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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2023
I got the blue version with 256GB of storage and 8GB of RAM, it's beautiful and a major improvement from my Moto G Fast which had 32GB and 3GB. The memory extension boosts the RAM to a whopping 16GB total, which is way more than my actual computer has, and it's amazing for multitasking, whether you're gaming while listening to music and responding to texts or just switching between apps a lot.
One of the reasons I chose this phone was for the fingerprint scanner. Although the side-mounted location isn't as convenient as the rear-mounted one on my Motorola, I'm getting used to it. It also seems less reliable than the Moto's scanner, if my finger is a little sweaty or I hold it at the wrong angle, it's likely to not recognize it, but when it does work, it's super fast. The Motorola always had a delay of a second or two between me pressing the scanner and the phone actually unlocking, but with this it feels like I've barely tapped it and it's instantly unlocked.
When I excitedly opened the Amazon box, the phone box was in there. It didn't have any packaging around it, like those plastic bubbles or anything, but nothing was broken, so I guess it was fine that they did it this way.
A nice clear case was included, I'll have to buy a screen protector separately though. (EDIT: after looking more closely I think it did actually come with a screen protector, I just didn't notice before because it was already installed on the screen. I'll probably still buy my own to replace it though, to get better protection.) Although it came with an extremely fast 67W charger that is compatible with American power outlets, I did not find the advertised 55W car charger anywhere in the box, so if you're expecting one of those, you'll be disappointed. Thankfully I don't have a car so I didn't actually need that.
I've already talked about how great the hardware is, now for the software. This is my first time using MIUI, and overall I like it, although there are some quirks. It came with a bunch of pre-installed apps, including Facebook, AliExpress, some kind of car rental service, and several games. Thankfully this bloatware was easily uninstalled, but honestly this phone has so much storage capacity I probably could've left them all on there without worrying about them taking up valuable space. Some of MIUI's apps do have ads in them, but they aren't too annoying, and I don't find it necessary to use those apps anyway. (EDIT: if you dig around in the settings for those apps you can find an option to turn off ads, if they really bother you)
The biggest annoyance I've discovered is trying to use widgets. If you tap and hold on the home screen, it'll let you edit the layout, and there's a button that says "Widgets". You'd expect this to show all the widgets provided by your apps, but no. It shows some weird MIUI widgets that don't look useful at all. You have to scroll down to a section called "apps with multiple widgets", tap "all", then tap the subtle button at the bottom that says "Android widgets". Now you've finally got access to all your beloved widgets. And yes, you have to go through this whole process every time you add one to the home screen. I attached screenshots showing each step of this process but Amazon put them in a random order so it's confusing, I'm sorry about that.
I love this phone, it works perfectly with T-Mobile here in the US. I just had to switch over my SIM card using the provided tool and wait a little bit for it to connect. It was exactly $300 USD when I purchased it, a great price for a great phone. (EDIT: I was worried about the phone not being compatible with the bands used by T-Mobile, but using the LTE Discovery app I have seen it connecting to LTE bands 66 and 2, despite them not being listed in the information here on Amazon. So, it seems to be compatible with more bands than the description says.)
I got the blue version with 256GB of storage and 8GB of RAM, it's beautiful and a major improvement from my Moto G Fast which had 32GB and 3GB. The memory extension boosts the RAM to a whopping 16GB total, which is way more than my actual computer has, and it's amazing for multitasking, whether you're gaming while listening to music and responding to texts or just switching between apps a lot.
One of the reasons I chose this phone was for the fingerprint scanner. Although the side-mounted location isn't as convenient as the rear-mounted one on my Motorola, I'm getting used to it. It also seems less reliable than the Moto's scanner, if my finger is a little sweaty or I hold it at the wrong angle, it's likely to not recognize it, but when it does work, it's super fast. The Motorola always had a delay of a second or two between me pressing the scanner and the phone actually unlocking, but with this it feels like I've barely tapped it and it's instantly unlocked.
When I excitedly opened the Amazon box, the phone box was in there. It didn't have any packaging around it, like those plastic bubbles or anything, but nothing was broken, so I guess it was fine that they did it this way.
A nice clear case was included, I'll have to buy a screen protector separately though. (EDIT: after looking more closely I think it did actually come with a screen protector, I just didn't notice before because it was already installed on the screen. I'll probably still buy my own to replace it though, to get better protection.) Although it came with an extremely fast 67W charger that is compatible with American power outlets, I did not find the advertised 55W car charger anywhere in the box, so if you're expecting one of those, you'll be disappointed. Thankfully I don't have a car so I didn't actually need that.
I've already talked about how great the hardware is, now for the software. This is my first time using MIUI, and overall I like it, although there are some quirks. It came with a bunch of pre-installed apps, including Facebook, AliExpress, some kind of car rental service, and several games. Thankfully this bloatware was easily uninstalled, but honestly this phone has so much storage capacity I probably could've left them all on there without worrying about them taking up valuable space. Some of MIUI's apps do have ads in them, but they aren't too annoying, and I don't find it necessary to use those apps anyway. (EDIT: if you dig around in the settings for those apps you can find an option to turn off ads, if they really bother you)
The biggest annoyance I've discovered is trying to use widgets. If you tap and hold on the home screen, it'll let you edit the layout, and there's a button that says "Widgets". You'd expect this to show all the widgets provided by your apps, but no. It shows some weird MIUI widgets that don't look useful at all. You have to scroll down to a section called "apps with multiple widgets", tap "all", then tap the subtle button at the bottom that says "Android widgets". Now you've finally got access to all your beloved widgets. And yes, you have to go through this whole process every time you add one to the home screen. I attached screenshots showing each step of this process but Amazon put them in a random order so it's confusing, I'm sorry about that.
