Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G, 128GB, Cloud Navy - Unlocked (Renewed)

I will be sharing with you my profound thoughts from examining this absolutely Fabulous S20 FE Samsung phone for you today....or night depending on when you read this review. I like that it's called FE. It just...... 'Feels Elegant' rolling off the tongue but what does the FE stands for? I am told it means Fan Edition. Yeeeaah, but based on my experience with the phone I think we could try something like Fun Everytime. Or Fully Enhanced. Orrr Foolish Endeavor, if you are hoping it has a 3.5mm jack. Or a Fools Errand, if you go searching for a 3.5mm jack… even in the SIM card slot.This S20 FE had better be good, as I hear that Samsung has lost a lot of market shares to some companies like Xiaomi that had some really powerful phones which had 3.5mm jacks. Xiaomi certainly would not have followed Mango, Orange or Apple who ditch the 3.5mm jack in an effort to boost Bluetooth sales...so I hear. If it's true I do hope Samsung doesn't do that with android users cause that might not go over too well...with EVERYONE...wink wink.Now let me tell you, I have a very calm, purring like a machine, foot loving, under my bed hiding, seemingly 3.5mm jack loving cat. Her internet name? Call her Scratchtastic. She has three jobs and she takes them very seriously. First job? Sleeping!! Second job? Eating!! Third job? Where is her 3.5mm jack at? When the Amazon box with the phone got here, I heard a strange sound. I wondered, is that growling I hear? Scratchtastic!!! What's wrong? Her look was telling me 'you better get that box outta here'. I'm like ...Crazy cat, it's got a 3.5mm jack. Duh.Folks, the phone came in a nice package and the phone lookTed really nice. Yeah and I know the word is looked. Anyhow, I set up the phone and copied my music to it. Wow!!! Let me tell you, I absolutely like the processing power of this Phone. I was sooooo excited, I was like let's get that 3.5mm jack headphone that knows how to push them beautiful sounds. Let's plug it into that 3.5mm.....where's the jack?I heard that strange sound again. Was this cat hissing again? Do you need some catnip or something? Ohh, the 3.5mm jack!! Now I knew why Scratchtastic was about to go Wolverine up in here, There is NO 3.5mm jack!!!Sad and upset at the same time, I thought Samsung, why??? Then I thought, maybe the camera will make things better. I mean, the camera is one of two main reasons why I buy a phone. The other is the 3.5 mm jack. But There is NO 3.5 mm jack!!!I tried using the zoom to see far away, but it didn't work anywhere near as good because ....There is No 3.5mm jack!!! I would have bought the overpriced S20 Ultra for the camera, but how can it take great pictures since... There is no 3.5mm jack!!!My music once sounded great on phones...& this phone sounds great & all but ...falls flat since...There is NO 3.5mm jack!!! Scratchtastic doesn't even look at me anymore....except you kno, when she needs her food. Samsung, how could you?! I couldn't test the wireless charging as Scratchtastic prefers wired charging like using a 3.5mm jack, but as we know...there is no 3.5mm jack.As a music producer, audio purity is crucial in my work. Using the 3.5mm on my phone to listen music files has been essential to great audio production ...but...There is No 3.5mm jack!!! Now the music is gone….now I'm simply called producer. Sigh!!Connecting this (unlocked) phone to the cell carrier was very simple and all worked well except I had a hard time hearing the customer service rep since the phone didn't have a .......you guessed it...a 3.5mm jack.The phone display is nice and is very smooth in motion. Can you imagine how much smoother it would have been with a 3.5mm jack?!!!And the battery?! Yeah, the size is great and last a day. But there is not a single doubt that it 'might' have lasted a whole lot longer, 'maybe' even a week if it had a 3.5mm jack.Hmmm, I hear a strange scratching sound in the kitchen like a chair is getting shredded, I better look. Scratchtastic? You awful cat!!! What you doing to the chair? Oops ...I mean sweet Scratchtastic. I see you looking at me. Yeah I'm walking away because I wanna. Sigh, this 3.5mm jack situation is tearing us apart!!!Folks the phone calls are clear and loud and the 5G is fast.....but I feel a 3.5mm jack would have gotten it over the speed hump to 6G speeds. I didn't play any games on this phone as I'm not a Bluetooth gamer.... I'm a 3.5mm jack gamer.All in all, this is a nice phone. It's fast and has a lot going for it.Scratchtastic seems to now urinate 3.5mm closer to the floor and her urine smell has risen 3.5mm higher. So with that said here is my conclusion about getting this phone: If you have a pet Iguana, it might love you for it. But if you have a cat like Scratchtastic and you want to keep your room door open when you go to bed at night, then the absence of the 3.5mm jack can absolutely cause issues for you. Even your kitchen chairs might turn up with unknown 3.5mm deep scratches. Buy with confidence.

