HMD Pulse Plus smartphone review
HMD Pulse Plus Smartphone Review: HMD Pulse Plus was announced in April 2024 and then went on sale the same month. The smartphone is now available globally and will expand to more countries in the coming weeks. This new smartphone from HMD is designed for users on a budget and yet packs modern hardware.
The smartphone looks similar to its other siblings, HMD Pulse and Pulse Pro. They have the same design, which undoubtedly helped them save resources that can be used elsewhere. The design is certainly quite attractive, but the same cannot be said for its interior. It comes with low-end specifications and doesn’t even have 5G connectivity.
HMD designed the smartphone keeping in mind users on a limited budget, so they had to make certain sacrifices. Let’s start with a detailed review of the new HMD Pulse Plus smartphone and see if it is worth buying.
HMD Pulse Plus smartphone review
Reflexes
- The HMD Pulse Plus has a 6.65-inch IPS display with 90Hz high refresh rate support.
- The SoC inside the smartphone is the Unisoc T606 4G chipset that can reach clock speeds of up to 2×1.6 GHz.
- The smartphone comes with the latest Android 14 for a better experience.
- The smartphone has a 50MP rear camera system, while the selfie camera has an 8MP sensor.
- The smartphone has a 5000 mAh battery with standard 10W charging support.
Design and display
The HMD Pulse Plus follows the same design language as its other siblings like the HMD Pulse and HMD Pulse Pro. It has a similar flat design for the side and middle frames, but is made of polycarbonate. It has a solid design and a well-built body, so there is no chance of the body creaking or bending. The back panel features a frosted matte finish, which looks quite good.
But at the end of the day, design is subjective and not everyone may feel the same. The smartphone comes in three colors: Apricot Crush, Midnight Blue and Glacier Green. The phone is protected against dust and splashes, but the company has not specified an IP54 protection rating. As for the display, you get a 6.65-inch IPS display with 90Hz high refresh rate support.
The screen also gets bright enough at 600 nits in direct sunlight, so you shouldn’t have any problems using the smartphone outdoors for longer periods with auto-brightness on. Unfortunately, the display only comes in HD+ resolution, so that could be a deal breaker for some people.
Memory and internal
The HMD Pulse Plus features the Unisoc T606 4G chipset, which is capable of clock speeds of 2×1.6 GHz. This chipset has lower clock speeds, so at best, It has a relatively average performance. But the chipset will have no problem running apps like Facebook, WhatsApp, Snapchat, and more. The performance of this chipset is not great, but it is not terrible either.
The same goes for games. The chipset has a Mali-G57 MP1 GPU, which is below average and cannot run demanding games. So, don’t expect it to run games like CODm and PUBGm smoothly, but it can run games like Candy Crush, Tempe Run, and other games like this quite well. As for the operating system, the smartphone comes with the latest Android 14 for a better experience.
This allows you to enjoy the latest Android features out of the box. But the smartphone does not support 5G connectivity, so you will have to settle for 4G connectivity only. It’s one of the compromises HMD had to make at this price. As for RAM and storage, the smartphone can be purchased with up to 4GB to 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, expandable with microSDXC. There’s also a 3.5mm headphone jack, something that’s becoming quite rare these days.
Camera
The HMD Pulse Plus has a 50MP rear camera system. The main camera consists of a 50MP sensor, which manages to capture some above-average shots with a decent level of detail considering the price. The camera is accompanied by an LED flash and also supports autofocus, saving you the hassle of focusing manually every time you take a photo.
There is a secondary auxiliary camera that should probably work in conjunction with other camera modes, but the company has not specified megapixels. For selfies, there is an 8MP selfie camera that can take some above-average selfies with a generally natural color tone. As for video recording, the rear camera can record up to 1080p@30FPS, but there is no stabilization option of any kind.
Battery and others
The HMD Pulse Plus has a high-capacity 5000 mAh battery, which can last 2-3 days with light to medium use, including some camera, social media, texting, watching videos, taking notes, etc. . Getting 2 days or even more isn’t that difficult, but gaming will drain your battery much faster. Also, please note that this is a removable battery.
However, the smartphone does not support any type of fast charger. It has a standard 10W charger, which will probably take more than 3 hours to fully charge the smartphone. Apart from that, the smartphone also has Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.0, a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, GPS, NFC, and a USB Type-C port. The HMD Pulse Plus starts at $167 (Rs 13,999 in India) approximately .
Pros and cons of HMD Pulse Plus
HMD Pulse Plus Specifications Detail
Below you can see the HMD Pulse Plus Smartphone Full Specifications.
| Specifications | HMD Pulse Plus |
| Grid | 2G, 3G, 4G |
| Announced | April 2024 |
| SIM | Nano SIM |
| Dimensions | 6.43 x 2.95 x 0.33 inches |
| Weight | 187 grams |
| Size | 6.65 inches |
| Show | IPS LCD 90Hz 480-600 nits brightness Ratio 20:9 ~265 PPI density |
| Protection/Others | Dust and splash resistant |
| Resolution | 720 x 1612 pixels |
| SW | Android 14 |
| chipset | 12nm – Unisoc T606 |
| CPU | Eight cores 2 × 1.6 GHz Cortex-A75 Cortex-A55 6 × 1.6 GHz |
| GPU | Mali-G57 MP1 |
| card slot | microSDXC |
| RAM | 4GB, 6GB, 8GB |
| Internal | 128GB |
| Camera | 50 MP (wide angle), AF Auxiliary lens LED flash, HDR Maximum: 1080p at 30fps |
| selfie | 8 megapixels |
| Loudspeaker | Yeah |
| 3.5mm jack | Yeah |
| Wifi | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac |
| Bluetooth | 5.0, A2DP, LE |
| GPS | GPS, GALILEO |
| NFC | Yeah |
| infrared port | No |
| Radio | not specified |
| USB | USB Type C 2.0, OTG |
| Sensors | Fingerprint, accelerometer, proximity, side-mounted compass |
| Battery | 5000mAh 10W wired |
| Colors | Crushed Apricot, Midnight Blue, Glacier Green |
| Expected price | $167 (Rs 13,999 in India) approximately |
Conclusion
The HMD Pulse Plus is an extremely low-end smartphone, so it doesn’t have a great chipset. The same goes for the screen, the rear camera and the front camera. However, the battery is quite good but the charger is not. It is a standard charger and the phone does not support fast charging of any kind. Additionally, there is no support for 5G connectivity.
This low-end smartphone could have been considered a good budget option if the price was also decent, but it is anything but decent. The Xiaomi Redmi 13C, which costs less than $150, offers better specs, including screen protection, fast charging, better cameras, and more. It is the best smartphone comparatively and has a lower price.
Several other smartphones offer better specifications than what HMD offers with this smartphone. However, the final decision is up to you, so it is better to choose a smartphone based on your requirements and needs.