I got the blue version with 256GB of storage and 8GB of RAM, it's beautiful and a major improvement from my Moto G Fast which had 32GB and 3GB. The memory extension boosts the RAM to a whopping 16GB total, which is way more than my actual computer has, and it's amazing for multitasking, whether you're gaming while listening to music and responding to texts or just switching between apps a lot.
One of the reasons I chose this phone was for the fingerprint scanner. Although the side-mounted location isn't as convenient as the rear-mounted one on my Motorola, I'm getting used to it. It also seems less reliable than the Moto's scanner, if my finger is a little sweaty or I hold it at the wrong angle, it's likely to not recognize it, but when it does work, it's super fast. The Motorola always had a delay of a second or two between me pressing the scanner and the phone actually unlocking, but with this it feels like I've barely tapped it and it's instantly unlocked.
When I excitedly opened the Amazon box, the phone box was in there. It didn't have any packaging around it, like those plastic bubbles or anything, but nothing was broken, so I guess it was fine that they did it this way.
A nice clear case was included, I'll have to buy a screen protector separately though. (EDIT: after looking more closely I think it did actually come with a screen protector, I just didn't notice before because it was already installed on the screen. I'll probably still buy my own to replace it though, to get better protection.) Although it came with an extremely fast 67W charger that is compatible with American power outlets, I did not find the advertised 55W car charger anywhere in the box, so if you're expecting one of those, you'll be disappointed. Thankfully I don't have a car so I didn't actually need that.
I've already talked about how great the hardware is, now for the software. This is my first time using MIUI, and overall I like it, although there are some quirks. It came with a bunch of pre-installed apps, including Facebook, AliExpress, some kind of car rental service, and several games. Thankfully this bloatware was easily uninstalled, but honestly this phone has so much storage capacity I probably could've left them all on there without worrying about them taking up valuable space. Some of MIUI's apps do have ads in them, but they aren't too annoying, and I don't find it necessary to use those apps anyway. (EDIT: if you dig around in the settings for those apps you can find an option to turn off ads, if they really bother you)
The biggest annoyance I've discovered is trying to use widgets. If you tap and hold on the home screen, it'll let you edit the layout, and there's a button that says "Widgets". You'd expect this to show all the widgets provided by your apps, but no. It shows some weird MIUI widgets that don't look useful at all. You have to scroll down to a section called "apps with multiple widgets", tap "all", then tap the subtle button at the bottom that says "Android widgets". Now you've finally got access to all your beloved widgets. And yes, you have to go through this whole process every time you add one to the home screen. I attached screenshots showing each step of this process but Amazon put them in a random order so it's confusing, I'm sorry about that.
Awesome phone, but doesn't come with a car charger.
Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2023
I love this phone, it works perfectly with T-Mobile here in the US. I just had to switch over my SIM card using the provided tool and wait a little bit for it to connect. It was exactly $300 USD when I purchased it, a great price for a great phone. (EDIT: I was worried about the phone not being compatible with the bands used by T-Mobile, but using the LTE Discovery app I have seen it connecting to LTE bands 66 and 2, despite them not being listed in the information here on Amazon. So, it seems to be compatible with more bands than the description says.)Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2023
I got the blue version with 256GB of storage and 8GB of RAM, it's beautiful and a major improvement from my Moto G Fast which had 32GB and 3GB. The memory extension boosts the RAM to a whopping 16GB total, which is way more than my actual computer has, and it's amazing for multitasking, whether you're gaming while listening to music and responding to texts or just switching between apps a lot.
One of the reasons I chose this phone was for the fingerprint scanner. Although the side-mounted location isn't as convenient as the rear-mounted one on my Motorola, I'm getting used to it. It also seems less reliable than the Moto's scanner, if my finger is a little sweaty or I hold it at the wrong angle, it's likely to not recognize it, but when it does work, it's super fast. The Motorola always had a delay of a second or two between me pressing the scanner and the phone actually unlocking, but with this it feels like I've barely tapped it and it's instantly unlocked.
When I excitedly opened the Amazon box, the phone box was in there. It didn't have any packaging around it, like those plastic bubbles or anything, but nothing was broken, so I guess it was fine that they did it this way.
A nice clear case was included, I'll have to buy a screen protector separately though. (EDIT: after looking more closely I think it did actually come with a screen protector, I just didn't notice before because it was already installed on the screen. I'll probably still buy my own to replace it though, to get better protection.) Although it came with an extremely fast 67W charger that is compatible with American power outlets, I did not find the advertised 55W car charger anywhere in the box, so if you're expecting one of those, you'll be disappointed. Thankfully I don't have a car so I didn't actually need that.
I've already talked about how great the hardware is, now for the software. This is my first time using MIUI, and overall I like it, although there are some quirks. It came with a bunch of pre-installed apps, including Facebook, AliExpress, some kind of car rental service, and several games. Thankfully this bloatware was easily uninstalled, but honestly this phone has so much storage capacity I probably could've left them all on there without worrying about them taking up valuable space. Some of MIUI's apps do have ads in them, but they aren't too annoying, and I don't find it necessary to use those apps anyway. (EDIT: if you dig around in the settings for those apps you can find an option to turn off ads, if they really bother you)
The biggest annoyance I've discovered is trying to use widgets. If you tap and hold on the home screen, it'll let you edit the layout, and there's a button that says "Widgets". You'd expect this to show all the widgets provided by your apps, but no. It shows some weird MIUI widgets that don't look useful at all. You have to scroll down to a section called "apps with multiple widgets", tap "all", then tap the subtle button at the bottom that says "Android widgets". Now you've finally got access to all your beloved widgets. And yes, you have to go through this whole process every time you add one to the home screen. I attached screenshots showing each step of this process but Amazon put them in a random order so it's confusing, I'm sorry about that.
Images in this review
