From my experience with Star Trek (TOS, TNG, ENT, and the movies), all of the hand phasers emitted a beam. Only the pulse rifles emitted pulses. So when Kirk and Spock beam aboard the Narada why do their hand phasers emit pulses instead of beams? Was it because of the advancement in technology that Starfleet gained from scans of the Narada taken by the surviviors of the Kelvin? Or was it simply a design choice by the FX department?
It was the result of an evil scheme by the Glavawonkles to destroy the Trek fantasy we know and replace it with one of their dark design.
I believe that I read in one of the interviews about the film that that was a choice to make the phaser fights seem more interesting. They wanted to go for the Star Wars blaster fight feel instead of the Star Trek phaser fight feel.
No in-universe explanation was given. That is just the way hand phaser fire looks. You can see, however, that the Kelvin used both pulse weapons and beam weapons when it engaged the Narada. This is the reason.
The truth is, every phaser ever used by any Starfleet member were pulse weapons, except for the ones shown in episodes/films of TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, and Ent. Joe, other wayed
Maybe they finally realized that if you had a continuous beam, you could wave it around like a hose in combat, but that would a) looks weird, and b) would make fights really messy.
You don't even need to do that, phasers have a wide-dispersion beam settings that does it for you. We're really gonna be slackers in the future!
In the end I guess it doesn't really matter. Its just that the first time I saw the movie on May 7th, I noticed it right away, and thought to myself "wait, where are the beams?"
If you have ever watched Galaxy Quest, you would not have asked this question. I consider it one of my favorite Star Trek movies.
They like pulses because they work really well in Star Wars and the PTB want some of that Star Wars business.
Its the prop design and fx department. Personally, i prefer tjhe pulse look. As said, its more entertaining and spontanious. And the shot is never on the button. Whereas the phasers of old were more like pointing a flashlight, these are more like guns, obviously. Still loved the settings change, spinning barrel. Blie for lower, RED for KILL. LOL, i got it guys. Its one of my favourite Trek movies too.