Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsGlad I bought it, unexpectedly satisfied
Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2024
Having the Galaxy S22 for a couple years now I love the phone. The cameras, with optical zoom lenses and great AI to optimize scenes, pro video and raw photo modes. Battery life, signal reception, processing speed... if you're looking at this review you know this phone is top of the line and it does deliver the goods. Unfortunately I lost my original one.
I am writing this review because I was hesitant to buy a "renewed" phone, and unsure what I would get. Well, I'm here to tell you I have been pleasantly surprised. The phone arrived early from what was quoted by Amazon. Emails came automatically from FedEx and were fairly accurate. I ordered the phone on a Friday before a Monday federal holiday, and Amazon quoted it to arrive Tuesday. Within the next 24 hours I received an email from FedEx saying to expect a delivery on Monday, between ~8am and noon. There were a couple follow up emails and the phone did eventually arrive a little after 1pm.
Already I was pleasantly and unexpectedly satisfied with the service as the phone had arrived a day earlier than expected. The only downside was that Verizon was unable to activate the phone over another phone, because there was no sim card installed. Even before receiving the phone I was afraid that I would not get an unlocked version or something else would impede my ability to get this one working to replace the one I had just lost. After an hour or so trying with Verizon tech support they finally indicated I needed to go to a Verizon store and get a free sim card. I was able to get to the store nearby before they closed. The process was easy and fast, and I had the phone connected and my phone number back in no time. It took a couple of tries to get accounts set up and synced, but my "new" phone is essentially the same as the old.
The phone sent to me by Re-Cell was in great shape. If there were not a few very minor dings on the top and bottom of the body of the phone I would think it was brand new and unused. Someone must have replaced the screen, or the person who owned it before installed a screen protector and good case, because the screen and back of the phone show no signs of wear and tear, let alone damage.
So far no operations have been less than my previous new S22 Ultra. In fact, I may even be getting better battery life from this one, which could have as much to do with having a phone cleaned of old files, etc, but I get the impression that either the battery was replaced, or this phone was not used heavily before it was refurbished.
This phone "feels" newer than the one I lost, which did have a couple scratches on the screen. Other than having to spend money on a new phone, (my Wells Fargo credit card phone protection does not cover lost phones, only theft) the only major downside to losing my old phone was the time I spent looking for it, and going through the process to get this one and set it up... a story I will not tell here.
From my experience with Amazon Renewed and Re-Cell, I do not plan to buy another new phone when the time comes that I ever need another. I will find the phone I want here and buy it used in excellent condition like the one that was shipped to me. Very satisfied with this experience.