Samsung Galaxy S22 8/128GB Phantom Black (SM-S901BZKDSEK)

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Refurbished Samsung S22 is a very nice used phone only two years old and in very good condition. At less thank 1/2 the cost of the newest model, this phone makes a nice upgrade for an Note S9 that was showing its age. Battery life is still good and the phone works without any problems. Hard to believe it's used. Samsung Smartswitch made the process of transferring files, text message, contacts very easy, but it did take a while to complete the process.

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I've been a huge fan of buying 1-to-2-generation old refurbished Samsung flagship phones. This is my second of them and I know some other people who have done it too and it's a great deal. This phone was top-of-the-line about two years ago. It is still a huge upgrade for me, replacing my 4-year-old Galaxy S10e that i obtained similarly back then. Very cheap, I was able to get this one for $235 which is a steal, this is much better than new phones in the same price range.

Things I like about this phone: it's relatively small, very fast, the display is super crisp. It's great at getting signal, and wireless networks and bluetooth pairing all work beautifully. I usually talk with a headset but phone calls without a headset are fine. The camera is great quality-wise.

Things I dislike about this phone: I would prefer it to be smaller. Phones keep getting bigger. The Galaxy S10e was slightly bigger than I like, and this one got a little bigger AND heavier. It feels bulky in my pocket. Also I don't like the location of the camera, because it tends to make the cases for this phone be very thin near the edge of the phone, which tends to make them break in that spot. And this is a design flaw with the phone, not the case, because the way the phone is made there is an area around the cameras that bumps out in such a way that makes it so you can't make that part of the case thicker. iPhones did a better job of this design, allowing for a slightly thicker piece of case.

And the other downside is the bloatware. Samsung is awful for the bloatware. there are some notifications that are very hard to turn off, like the one about "Find Your Phone". Samsung is constantly pressuring you to sign into their service, and it makes it very difficult to sign out. Two-factor authentication required to sign out? What a farce. This phone made me very frustrated at the people who designed it.

Lastly, the other things I really dislike about this phone, which unfortunately follows industry trends. There is no 3.5mm jack. I used that heavily and I really miss that. It's a big downside because now I can't use corded headsets, which I prefer in part because you don't have to change them. AND this does not have a removable battery.

The battery going is usually the reason I have to replace my phone, so lacking a replaceable battery limits the lifetime of the phone. Replacing the battery is affordable if I can do it myself, if I have to drive to a store and pay someone to open the phone up to replace the battery, it's not really worth it. So basically the lack of replaceable battery makes this phone shorter-lived for me...especially since the battery life is perhaps not quite as good as it could be. It's not terrible, but you really do need to turn power saving on from the start. I also recommend charging only to 80% to prolong the life, and then just charging more frequently. This device seems to run a little hot which tends to make batteries wear out fast, so definitely watch that.

With these limitations, I think this phone is still a great buy. But it does have some design flaws that unfortunately Samsung has not addressed in their newer phones. The whole industry has been moving in the wrong direction IMHO, planned obsolescence, making their devices non-repairable. I hate it. And because of it I refuse to buy new products. Buying old products like this is my way of protesting the industry. I refuse to pump big money into an industry that isn't representing my values and the things I care about in life.

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Disadvantages

Do not buy this phone.

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here is a known defect I found out about too late. Occasionally pressure builds up in the speaker and all of a sudden it sound like you have a completely blown speaker. The way to remedy this is to open up the SIM card slot to relieve the pressure. Which means I have to carry a paperclip in the phone case to use when this happens. This is very inconvenient when try to answer a call. This occurs with both the ear piece speaker and the speaker phone speaker.
Not too mention some great features that I had on my previous Galaxy S9 have been removed for this S22.
I've always likes the Galaxy phones but I don't know any more. Maybe time to switch.

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