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- Verified Buyer
I'm not entirely sure if I got a returned/refurbished phone or not - the packaging was immaculate (not at all like it had been repackaged). When I first turned it on I was greeted with an Android command-line boot screen, which I'm somewhat familiar with - I moved the cursor down to "wipe phone" and the next screen was the image I posted. There shouldn't have been a reason for me to get that screen at first power on.Having said that, the factory reset procedure went flawlessly, the Samsung transfer app worked beautifully to get all my information and apps moved to this new phone, and after a couple of logins the A51 was up and running. The main reason I bought it was because of its storage - I am so tired of running out of space with 32 GB phones. I keep NOTHING on the phones - I cleaned caches, I kept no documents, no photos, no music, I constantly moved apps to the SD cards - yet, after about a year or so of updates, all the storage space disappears. I have no idea where, as I run my phones excessively lean. So I opted for this 128GB model.It's a BEAUTIFUL phone to look at, stylish, black iridescent back, and a simply gorgeous screen. Very thin and slippery, however, and I'd read many reviews of breakage so I also ordered protective casing and screen protectors. I have never used fingerprint login on any of my other phones before and I've read that the tempered glass screen protectors make that feature difficult to use - I can't speak to that. Never used it before, don't miss it now.I'm 62. I'm not a gamer, so I don't need the highest/fastest processor. I need clear, bright, sharp visuals, a decent speaker, and enough speed so that I can play podcasts without stuttering. Reliable WiFi and Internet access are a must. This phone fits all of those criteria. I use it with Android Auto in my Toyota to listen to those aforementioned podcasts on my way to work, I access my email and make Amazon purchases via the device, what phone calls I make are clear and understandable, and it's plenty fast enough for the purposes I use these little pocket computers for. I added a 128 GB SD card (that card may have a fault or two because I still habitually move apps to the card - a holdover from my days with low-storage phones, and sometimes those moved apps need to be reinstalled after they've updated). But the phone itself, in spite of my wariness when I first powered it up, has been flawless. There are comments about this phone not being able to connect to mobile data through services like Tracfone, and the statements about the simple fix (checking which access point it's connecting to and adding the right one if it's not listed) are spot-on. I had that problem with a prior phone and so I knew to look for it when setting this up - sure enough, it didn't have the right access ID listed. I typed it in and it's connected fine from that point on. It's already updated itself to Android 11 and I am given to understand that it will soon update to Android 12. For the money, as a Tracfone user, this was a bargain and a half. I simply love this phone!Update as of May 25: The phone DID get Android 12,and the only thing was that I had to reenter the correct access point name for Tracfone (VZWINTERNET) in order to get data access. Everything else appears to have gone smoothly.
