Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsDelay on texting and calling
Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2019
I was very excited about getting this phone - the reviews were really positive and this international unit seemed like a great value for the money. Unfortunately, as several other reviewers have pointed out, there are issues using this with T-Mobile. It's not fatal but it IS annoying. I've had three problems: first, text messaging was blocked when I first got the phone. The T-Mobile tech guys were super helpful and got this resolved in about 24 hours. But over the last few weeks I've also experienced delays, sometimes dramatic, in sending text messages and getting calls to go through. I spoke to another T-Mobile tech guy to resolve this and after resetting and other things at his end, this was much improved with near immediate texting (as you'd expect) and normal calling. But now it seems to be slowing down again. The T-Mobile tech guy told me that their phones are optimized to work on the T-Mobile network and while this phone is "unlocked," it doesn't interact with the service as seamlessly. I always thought T-Mobile phones were about marketing and branding. It didn't occur to me that buying one of their phones would generate better functionality. But I believe it. My husband bought a very inexpensive LG phone from the T-Mobile store (about $175) and he routinely gets better reception and generally better speeds even though his is theoretically a much lesser phone.
Also as some folks noted, the battery life isn't great. This surprised me since the reviews indicated it was very good (though not as good as the Power). It barely lasts 12 hours with very normal usage. If you use the GPS or stream anything for any length of time, the battery will die even sooner. I try to remember to bring my charger if I'm going to be away all day.
So, all in all, it's a nice phone, good camera, excellent price, etc. but to be honest, if I hadn't gone past the return window I'd probably return it and go buy a phone from the T-Mobile store to optimize the service. The good news is T-Mobile tech support is great and they've been super helpful in trying to work out these issues. But I suspect there's only so much they can do. Like I said, none of this is fatal but it's maddening watching the "send" notice spin round and round waiting for a text message to go.
