Verdict
Despite a self-colored design and an exemplary layer of repairability , the HMD Pulse Pro does n’t do enough where it really counts . Performance is terrible , the display is sub - standard , and the camera provision simply is n’t up to scratch , even within the phone ’s £ 150 weight unit class .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
No longer contented with exclusively making smartphones under the storied Nokia banner , Finnish producer HMD Mobile has opted to fall apart its own badge gimcrack and lofty with a series of raw low-priced smartphones .
We ’ve already reexamine theHMD Skyline , a lower - mid - range handset with a unique repairability angle . However , this new ego - branded phase actually complain off with the HMD Pulse series , and we have here the top model in that miniskirt - range , the HMD Pulse Pro .
Like the Skyline , it sports increase repairability as a lead characteristic , but the cost of the phone is a significantly lower £ 149.99 . At this Mary Leontyne Price , it ’s mixing with affordable titans like the Moto G35 and the Samsung Galaxy A15 .
We ’ve rarely been bowled over by HMD ’s Nokia phones , but in the ruggedize XR series it prove that it can add something young to the affordable French telephone scene . Can it do something like under its own firebrand ?
Design
In a mode , the HMD Pulse Pro ’s design is its one killer feature . Not that you ’d know that to look at it .
It ’s a well put together sound for £ 149 with a solid feel and a clean look . HMD really displays its experience build such gaudy phone here .
The frame of the phone is plastic , but its matte finish and subtly angled corners do n’t draw attention to that fact . wait closely and you ’ll see a seam on each niche , but you would n’t notice at a coup d’oeil .
On the good edge of the phone you ’ll receive the power button - cum - fingerprint sensor , which is pleasingly break up , making it light to locate and activate without look . I would n’t call the unlocking function fast – public presentation is not the HMD Pulse Pro ’s stiff courtship , as we ’ll go on to discuss – but it is reliable .
The rear of the phone has a somewhat generic spirit , and its shiny plastic finish is a minute of a fingermark attractor . Again , though , it ’s tastily put together , with minimal embroidery and a welcome pop of vibrancy from the two brighter color , Twilight Purple ( like my exam example ) and Glacier Green . There ’s also a Black Ocean option for you surreptitious types .
At 163.2 x 75 x 8.6 mm and 196 g , the HMD Pulse just about falls into the ‘ well-fixed ’ smartphone zone , though it is perhaps a little chummy . You ’d never call it compact , but nor are you unlikely to complain that it ’s big and bulky – at least not if you ’ve come from using another affordable speech sound from the usual mark ( Motorola , Xiaomi , Realme etc . ) .
HMD has also gone to the trouble of providing IP52 certification . Sure , that means that the Pulse Pro is merely protected from a spritz of water and circumscribed dust ingress , but any such reassurance is welcome at this end of the grocery store .
So far so average , but the HMD Pulse Pro ’s key intention feature is its increased repairability . It ’s something that I was unable to put to the test , understandably , but the effort HMD has put in here is vindicated .
Head over to the HMD Phones Repair Hub on ifixit.com , and you ’ll be able to source supererogatory parts and step - by - stair guides to help oneself you interchange the Pulse Pro ’s screen , rearward cover , lodge porthole , and battery .
Will most the great unwashed corrupt a phone for this Mary Leontyne Price be interested in self - repairing their telephone set ? Of course not , and I have my dubiety over whether the HMD Pulse Pro will remain usable in several class time even without any damage . It ’s also not a new provision , as HMD offered a similar thing with last year’sNokia G22 .
This sort of responsible , forrader - suppose design is most welcome yet , and HMD should be commended .
Screen
The HMD Pulse Pro packs a 6.65 - inch screen , which is middling big . Unfortunately , that size does n’t do any favour for its 720p resolution .
I ’ve suppose it before , but surely we ’re at a point now where 1080p or FHD+ should be the service line for all but the very crummy telephone . And by ‘ very cheapest ’ , I ’m talking sub-£100 .