In pretty good shape for a used phone, but as far as being a "refurb", the refurb job wasn't the most professional. I found the edge on one side comes apart easily. Apparently a glue was used that remains sticky instead of drying hard. It still works well, and has a good battery that holds a good, long charge. For what it cost, I'd say this is still a good bargain. I'm thankful to seller and Amazon for making this available.

Edit:This is officially the worst phone I've had in my 20 some years of having phones. If I dare to let the battery drain completely, it's a toss up on if it will charge again at all. Have tried multiple different cords and bricks, no luck. The screen continues to crack and splinter. I'll likely be on the market for a replacement in less than a year. (I never go through phones this fast, the phone I was using before this was a Samsung S8 active. It's honestly in better shape than this one.)Original:The phone is fine, does it's job. I'm not a heavy user. Calls, texts, simple browsing.It still seems to want to be a Verizon phone - I'll have to figure out how to handle that on my own. For now, my voicemail is finicky and the phone is constantly downloading nonsense apps without my input. (So many games!)I'm no stranger to buying refurbished unlocked phones. I've been doing it for years, this is the first time I've gotten a bit burned on it.It could have been prevented, though. If you're looking to buy, be very picky about the condition the phone comes in and immediately request a refund.Before I ever started the phone up, I noticed a small crack in the top of the screen and excess glue around the bezel. I figured it was fine, I'd ignore that and go on. Chalked it up to the cost of getting a refurbished phone.Don't do that.I should have immediately contacted the seller (PDI Mobile) at that point.Since then, the screen has cracked considerably despite having not dropped it. It went into my pocket, uncracked, and came out of my pocket cracked. I had a simple protective cover on it. I have never in my life cracked a phone screen.I assume the cheapest screen available was used to replace the original. It's a good way to cut the costs down.Despite ignoring the first issues, I was well within Amazon's return window at that point and the seller refused. I contacted Amazon customer support, they escalated it to the seller, and the seller again refused.Currently rocking the phone with a piece of scotch tape on the screen so the glass doesn't splinter off into my finger. Classy!So, be picky. And maybe steer clear of phones sold by PDI Mobile.

Even after 5 years this phone is a decent phone to use as a daily driver. I bought this phone as a work phone to travel with and it fits the purpose. This phone still gets security updates and U.I updates. All my fav apps still works flawlessly. It doesn't come with a lot of bloatware, just Google, Microsoft and a few Samsung apps, However you can install the apps you want from the Playstore or Galaxy Store. I was never a fan of camera cutout but I like the in-screen fingerprint reader (it's not as fast as I wish it was but it's ok). Love the lockscreen customizations, the camera and the display (black levels are great and the brightness is also good). Battery life is decent and the speakers and connectivity options are awesome. The size is perfect because I like phones that fits comfy in my pockets and not look bulky. I also like that it's easy to use with one hand. I like the side panel for quick access to some useful apps that I don't use often and I like the dual app feature. Only issue I have is not with the phone but with the seller. The seller stated in the technical details that the phone is dual SIM, I wanted dual SIM because the phone is a travel companion but the phone is a single SIM model.