Oh Puma Phone. We wanted to love you, really we did. Fashion phones have come and gone before, but none tried to be as outlandish as you, with your cheeky sense of humour and kitchen sink approach. A solar panel on the back? How could it fail? Read on for our full Puma Phone review where we dissect why it’s such a drab debut.
Read our Puma Phone review now
Puma Phone review: Build and touchscreen
Puma Phone review: Software
Puma Phone review: Solar charge diary
It all started off so promisingly. If you saw our Puma Phone unboxing, you’ll know it comes in quite the most bonkers packaging we’ve ever clapped eyes on, a cross between an egg carton and a toolbox, and laced with daft puns and warnings on the side (“Do not use in a naked mixed sauna”).
When powered off, the Puma Phone, seems reasonably well built, like a jolly cross between a Palm Pre (though without the QWERTY keyboard) and a Samsung Genio Touch. When powered on, you’ll have fun for a good few minutes exploring all the daft nooks and crannies of the phone, from the sardonic calculator which mocks you for putting in simple sums (“Too easy”) to the puma that paces around the screen when left idle, and the battery status indicator, which gives you an idea of how much charge is left with a word rather than percentage (“Happy”) and says the Puma Phone is “feeding” when plugged into the wall.
But the jokes soon tire, and that’s when you discover that the software is shockingly limited. Once you’ve discovered the three screens and the pull down settings tray, you’re done. The Maps app sometimes causes the phone to crash, and the camera takes a full five seconds to open, and the same time again to process a snap. The web browsing experience is akin to that of a Sony Ericsson half a decade ago. Technically, there’s a Puma World hub to download other apps from, but there’s nothing on there right now we want to get stuck in to. You can find out more about the software in that section of our Puma Phone review.
And then there’s the build. The 2.8-inch QVGA screen on the Puma Phone is an unmitigated atrocity. Naturally, it’s resistive, and no stylus is included, so you’ll have to push down so hard on the screen for a response that you’ll fear you’ll see the colours start to bleed. Even then, you’ll probably hit the wrong thing. That the 0-9 portrait numberpad is quicker to type with than the optional landscape QWERTY keyboard says a lot. You can technically send emails with the Puma Phone, but you won’t want to.
You can read more about the solar panel in that section of our Puma Phone review, but that aside, the battery life is abysmal. On 2G with GPS turned off and no data getting sucked in, we managed just 14 hours of moderate use. We’d expect that from a high end smartphone on full tilt, but not from something as undemanding as the Puma Phone. And to cap it all, there’s no 3.5mm audio slot, so if you want to listen to music, you’ll need to remember to carry around the supplied micro USB adaptor wherever you go.
Then, last but not least, there’s the price. We could forgive the Puma Phone if it was priced up as a Pay As You Go phone in the same region as the LG Cookie Fresh, or at a push, the Samsung Monte. But no, it’s not sold subsidized on contract and it’ll set you back a stonking €399 unlocked (£327). Considering you can get an HTC Legend for £360 unlocked, or an Acer Liquid Snapdragon phone for just £229.99, there’s just no possible way we can recommend the Puma Phone.
Now if Puma had just layered its nonsense over Android, the customisation options of Google’s OS would have made up for the joke soon wearing thin. As it is, the Puma Phone is just too different for its own good.
Read our Puma Phone review now
Puma Phone review: Build and touchscreen
Puma Phone review: Software
Puma Phone review: Solar charge diary
