T-Mobile Pulse: First Breathe For Pay-As-You-Go Androids!
| by Rob Jackson on September 3rd, 2009 |
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Another big day for Android! Earlier today Sprint announced the HTC Hero and now T-Mobile UK has made official the Huawei-manufactured T-Mobile Pulse! The Pulse is a great looking phone, but for once it might be the service plan that everyone gets excited about. That’s because the T-Mobile Pulse is the first ever PAYG (Pay As You Go) Android Phone.
The phone will cost 179 pounds ($294 USD) up front, and then an extra 5 pounds/month for cellular service and 1 pound/day for Internet access. Considering its Android you’ll PROBABLY be wanting to pay the 6 pounds/day to take advantage of all the goodness.
I just want to give a shout out to Nicola Shenton who is Head of Handset Marketing. Ms. Shenton… YOU are one fine woman. That in no way/shape/form refers to her physical composition but rather this hilarious quote she gave to UK journalists:
“There are no plans to sell the iPhone in the UK,” she told journalists. “With Android, we don’t need the iPhone.”
Awesome. Spoken like a true Phandroid! The PAYG thing is cool and all but I’m sure you still want some details on the T-Mobile Pulse hardware, right? No problem:
- 3.5-inch touchscreen
- HVGA resolution with auto-rotation
- Quad-band GSM connectivity
- HSDPA (7.2Mbps) and HSUPA (2Mbps)
- 320 x 480 pixels TFT touchscreen display with 16 million colors
- 3.2MP camera with autofocus
- GPS
- 2GB internal memory
- MicroSD
- Qualcomm MSM7200A chipset at 528MHz
- Dimensions: 135 x 62.5 x 13.6 mm
- Weight: 130g
- Talk time: up to 210 minutes
- Standby time: up to 300 hours
Now that I’m scrouring the Press Release for location/date information it looks like the Pulse will launch in October but exactly what countries will receive it I’m unsure. Obviously it will land in the UK as the Head of Handset Marketing from the UK weighed in on having the device and I’m pretty darn sure Germany is on the list. I suppose we’ll have to wait and see where and when the Pulse…. pulsates?
Let’s pack in as much corniness as we can in 2 sentences… Hooray for Huawei!
(Via Telekom Press Releaese, Images via ElectricPig)
1. wheeerm wrote on September 3, 2009
6£/day?!!!! That’s crazy!!! Nice phone.
2. Puk wrote on September 3, 2009
“and then an extra 5 pounds/day for cellular service and 1 pound/day for Internet access”
So that’s 6 * 30 = 180 pounds a month? How is that PAYG? Or: how is that not insanely expensive?
3. Bryan wrote on September 3, 2009
I’m really excited to see this phone coming to the light of day, but like I thought tmo uk. I really doubt the u.s. version if we get one, I don’t see t-mo getting this without using the with google branding. Again. I’m dissapointed about no us release date. Mayb I will spring for an unlocked version when its available.
4. Brandon wrote on September 3, 2009
The pay as you go plan seems fairly pricey to me, maybe that is the standard rate for plans but at 180 pounds/month, that’s not cheap.
5. jb wrote on September 3, 2009
Brandon, “pay as you go” is not a monthly plan, but literally pay as you go. 180 pounds is for the phone, after that you just pay for minutes, you’re not bound to any contract.
I’m sure the phone (if it’ll become available) will be free on your average “regular” monthly plan (say 20 pounds or so/month).
6. zacas wrote on September 3, 2009
Ok, I totally don’t understand this pay-as-you-go thing.
“5 pounds per day for cellular service”. Does this mean you pay 5 pounds every day that you actually place or receive a call? So if you got 10 calls in a month (on different days), and received email/calendar updates daily… you would pay 80 pounds?
Sounds crippling.
Does this even include other options like call display, text messaging etc? Why on earth would anyone take this over a monthly plan?