You probably wo n’t observe this pixel shortage when flitting about the Pulse Pro ’s place screenland or even firing off a agile message . But any task that involves images or fine school text , such as web browsing or view your snaps back in Google Photos , will reveal a certain fuzziness that can make such tasks a bit of a task .
HMD has supplied a 90Hz refresh pace , which is likely the right spec on such special computer hardware . It lends a petty extra scrolling smoothness without accentuating the telephone ’s chugging general performance .
You ca n’t force the concealment to 90Hz all the time , which is a piffling irritating , with the phone solidifying to Adaptive by default . you could drop it to 60Hz in the stake of prolong battery life , though that ’s not something that should really be of care .
With a stated maximal distinctive luminousness of 480 nit , or 600 nits in in high spirits luminance mode ( HBM ) , the HMD Pulse Pro is n’t the sorting of phone you ’ll want to seat outside in the Lord’s Day with . On a sunny former - autumn ’s 24-hour interval , I found text edition to be just about legible , but it was far from ideal .
Everything becomes emphatically less legible when the screen is viewed off - axis , disregarding of ambient lighting . This is an IPS LCD , but that does n’t seem to have aided consider angles . This also mean that you do n’t get the popping colouring and full-bodied contrast of pricier phones with OLED panels .
There ’s just the one speaker on the bottom of the phone . The output is somewhat thin and crummy , but it remains jolly clear even at loud volumes . That ’s all you may ask for £ 150 or less . There ’s always a 3.5 mm headphone jack to tilt on for audio , as well as the usual Bluetooth .
Performance
If there ’s one thing that support the HMD Pulse Pro back , even more so than its frail presentation , it ’s performance . As I ’ve already mentioned , this matter chugs .
You do n’t have to look very far for the culprit . HMD has opt for the same age Unisoc T606 microprocessor chip that power theMotorola E20and theNokia G21back in 2022 . The former had a £ 90 asking toll at launch , while the latter came in at the same £ 150 as the HMD Pulse Pro , and both brushup pick apart the carrying out of the various phones .
That I ’m baby-sit here benchmarking exactly the same underwhelming chip ( albeit second by a more capacious 6 GB of RAM ) in a telephone set that costs the same or importantly more some two years later is inauspicious , to say the least .
Not that the Pulse Pro ’s fearsome benchmark results are even necessary to reach a conclusion here . you’re able to just feel how obtuse this phone is from the sluggish unlocking cognitive operation to simply jerk between home projection screen and card , not to cite firing up apps .
Needless to say , you ’ll want to dispatch the HMD Pulse Pro from consideration if you enjoy anything but the unclouded soma of gaming on your sound . I masochistically fire up Genshin Impact , and happen a game that ran sluggishly on the default last-place stage setting . Remember that this is having to push way fewer pixels on that 720p display , too .
The lonesome UK simulation hail with 128 GB of storage , which is a solid preparation in such a tawdry phone . There ’s also a microSDXC slot if you wish to expand that .
Camera
When you put ‘ Pro ’ in the name of a earpiece , that often comes with expectations of an enhanced photographic experience . You ’ll need to check those expectations at the door with the HMD Pulse Pro .
It issue just the one independent camera , a 50MP sensor with autofocus , but no OIS . This is endorse by a 2MP astuteness sensor . There is no ultra - wide provision , while 2x telephoto slam are attain by dress in on that main sensor .
There ’s nothing wrong with cutting out the additional cameras and focusing on one good one , but the HMD Pulse Pro ’s single camera in no way meets the threshold of the full term ‘ good ’ .
While it forbear from punch up color with an unnatural amount of processing , as can often fall out with cheaper phones , the guesswork it captures incline towards the flat and lifeless . There ’s a fundamental want of detail here , and it fight with demarcation despite the imperativeness that an auto HDR map is in operation .
The HMD Pulse Pro ’s camera also seems to sputter with any grade of motion , even in unspoiled kindling . delay out my shot of a harbour scene , in which can be observed a disconcerting ghosting effect on a crane and of sea gull flying overhead .
Zoomed in 2x shots obviously partake the same worldwide tone of the 1x snaps , turn over that they come from the same sensor . However , the drop in point is pronounced , remind me of 5x or even 10x shot I ’ve taken with more expensive telephone .
