Samsung Galaxy S4 I545 16GB Verizon Wireless CDMA Smartphone - Black Mist (Certified Refurbished)

Alright well I'm going to break this phones review down into a simple pros, cons and conclusion to make this as easy to read as possible. If you don't want to go through a wall of text, however, you can simply skip to the conclusion, as I will include everything there, but with less detail.Pros:Very nice hardware specs. Quad-core Snapdragon is very quick and has no issues with multitasking. 2gb of RAM is a very large improvement over my previous Androids 512mb (pathetic). 1080p Super AMOLED display is gorgeous, as expected, and has great viewing outside even with the sun directly on the phone, and the brightness not even at max. 13mp camera is great, although I don't even use the 13mp when I take pictures, as that scales the aspect ratio down to 4:3, and I prefer 16:9. So I use the 9 megapixel setting for that, which still takes pictures at 4k resolution.THIN! Wow, this thing is so thin and light, I can't imagine ever putting a case on it. This thing has Gorilla Glass, so I can't imagine why you'd ever need one. My previous phone had Gorilla Glass and was dropped hundreds (literally) of times and only got minor scuffs on the screen. The metal bezel started chipping and falling apart before the screen even got a single crack. Chalk it up to luck, but you should've seen some of these drops. I wouldn't call it luck at all. This phone has the new iteration of Gorilla Glass, which is supposedly stronger, although newer isn't always better, so I'll update the review if I ever have a screen crack. UPDATE: Took almost a year but yes, the screen did crack. Was quite a pathetic way to crack it as well. I was sitting cross-legged on the ground with the phone in my pocket. I went to stand up and it slid out of my pocket and hit the hardwood floor from about 1 foot off the ground and cracked. Luckily, the crack was on the inside of the screen and isn't visible when the screen is on. I've actually met 2 other people with the exact same type of crack, quite strange. Perhaps it's an actual flaw with this phone, but evidence is anecdotal to say the least.Side power button. I really can't stress how much of a pro this actually is. I can't stand phones that have top power buttons. It just makes no ergonomic sense. No matter if you're using your left or right hand, a side mounted power button is far and away more comfortable and convenient to press.Bottom charging port. Honestly, another very simply thing that is so incredibly useful and appreciated. My previous phone (which I had for nearly 4 years) had the micro USB on the SIDE. Good lord, it was so uncomfortable to hold while it was charging. Go ahead, try to imagine the inconvenience of having a charging cable protruding right where your hand normally is. Not fun at all.Battery life is quite exquisite. I generally charge the phone every other day, as it almost never dies the day I charge it unless I spend an hour+ playing games on it, then it stats to drain, as expected. I take great care of my batteries and avoid plugging it into the charger as much as possible. I let the phone drain to 0% before charging it, and don't unplug it until it reaches 100%, every time. Phone batteries get weaker and weaker every time you plug them in, so avoid the constant plugging if you can.Cons:BLOATWARE, BLOATWARE, BLOATWARE! Holy crap, I have never seen so much non-removable bloatware on a phone. Luckily, rooting is VERY simple at the moment (simply download Towelroot by Geohot) and after that's done, you can download an app called NoBloat and remove the previously blocked system apps (although look up the list of safe to remove system apps online, so you don't screw up your phone). I simply installed a ROM, which is also very simple, which has all the bloatware removed by default. But whatever floats your bloat (heh).Speaker is a bit weak. Also, my previous phone had a slight bump where the speaker was located, so that when it was placed face down, sound still escaped from the sides as opposed to simply being muffled like the S4 is. I preferred that, because a lot of time when I want to set my phone down, I prefer to avoid setting the screen onto a hard surface like the kitchen counter, or the concrete if I'm outside. Still waiting on the day when speakers can be placed on the tops of the phones to avoid all these issues :)Phone is still covered with that stupid "Verizon 4g LTE" branding, like we need to know that. Alright, I'm just nitpicking with this one.Conclusion:Alright well this phone is great. The hardware is phenomenal and will last for years to come. Great multitasking and beautiful Super AMOLED 1080p display. Very thin and incredibly lightweight phone with strong Gorilla Glass. Very comfortable side power button and bottom charging port. Battery life is great with the 2600 MAH battery. Unfortunately, has a massive amount of bloatware, which is removable with a bit of modding. Speakers are a bit on the weaker side.

This is a two-part review for a (used) Samsung Galaxy S4 Amazon Marketplace purchase.Part 1, Product:Other reviews are correct... this is a fantastic phone. My husband has the S5 iteration, and the phones are very similar. I actually bought this phone as a Christmas present for my 9 year old daughter. She has been asking weekly for a cell phone for the past 2 years so she can call her grandparents who, in all seriousness, are pretty much waiting by the phone every day for her call. She also wants to play games, watch movies, check the weather, email, etc., etc. In any case, the biggest selling point for me was the S4s REPLACEABLE BATTERY (I bought a spare just in case the one in this phone was a dud) and ADDITIONAL MEMORY options (bought the Samsung 64GB EVO Class 10 Micro SDXC up to 48MB/s with Adapter (MB-MP64DA/AM). Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, iPhone! The fact that this phone is very gently used does not in any way detract from its appeal; in fact, Verizon offers a significant discount on their monthly line access fee if you are adding a (Verizon) phone that is off contract. The used phones come without a SIM card, so I had the option of ordering the SIM card through Verizonwireless.com or saving myself a few days' wait and driving to the local store to pick one up and get the phone activated. The reps at the store were accustomed to this type of transaction, and within 10 minutes I had the SIM card in my daughter's newly activated phone. Win-win-win!Now all I have to do is convince her dad that this is the perfect Christmas present...Part 2, Seller:Soonersoft Electronics is excellent. I have to admit, I've never bought an off-contract (used) phone, and after hearing/reading a bunch of stories about people receiving stolen, damaged, DOA phones from online 3rd party sellers, I approached this transaction with more than a little trepidation. I am SO GLAD I took the leap. Item arrived well packaged in very good condition... exactly as described, within 4 business days. The battery had 0% charge upon arrival, but after a good (long) charge, it seems to be working just fine--not a big deal since you can pick up another compatible battery for less than $**.**. If my tired old HTC ever poops out, I will definitely buy from Soonersoft for an inexpensive, off-contract replacement.

Lightweight and large screen with simply beautiful image. It took a few tries to adjust the camera settings to my liking, but now I see why other reviewers were raving about the camera. I'm testing the waters to switch from the iPhone 5 and setting up the Android (updated to 4.4.2) has taken a little longer than I'd thought it would (iOS is more "out of the box" ready and android has lots of options so there's a learning curve to customize it) but so far I'm impressed. The phone is not too big and not too small, has lots of options and has a quick response. The battery life is not as good as I experience with my iPhone, but there's the trade off of larger screen and non-proprietary charging cables for ease in keeping a cord in the car and the office "just in case". I ordered the refurbished model from Mango Electronics (with amazon prime shipping) and it shipped next day and arrived in good condition. The packaged cord didn't work, but I had others from cameras and old Palm Pixi phone so this was not an issue. Definitely recommended!