7. jb wrote on September 3, 2009
But that 6pounds/day stuff just doesn’t sound right. Must be some error, that’s waaaay too expensive.
8. Maj wrote on September 3, 2009
That is one sexy looking phone
9. Splinky wrote on September 3, 2009
Maybe it’s 5 pounds per MONTH and 1 pound per DAY for data?
10. Gabriel wrote on September 3, 2009
RAM?
11. RMF wrote on September 3, 2009
Wow = 6 pounds equals to $9.80 dollars a day. Multiply by 30 days and that is $294 a month. That could become expensive but on the other hand, if you keep your phone off there is no charge… however, that is an expensive piece of equipment to have just sitting in your pocket…
12. Jo wrote on September 3, 2009
surely that doesn’t make sense paying £5 cellular per day. pas as you go would mean. it’s a top up but you are not forced to have that. when one buys a pay as you go, one pays for the cost of the phone plus 5 or 10 pounds for the sim a credit on it. atmo internet for pay as you go phones is indeed £1 or more per day. my advice is get the phone payg, then get a so called solo 30days contract, it’s only the sim card contract it’s cheap as hell. if you don’t want that and keep payg, just get a 30days mobile internet contract for £5
13. David wrote on September 3, 2009
Ok, it really just looks lihe the math was done te3rribly wrong. If you read the article and tmo uk’s web site (what is this, slashdot? ;) ) it is going to be their standard PAYG pricing plus 1 pound a day for data service, which comes out to 55 pounds a month (ish) and that comes out to about $80 a month (ish) … which for their normal package at 1000 minutes and unlimited text is not a bad deal, cheaper than a lot of carriers.
can i get it unlocked for that price and use it on at&t without 3g? ;)
14. Jo wrote on September 3, 2009
also people that making comments that the phone is expensive are you mad? for a new phone and look at the damn specs, it’s android 3.5 inch screen, 3G etc… basicly a new smart phone for £180 cough the htc hero was £400 when released. even the samsung toco lite was 230pounds when it was released it’s not even a smart phone it’s dumb phone!!! think people think i beg you. for me, am getting it for my lil bro definitely.
15. Tim wrote on September 3, 2009
Guys, guys. It’s £5/month *or* £1/day for data. Same prices as you get on top of most contracts. Phone calls are charger per-minute, something like 20p/minute. Texts will be around 10p each.
And anyway, all the other phones could already be bought sim-free and used on PAYG tarrifs.
16. Ben wrote on September 3, 2009
Relax guys, it’s £5 per month OR £1 per day, not both.
http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/services/mobile-internet/on-your-phone/
You can also see that info on techradar: http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/t-mobile-launches-budget-payg-android-the-pulse-631562
Those charges are for internet usage only, text and call charges are separate (but there are some pretty good deals out there).
17. Ben wrote on September 3, 2009
Of course, that might just be t-mobile in the UK. Not sure about other countries, so I might be wrong…
18. anonymous wrote on September 3, 2009
I think it’s 6 pounds per month. and 1 pound for each day that you use it. Makes more sense comapred to other PAYG services. I just wished it was available in the U.S. too. Wonder if it even needs to be unlocked to import to the US since it’s without a contract anyway, they shouldn’t have any reason to lock it.
19. cruz wrote on September 3, 2009
Guys, there is a mistake in this article regarding the data usage.
“The Pulse will go on sale in October and will cost £179.99. Unlimited internet access will cost an extra £5 per month or £1 per day on top of the standard pay-as-you-go costs.”
From http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/mobile-phones/6132933/T-Mobile-launches-pay-as-you-go-Android-phone.html
20. Martin wrote on September 3, 2009
Guys stop complaining about the plan. There’ll be some logic behind it or whatever, just wait and see.
What we should REALLY talk about is this FREAKING HOT PHONE.
If it’s this cheap aaaand it comes to Germany I’ll have to get it. Maybe I’ll keep it and my G1 or give my G1 to someone if this phone is really good. Aaah I so cannot wait.
