HMD Pulse Pro review: Questionable beginnings

The Pulse Pro is one of the first smartphones from manufacturer HMD under its own brand.

They are known for their budget smartphones, sold under their name in partnership with Finnish technology giant Nokia. As well as so-called semi-smart “feature phones” which have often been nostalgic refreshments of Nokia’s legendary models from the days when it was the world’s biggest mobile phone giant.

But HMD is apparently tired of remaining in Nokia’s shadow and wants to show what it can do without Nokia. They gave us hints at the Mobile World Congress show earlier in 2024, and now the first HMD-branded smartphone models have been launched. A chance for them to impress and show how they differ from the Nokia versions.

A chance they don’t take. When I unbox the Pulse Pro and walk through it step by step, from specs, design, build quality, screen, features, performance and software, I feel like it should indicate Nokia on it. This is another mobile in the same budget segment where Nokia already has many serious competitors, and very little about the Pulse Pro is different from them.

Colorful options

Perhaps you could say that the design is a little more playful, with its three color options – green, purple and black – straighter screen edges and a glossy back. But Nokia phones have also experimented with this look over the years, so if it had that branding I wouldn’t have reacted. Because everything else seems very familiar.

The construction is claimed to be “dust and splash resistant,” but no further information is available. It didn’t break after being used during a rainstorm, so that’s at least a little reassuring. You get two SIM card slots and a separate Micro-SD card reader, plus a fingerprint scanner in an unnecessarily small button on the side.

The Pulse Pro, like the Nokia G22, is designed to be easy to repair.

Get an iFixit kit and you should be able to access the phone relatively easily to replace the screen, battery, and other components if they become damaged or worn.

Disappointing performance

Given its affordable price, you shouldn’t expect amazing performance from the Pulse Pro, but it’s even worse than I expected. Low performance from a Unisoc T606 chipset, which becomes capable of simpler tasks thanks to 6 GB of RAM and slightly faster storage than expected.

Connectivity is via 4G or Wi-Fi 5 networks. You get an IPS display with 720p resolution and a refresh rate of up to 90Hz, leading to questionable viewing angles and struggles with brightness exterior.

And a single speaker at the bottom. It provides detailed sound thanks to OZO audio enhancement, but that doesn’t help much because it’s mono and not very powerful. At least you get a 3.5mm analog headphone jack on the lower short side. This should be considered a plus.

Mattias Inghé

Mattias Inghé

Mattias Inghé

Uneven and unreliable photography

The camera is a 50Mp sensor from an unknown brand, but I can confidently say that it’s not one of the best sensors.

It’s not very large and has noticeable issues with color control and noise when I try to shoot at night. In daylight, images are sharp, but with somewhat pale contrast and no real vibrancy in colors. Above all, the autofocus is slow, which means that action photos don’t always follow and can sometimes be blurry.

It’s the only active sensor on the back, so you’ll have to do without wide-angle, zoom, or macro, and the additional lens houses a 2MP depth-of-field support sensor for shooting view in portrait mode. The camera digitally zooms very well up to 2x, but any further digital magnification noticeably decreases in quality. I shoot video at 1080p at 30Hz and get acceptable image stabilization.

However, I don’t give much for the thin sound of the microphone. It’s strange, because I seem perfectly acceptable on a phone call.

The selfie camera on the front is also 50MP, but a smaller, faster sensor (or one that weak hardware can handle more easily) would certainly have been welcome. I have to delete a lot of self-portraits because they just fail to focus on my face despite active face recognition. The focus is on the back of the chair just behind, blurring the details of the face. Color management for skin tones is also often very poor, both when shooting and filming, for example for a video call.

A 5,000 mAh battery, combined with a low-resolution screen, gives the Pulse Pro very good battery life. You can actively work there throughout the day: streaming movies, surfing the web, sending emails, and occasionally taking photos or filming. With careful use, it lasts two days.

Mattias Inghé

Mattias Inghé

Mattias Inghé

Unfortunately, loading is not very fast. It supports 20W of power via USB-C, but you don’t get a charger with it.

With a powerful universal charger, I get about a little over 1% charge per minute, but the last 20% is slower, so it takes a total of up to 1.5 hours to get a fully charged battery.

The software does not save it

Is HMD doing anything interesting with the software? Well, the only thing they get here is a three-year update promise instead of the two years common in the budget class.

Mattias Inghé

Mattias Inghé

Mattias Inghé

Otherwise, it’s the same Android experience as Nokia phones: a simple, standard-style interface, plus a folder with unnecessary extra apps that I’d rather install myself or ignore, like Facebook, Amazon, and LinkedIn, plus its own support and maintenance. application. And HMD chooses to use monochrome icons for apps on the home screen in the default theme.

It’s really the only unique thing. Which isn’t really enough to stand out.

Pricing and availability

In the UK, the Pulse Pro costs £149.99 directly from HMD’s website, or £129.99 if you trade in an eligible phone. Replacement parts are available through iFixit.

However, the phone isn’t available on contract, so you’ll need to buy it outright and bundle it with a SIM-only deal. Use the widget below to find the one that suits you best.

It’s one of the cheapest budget phones on the market, but the Samsung Galaxy A15 (4G) is a much better phone if you’re willing to spend a little more, while the Moto G04 offers more for less.

Of course, buying these two phones means giving up repairability, but the Nokia G22 offers it at the same price.

Should you buy the HMD Pulse Pro?

Probably not. Performance, connectivity, screen, cameras, battery, and other features don’t differ significantly, and aside from battery life and a sleek albeit plastic exterior, there’s nothing which impresses or seduces.

As a result, it’s barely passable in its price range and therefore difficult to recommend to anyone.