SAMSUNG Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G US Version, 256GB, Phantom Black - Unlocked (Renewed)

Okay folks, today marks day 1 of ordering a refurbished phone. On the one hand the primeday price was a sweet 800 bucks, not bad at all. On the other hand it seems we are spinning the wheel and here are some of the choices.1. You get a phone that does not charge2. You get a phone does not turn on3. You get a phone that is still locked4. You get a phone that comes damaged5. You get a phone that is actually fine. It looks great.Based on the averages MOST people get a perfectly fine phone. You are just unlucky if you get a busted on. That said you have to be vigilant when you order one of these suckers. First thing inspect like crazy, and try to charge. So far there was a slight scuff near the center of the hinge, looks just a bit dirty. Also it charges, so win so far. I am going to attempt to tranfer some data and move my number over, so in the next few days I will see how it goes and will probably come back with more updates.Do note that it is good of us to TRY and recycle phones and stuff. It's better for the world and all that jazz. Me I just wanted to save some money, which may or may not bite me in the ass later.Oh and just to let everyone interested in this phone know, google searches will confirm that these phones do have issues with the middle screen getting cracks and dead pixels regardless of what you do. Samsung is also TRYING ACTIVELY to not pay for any of these. It seems if you buy the samsung care plus they take care of it MOST of the time. That said their website providing information on the care plus is confusing and seems pretty useless.I did splurge on a heavy duty case because I just want to make sure that I am protecting the screens as much as possible. I am also going to try a stylus and see how that goes.Day 1- Phone looking good, turns on, charges, samsung transfer app works well android to android. So far so good.Day 16- Very glad I bought that heavy duty case because this phone is attracted to the floor. Stuff did manage to get under the case but overall it's working well. Battery life on the phone is okay overall. If you use your phone a lot, you will be charging it everyday. Tablet mode drains it pretty fast it seems. I charged it to about 90, then read novels in firefox for about 3 hours and it dropped to 50 percent. This is not a phone you want to use if you are going to be away from a charger for a long period of time. Don't get trapped on an island with it. Besides that I am really enjoying the phone. It has a super awesome refresh rate, I picked up a stylus which was pretty nice for the big screen (note the small screen doesn't accept any stylus). It is amazing for reading books or comics, watching movies or tv shows. It feels like a really nice small tablet.One of the problems I can already forsee is that this is a 1-2 year phone as opposed to 3-4 phone like I normally buy. You are most likely going to want the newest one when it comes out assuming it doesn't explode note style. Also having a protective case is nice, but man this phone is now Thiccc. Also some apps do NOT like going from the small screen to the big screen and will literally crash because resizing hurts their brains. Most are of mine are fine but a few do crash.On a plus side besides the awesome refresh rate which makes this feel like a real fancy phone, it is a big talking piece and even without me shoving this in peoples faces like pictures of my children, people come up to me and say "Oh, you are making me want a new phone." Let's hope my luck keeps going.Day 1,034 - Well it's time folks. The phone is starting to have very weird issues. The sound isn't working when the phone is open and sometimes the inside screen won't turn on. Apparently it could be the ribbon cable which if you have time and skills you can replace yourself for about 40 dollars. Otherwise Samsung will try and make you pay 600+ to do so as they will say no matter what it's not covered. So this phone lasted just shy of 3 years. All in all not bad for a refurbished phone. I will say owning it has been amazing and I do want to own another fold. I got a surprising amount of compliments. I may see about getting it repaired locally but otherwise I have heard good things about the new fold. I will think about it still.

I originally purchased this phone advertised as "unlocked". I went through weeks worth of major hoops, frustrations and you name it, only to finally find out that the phone was still locked to Verizon. Once that was finally known, Verizon unlocked it and it's worked perfectly since. But it took me buying and returning a first phone, then buying this one only to find that it had the same problem... hassling for weeks to get this one working, all because it simply wasn't unlokced "as advertised"

I really liked most things about this phone, for the very short 5 months of light use before the big inside screen completely quit working out of nowhere. It wasn't dropped or damaged in any way. The inside screen just didn't light up one day when the phone was opened.The outside screen still works, but since that outside screen is quite a bit smaller than the screen on most other smart phones, losing the big inside screen on this phone completely negates the purpose of having this particular phone altogether and makes it nothing more than a bulkier, heavier, less user friendly version of any other android phone.I went through all of the recommended fixes, from a simple restart, to a safe mode startup, all the way through running diagnostics testing, and eventually a factory data reset, with nothing fixing the problem. Obviously the issue is with the screen itself, or the data ribbon connection from the screen to the board. Either way, I don't trust the quality of this phone enough anymore to invest hundreds of more dollars on having it torn down and fixed.I would never waste my money on any version of the Galaxy Z Fold again, or the Flip for that matter, since it's the same technology. It's a good concept, but apparently the technology isn't quite ready to reliably hold up to even careful, light use for any length of time.

I have been loving this item. It's been fun and versatile.

No issues with delivery mine came thru on fedex. Compared to the s21 ultra. Great for artist wanting to jut try using a s pen, feels like a ipad mini that you can take anywhere. This phone is for the Galaxy enthusiasts any regular Joe, you might as well get a ultra and call it a day.