Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsNumerous hardware warnings
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 December 2023
Phone arrived well packaged.
It was described in the listing as being in “Excellent” condition – no visible marks from 30cm, but upon initial inspection there were visible scuffs and chips on all corners and most of the sides, and also on the back and camera area too, so the 30cm rather depends on your eyesight, doesn’t it? Mine’s decidedly average and I could see a lot of marks, so the claims are subjective.
The screen however was perfect, but more about this in a bit.
I powered the phone up and started the migration from my old iPhone SE which has done me well since 2016. But, part way through this several warnings popped up regarding the hardware on this refurbished iPhone 11.
The first was regarding the battery – the phone was saying it was an “Unknown part”. Then the same warning appeared regarding the display, but more concerning was the next warning that there was an issue with the TrueDepth sensor in the camera, which meant that the camera was now disabled.
This is important as Apple got rid of the fingerprint sensor before the iPhone 11, relying on facial recognition (or a PIN) instead for unlocking, and the fact that the TrueDepth sensor is used for the FaceID, this means that FaceID cannot be used to unlock this phone! That’s a biggie for me and a red flag.
The battery issue is also a red flag too as it means, simply, there’s no way to check the status/health of the battery in the phone, so you have absolutely no idea of how good/bad it is.
Ok it’s a refurb phone, but these issues are too much for the three-hundred quid it cost.