Samsung DUOS – (SM-B310E) – Dual Sim

Of course I was nervous buying a 3.5 year old refurbished phone. But I am very pleased so far. I had a Galaxy S10 when they were new phones and really liked it. Last February I bought a new s22 but never liked it as much. I thought it was too clunky and thick, and recently I’ve been having trouble with the blue tooth dropping out. I like the feel of the s10s and s20s so much better than the s22s. So I decided to go back to an S10 Plus. It doesn’t have 5g, but truthfully our t mobile 5g is not totally reliable, and usually I had to turn my s22 back to lte. This is the second reconditioned phone I’ve bought from seller Chubbiestech and both have been great. I did order a phone in “excellent” condition, so I’m sure that makes a difference also. The phone looks great and you’d never know that it is “used”. And it’s got the headphone jack and sd card slot so all is good.

OK. This was purchased from “Prime W”. It was advertised as “For AT&T” – so you can imagine my head just about blew up when I powered it up and the Verizon logo popped up. (Verizon phones are generally CDMA phones and AT&T are generally GSM phones), since the description of the phone did not indicate this phone had a dual SIM capability, I assumed I was going to have to go through the return process to get a phone that would be compatible with Consumer Cellular’s AT&T network requirement. Lo and behold – the phone was compatible with Consumer Cellular. Usually, kismet in my favor in these matters is not in my favor. This time, God’s finger reached down and touched me.The phone itself came in pristine condition. Only a consideration when you’re buying a “renewed” phone. Prime W not only included a genuine Samsung fast charger, but they also put a cellophane static cling screen protector for shipping on AND shrink wrapped the phone. Good on you Prime W. The charging port appeared unused – usually a good indicator of how the phone was used by the previous owner. For all intents and purposes, this was a new phone – which is important because the phone is now my wife’s.The only issue I’ve encountered is the inability to remove a phone alert that I’ve inserted a non-Verizon SI” card into the phone. With this phone, I spent some time with Consumer Cellular’s customer service department, but after some nudging they were able to get it in service.The phone immediately updated to Android 11 and the most recent Google security patches. The Samsung Smart Switch accommodated the transfer of files from her S7 and Google did the rest. Since my wife never deletes anything – I added an additional 128G SD card and she’s off and running.Samsung’s S10+ is the same phone as the S10 except the screen is .3″ larger than my S10 but I didn’t find it unwieldy – and she likes the larger screen, but it’s not like some of these phones where you find yourself suddenly carrying a “notebook” around. Women carry their phones in purses — men generally in their pocket. So, for her it’s the cat’s ‘jammies.As with any phone that you’re using out of the original network, it came jammed with Verizon bloatware which can’t be removed but can be deactivated. It’ll just sit there wasting memory but by-and-large isn’t an issue. Many apps can be moved and stored on the SD card freeing up phone resources – unfortunately useless Google and Verizon proprietary software are largely permanent squatters on your phone.Plus, this phone is compatible with all of my wireless Anker chargers so that’s nice – but the Samsung fast charger wall plug adapter is really quite impressive. Just saying.I’m not a “Samsung guy” because I got used to and spoiled by LG until they decided to get out of the phone business and I had to switch phones to get on to Consumer Cellular but this phone, like my S10 is really something. The cameras are vastly superior – I mean, the difference between these phones and my old LG is the difference between lightning and lightning bug – not even a close comparison.On the same note, the audio is just kinda … WOW! Understand that I’m not a kid, I’m a tail-end boomer and proud of it, when I’m listening to my music or watching video, I’m not using buds … I’m using full blown Bose noise blocking headphones. I’ve got to say that I didn’t know what I was missing all these years. Really quite impressive.Now understand that this phone does have a 3.5 headphone plug which is nice … but it also has a dedicated Bixby button right below the volume buttons on the left – so even deactivated, Bixby will be a recurring irritant … like a bad, bad laxative. Come on Samsung … dump that P.O.S. :o)Anyway, very, very nice phone – props to Prime W — for a bunch of “East Coasters”, you folks are aces in my book.

I was fairly cautious buying a refurbished phone for the first time but I feel that the first thing I should put here is that I was VERY surprised by the quality received. The phone was nearly spotless and functioned with the snappy response you would want to see from a flagship phone (even a two year old one). As advertised it comes in a box that is not the factory direct one, (something that many reviewers seemed to somehow miss written 2-3 times in the description). All in all, the phone had a “peely” screen protector within a thick phone shaped bubble wrap ziploc, within a high quality phone box that sperated the peripherals (charging cable and sim pin) from the device and all of that was in a small sturdy ship box. I received the phone two days earlier than slated to but that is probably just because it was only from new Jersey to Connecticut. The phone powered on very quickly and stayed on for over 30mins on 1% charge before I plugged it in.Now to the only unfortunate part. I use a somewhat indy carrier whom I am pretty attached to called Republic Wireless. The galaxy s10+ IS compatible with them but ONLY the somewhat rare factory unlocked model (SM-G975UZKAXAA or SM-G975U1 when abbreviated in the phone’s settings). This listing is for unlocked models NOT necessarily FACTORY unlocked models. So the unfortunate result was me receiving an unlocked model SM-G975UZKAVZW or the Verizon model. It’s worth noting that more than 95% of you out there will not have an issue with this difference but for me this made the phone completely unusable.That leads me to the last part of my review and the reason I wanted to leave this review after my experience as a whole.On realizing that I had an unusable phone I was understandably disappointed and frustrated and reached out to both the seller (PromoDealz) and Amazon. Admittedly, seeing a name that sounds like a corner pawn shop (truly no offense guys, I’m not what the kids call hip..lol) I was a little worried about the follow up I’d receive but that anticipation, like the ones about a refurbished phone in general, was blown away. What I got was quick clear responses with nothing but the intent to try to help me out. After they had gone through their whole inventory to check for what I needed based on my messaged information they offered to extend contact to phone and we connected to discuss the problem. They didn’t make me feel like I was being a hassle at all as they took all the information I could find on what phones work for me and checked their entire stock of s10+ (50ish pieces) then offered to receive their next shipment of 200+ pieces and check those too. These folks seem like good people who are dedicated providing a good service here. Hopefully they weren’t cursing me behind my back lol. Wouldn’t blame ’em.Unfortunately after the hunt they didn’t come up with what I needed and, as they had offered as a worst case (or immediate if I’d preferred) solution all along we processed a return/refund. I somewhat assume that the carrier specific models of this phone are vastly more common because most people buying $800+ flagship phones are doing so because of incentives, financing and deals through larger carriers (“get a new family plan and get FOUR free* super flagship phones at only $300/month” *phones free for first two months then at a monthly payment plan of $150/month for 97 months and a $700 plan cancellation fee applies when you find all the other plans out there for a quarter the cost…. Sorry I’m a bit biased against big carriers).Anyway, all in all, I’m shocked you’re still reading this. I’m a lot less concerned about the refurbished concept after seeing the quality of the phone received as well as the quality of the seller’s support and Amazon’s backing. (Amazon support fellow actually said “don’t worry, we’ve got your back if you get any trouble from the seller” luckily no trouble so I didn’t have to call big brother)You still reading this?Why? Go read a book. Or like, listen to one or something.Terry Goodkind’s sword of truth series has good audiobooks… On the road listening maybe?Too lame? Maybe go watch something on netflix or disney+?Falcon and Winter Soldier is not bad so far…Evil Genius was good for you true crime nuts..Seriously.I of all people am not that entertaining.At least go find yourself a phone. I assume you need one if you’re here reading my stupidity.Ok.Bye then.