to the table.
                          Anyways, software should be very well optimised, truth be told android 14 is as fast as the 13 and both are way faster then 12 and anything before it, but that does not mean that 15 will be without problems, so EMPHESIS on Optimisaition.
                          Last but not least, balance. Rear camera is important, front camera for such devices not so much, so if one has 13 and the other 50mpx, well let them be the best cameras money can buy in this price range, hack, let the 50mpx one be the same as x30 or xr21 and get rid of the second one. And for god sake do not release 100 devices again.
                          I do not like the start, but well, maybe they get better with the next release.

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                            • Anonymous
                            • y2g
                            • 25 Apr 2024

                            Death before they even being on sale

                              This is a fraud

                              $70 would be the ideal price for this, to use for a maximum of 2 years with a backup phone.

                                It's a joke but a bad one. Nice to have known you HMD but your business model will only bring you to bankruptcy. Not even trying to be attractive in any way. It could be a budget devices of any chinese brand but at least the latter ones offer better chipsets and/or screens for this price. Especially the chip is a soar as I have used a device with such a chip en not even the Go edition of Android runs well enough on it so yeah good luck with that.

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                                  • Minu
                                  • ter
                                  • 25 Apr 2024

                                  PureOS, 24 Apr 2024Will companies ever move from old cortex a75 and 12nm node?... moreAnd Samsung, Honor and Motorola still uses A53 cores in 14nm in this price segment

                                    Considering how potato are the specs on those devices, they could qualify as e-waste no matter how repairable they are...

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                                      • t7X
                                      • 25 Apr 2024

                                      What a waste..

                                        My nokia 7 plus is stronger than that rubbish