How much RAM? RAM RAM RAM.
Me want!
21. Aditya wrote on September 3, 2009
“The phone will cost 179 pounds ($294 USD) up front, and then an extra 5 pounds/month for cellular service and 1 pound/day for Internet access.”
5 pounds [phone service] + 30 days *( 1 pound /day) = 35 pounds per month.
roughly 35 pounds/month * 12 months = roughly 420 pounds for a year
420 pounds for a year subscription + 180 pounds for hardware = 600 pounds for an android phone without any bound contracts, but a year of service with internet.
THAT IS A GOOD DEAL.
:D
22. tyler wrote on September 3, 2009
Wow you people!!! READ it says 5 pounds a month not 5 pounds a day… so the deal is prob 5 pounds a month to keep the phone turned on and pound a day for unlimited data and you buy minutes as needed… makes alot more sense doesn’t it? So thats about 35 pounds a month + however many minutes you use… That actually sounds like a pretty awesome deal! Wish T-Mo USA would do something like that… Reading comprehension people come on…
23. José Luiz wrote on September 3, 2009
The digital clock shows 13:33, but the analogic points 13:37 maybe 13:38…
24. MrSnowflake wrote on September 3, 2009
I am in love! €250 for this awsome piece of equipement. It has GPS, WiFi, a 3.5″ screen!!, 2GiB ROM, hopefully the RAM is up to par. Though the price difference should be somewhere, so I fear the build qualtity will be … well, not much of quality :). Though I really really really hope not, my Wizard is slowly dieing, I’m gonna miss him, but I need an Android replacement fast!
25. jae wrote on September 3, 2009
Fu pulse if it not in us …. don’t care ..
26. *d.* wrote on September 3, 2009
Why is this phone coming out in the UK first? huawei is Hawaiian, right? This had better be the G3, and even if it only has 2GB mem it’s bound to be better than the G1!!
27. Sean wrote on September 3, 2009
I’m really tired of T-Mobile getting all of the Android phones. =( I wish I wasn’t under VZW contract..
28. r4 carta wrote on September 4, 2009
Hi all…
I am playing games on pc and i like to more about mobile…
I like this article because it’s about mobile phones…
29. geremy condra wrote on September 4, 2009
Nice phone, just needs a keyboard… and, of course, a passport ;)
30. Timppa wrote on September 4, 2009
Tyler, you are right:
“The phone will cost 179 pounds ($294 USD) up front, and then an extra 5 pounds/month for cellular service and 1 pound/day for Internet access.”
But you don’t need to have reading comprehension in order to misinterpret things when the next line is this: “Considering its Android you’ll PROBABLY be wanting to pay the 6 pounds/day to take advantage of all the goodness.”
5 pounds/day + 1 pound/day = 6 pounds/day but
5 pounds/month + 1 pound/day = (aprox.) 1.17 pounds/day
31. Spider86 wrote on September 4, 2009
PAYG works out more expensive than getting the Hero on contract!?
I got a HTC Hero (T-mobile G2) on contract – £35 per month. For that I got the phone free of charge, 700 incusive minutes, unlimited text messages, and unlimited internet. Bargain!!
32. David wrote on September 4, 2009
Spider, where do you get the hero for free, even under contract? Yes, the minutes plan is comparative, but are you saying for 35 a month you get 700 minutes, text and internet? I find this a little hard to believe for the plan and the phone cost.
33. Spider86 wrote on September 4, 2009
T-mobile UK, check out this link has the details: http://is.gd/2TALn
34. tochi wrote on September 7, 2009
believe me the iphone just got usurped. The htc hero contract by tmobile is for real and you can get it in sleek BLACK too. Android is rising. Apple fanboys are crying.
35. Nameless wrote on September 8, 2009
This looks pretty good. Shame about having to pay £1 daily internet access! I’m guessing this would be unlockable. Also a bit iffy about the UI. Back to the original UI!