Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat phone!!!!
Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2019
I am what you may call a 'value tech enthusiast'. I love computers, and AV equipment, and phones, and networking... if it required power and has a screen or makes noise then I will probably love it.
However, I learned a long time ago that electronics only live for so long before they break, are broken, or outdated, and generally need to be replaced, so I find it very difficult to spend lots of money on things like phones, tvs, speakers, etc. if I am just going to replace it all a few years later anyways.
This device is a great value! Especially certified refurbished which brought it down to ~$350. At a year old, it still gets all of the current updates, and it still has one of the best cameras on the market. Nice large display, great battery life for normal non-gaming use (videos, pictures, podcasts, music, email, text, and the occasional phone call).
Plus, we moved over to Google Fi service with these phones, and that has also been fantastic! As we are not heavy data users our monthly savings will pay off both phones within 2 years, Plus the data is there if we do need it while on a trip.
There are a few things that I don't care for:
While large, and with good battery life, it is quite heavy if you use it a lot; consider getting a ring or poper to help support it or lean it upright while using it.
The lack of headphone jack is quite annoying. We have not picked up any decent BT headphones, the one I have falls out of my ears constantly, and we have lots and lots of traditional in-ear and over-ear headphones, but can never find the adapter when we need it, and if you use it in your pocket with the adapter, it falls out, or goes off-kilter which stops your music and causes no end of issues. We will get good BT headphones eventually... but man is it annoying.
The display is great on-axis, but does color shift quickly if you are off-axis at all. For normal use I do not see this as a real issue, but if you prop it up and watch videos I could see this being super annoying.
But other than those 3 things, everything else has been great! No notch, decent speakers, good fingerprint reader, great camera and display, solid battery life... considering all of the pros and cons compared to other devices, I think I still would have chosen this even at a higher price point... and the fact that it isn't at a higher price point is just a bonus!
Hope that helps!
