T-Mobile unveils pay-as-you-go Android phone

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  • tmobilepulse2.jpg

    T-Mobile has demonstrated the first pay-as-you-go Android handset to go on sale in the UK.

    The Pulse, which is manufactured by Huawei, was announced on Thursday. Huawei is best known in the UK for manufacturing mobile broadband dongles for operators such as T-Mobile, and the Pulse marks its entry into the British handset market.

    "The T-Mobile Pulse represents another Android milestone from T-Mobile," said Nicola Shenton, who currently heads the operator's handset business in the UK, in a statement. "We introduced the first Android handset, the T-Mobile G1, to the UK back in October 2008, launched our second handset, the G2 Touch, earlier this year and now we're opening up Android-based smartphones to a whole new type of mobile user with the first handset on pay-as-you-go."

    "We predicted back in June that we expected one in five T-Mobile mobile internet users will have Android-powered devices by the end of the year, and the launch of the T-Mobile Pulse is a major step in making this a reality," she added.

    The pay-as-you-go T-Mobile Pulse will go on sale in the UK in October at £180. Contract pricing is yet to be announced.

    Caption by: David Meyer

  • tmobilepulse1.jpg

    The T-Mobile Pulse weighs 130g and measures 160mm x 62.5mm x 13.5mm. Its connectivity options include Wi-Fi, HSDPA/HSUPA and Bluetooth, and it also has built-in GPS and an accelerometer.

    The device is powered by the same 528MHz Qualcomm MSM7200A processor that is found in HTC's Android handsets. Huawei promises a battery life that supports up to 300 hours on standby or up to 210 minutes of talk time.

    With a touchscreen measuring 3.5 inches, the Pulse also has the largest display of any Android phone to date — the HTC- and Samsung-made Android handsets that are already on sale only have 3.2-inch screens. However, the Pulse has the same HVGA resolution found in those devices.

    Caption by: David Meyer

  • tmobilepulse3.jpg

    The Pulse has its own user-interface skin, which is more basic than the Sense UI employed by HTC in its Hero handset.

    Unlike the Sense, the Pulse's browser does not allow for multitouch zooming in and out, with that functionality coming instead from two soft keys. T-Mobile has, as usual, embedded its own tabbed homescreen in the browser.

    Outside of the browser, the Pulse's UI skin includes three home screens: one for the clock and the most-used applications, one for contacts and one for other applications. It allows the user to zoom out to view all three screens at once, for an overview of all application icons.

    As with other non-Google-branded Android handsets, such as the HTC Hero, the Pulse will include Microsoft Office Outlook functionality for access to work emails.

    Caption by: David Meyer

  • tmobilepulse5.jpg

    The camera in the Pulse has a resolution of 3.2 megapixels. It has autofocus, but no flash.

    The handset has 2GB of internal memory and takes microSD cards for expandable storage.

    Those buying the Pulse from T-Mobile will get a month's free trial of TeleNav satellite navigation, according to T-Mobile. The operator also says the device will automatically switch between its 3G network and various HotSpot locations worldwide.

    Caption by: David Meyer

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The Pulse has its own user-interface skin, which is more basic than the Sense UI employed by HTC in its Hero handset.

Unlike the Sense, the Pulse's browser does not allow for multitouch zooming in and out, with that functionality coming instead from two soft keys. T-Mobile has, as usual, embedded its own tabbed homescreen in the browser.

Outside of the browser, the Pulse's UI skin includes three home screens: one for the clock and the most-used applications, one for contacts and one for other applications. It allows the user to zoom out to view all three screens at once, for an overview of all application icons.

As with other non-Google-branded Android handsets, such as the HTC Hero, the Pulse will include Microsoft Office Outlook functionality for access to work emails.

Caption by: David Meyer

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