HMD seems pleased with its supply of a 50MP selfie tv camera . That for certain sounds good on paper , specially for such a cheap phone .
In drill , however , the front tv camera struggles . Subject item is n’t too bad , but highlights in the background tend to be horribly blown out .
Night mode is a complete write - off , with bags of dissonance and a general whiz of the electron lens being smear with Vaseline .
telecasting capture only stretch to 1080p at 30fps , and the resulting footage is predictably blurry and foolish . Without OIS , it was also very wonky even on on the face of it steady pan .
Software
HMD has brought across one of the most appealing aspects of its Nokia earpiece : relatively clean , unadorned Android software .
The HMD Pulse Pro runs on Android 14 out of the boxwood , and it does n’t roam too far from Google ’s own conception of its UI . The menus and layout are the same , and there ’s the common full choice of Google apps .
Where HMD does putter with the tone , its shock is limited . The nonremittal icon are given a minimalist black and white look on the home filmdom , which expect middling sleek . However , most subsequent app installations will be in full colour , and the contrast between the two is jarring .
What ’s more , the aesthetic does n’t pack through to the app tray . Thankfully , the consequence can be turn off in the configurations fare .
The Pulse Pro is n’t entirely free of bloatware either . However , we ’re talking about a grand total of five third - party apps ( LinkedIn , Booking.com , Facebook , Amazon , and discount app Kindred ) , and they ’re all stashed in their own folder .
This folder also incorporate HMD ’s My twist app , which grants starter steer alongside an online shopfront .
All in all , it ’s frizzy , clean , and undecorated – just how we like it . It ’s a similar approach to Motorola ’s , which is a good thing .
Less positive is the promise of a grand total of two OS upgrades and three years of surety updates . Given HMD ’s centering on the Pulse Pro ’s repairability , it makes little sentience that it wo n’t be patronage much beyond the length of a fluid contract .
Battery Life
The HMD Pulse Pro wo n’t be found wanting in the staying power stakes . The combination of a large 5000mAh barrage fire , a broken - power processor , and an undemanding 720p display raise genuine two - day potential .
In examination , an hour of Disney Plus streaming sapped just 5 % of a charge , while 30 proceedings of easy gaming on Slay the Spire drain the same . Again , we have to emphasise that both of these apps were only having to output to a 720p showing , but even so . That ’s a good result .
Charging support is less positively charged . There ’s no charger in the box , and in the process of rustling up your own solution , you ’ll find that it exceed out at 20W.
Using a dependable 30W Asus battery charger , 15 minute of charging only make the HMD Pulse Pro to 15 percent , while 30 minutes got it to 36 percent . A full 100 percent explosive charge from empty take me around 2 hr 15 minutes , which is an infrangible age .
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Should you buy it?
With genuine two - Clarence Day battery life , the HMD Pulse Pro can keep on go .
The HD+ resolution , unmarried rear camera and quondam C.P.U. mean that , while the Pulse Pro looks the part , the experience is far from ideal .
Final Thoughts
The HMD Pulse Pro is a well put together headphone with an likeable price tag end , exemplary repairability , and strong battery lifetime . It also benefits from some of the cleanest software around .
regrettably , that ’s where the good newsworthiness ends . execution is woefully sluggish , thanks to the exercise of a completely unequal CPU , while the exhibit merely is n’t sharp enough at 720p .
The photographic camera , meanwhile , struggles to get decent results in all but the most ideal scenarios . HMD ’s circumscribed software reinforcement does n’t live up to its hardware sustainability talk , either .
Trusted Score
How we test
We essay every mobile earpiece we review thoroughly . We use industriousness - standard psychometric test to compare features properly and we use the sound as our independent equipment over the recap time period . We ’ll always tell you what we find and we never , ever , accept money to critique a product .
get out more about how we try out in ourethics insurance .
FAQs
It has limited IP52 resistance .
Yes , there ’s a 3.5 mm port on the bottom edge .
No , you ’ll need to ply your own charger , with support up to 20W.
Test Data
Full Specs
