Samsung A30s (GSM Unlocked) (International) (Open Box)

UPDATE 7/29/20: Samsung released a patch to Android 10 and appears to have fixed the fingerprint not being recognized issue. They inserted a new algorithm, and over the last few days, I've had little, if any, issue with the phone recognizing my fingerprint. I did have to delete the old fingerprint and redo the feature, but it's great. This is the best of the Android phones I've owned / used over time. I've owned a Blackberry, a Galaxy S4 Active, and a Moto G5 Plus previously. I've also used the Moto E (2nd Gen). We travel in retirement, so a dual SIM model was important to me. The Galaxy S4 Active lasted the longest of my previous phones, with a replacement battery or two and a screen replacement after I dropped it face down on asphalt. I especially appreciated its water resistant features. The Moto G5 Plus was a step up in performance, and its fingerprint opening feature was easy to use, having a scalloped location on the front of the phone. However, an Android upgrade to 8.x caused its WiFi calling feature to randomly stop working, and based on where we live, WiFi calling was essential. Also, it finally stopped recognizing the micro SD cards, having corrupted two of them. Time for a replacement, and this is the phone I selected, after many reviews of other phones on various websites. So far (about a month in now), the Galaxy A30s solves virtually all of my needs. It did come new in box (still sealed), and I appreciate that Cell Universe didn't open the box, as do some of the other suppliers of this model. The box includes a clear back cover of good thickness to protect the back and sides of the phone, and a pre-applied at the factory screen protector. Samsung does it right! This is the Latin American version of the phone (there is no US version of the A30s), and the price is great! When you first boot the phone, the language greeting is in Spanish, but there's an option on the first screen to change the language, easy enough! I already had Google account, so the rest of setup was very easy. Google also downloaded the apps I had on my Moto G5 Plus and my photos, docs, etc., from the cloud. The only downside to this was I ended up with two clocks, two calculators, etc., etc. Easy enough to realize that happened and delete the Moto versions. One side note is that the phone came preloaded with some Microsoft applications (Office, OneDrive, LinkedIn, and Outlook) in a folder labeled "Aplicaciones de Microsoft". In spite of having changed the default language to English, this is the only folder to retain its Spanish spelling. C'est la vie! (haha, a little French humor in a review about a Spanish language phone with an American english option ...). The other important news is that the phone within a day downloaded Android version 10 (it shipped with 9). Even better, this will keep the phone fresh enough for the next two years. With 64GB memory, I didn't bother to add a micro SD card yet. And yes, there are three (3) slots on the SIM / micro SD card carrier -- two for SIM's, and one for the micro SD, so you don't have to choose between a dual (2nd) SIM or a micro SD card. The photos the phone takes are fantastic, and the selfie mode (facing back to you) photos are exceptionally clear! Samsung, even though this isn't an "S" series phone, put very capable camera capabilities into this phone! We have Consumer Cellular, which resells both AT&T and T-Mobile services in the US. We've been using the T-Mobile variant, as it does a better job of supporting WiFi calling than AT&T. Even when a phone can support WiFi calling, unless AT&T wants to enable/support it, your capable phone won't WiFi dial on their network. Too restrictive for us. The only odd note on WiFi calling is that when I choose "WiFi preferred", the phone seems to want to default back to "Cell preferred", but it will dial using WiFi if there is no (or very poor, as in our case) cell service in the area. Knock off a 1/2 of a star for that. Pretty minor. The one feature that did result in a two star knockdown was the fingerprint reader. It doesn't have a defined, scalloped section like the Moto G5 Plus did, so it's a bit of an effort to focus and find it on the lower portion of the front screen; this was never an issue with the Moto. Also, it doesn't seem to like to recognize the fingerprint. At least half the time, I have to try 2 or 3 times, and about 20% of the time, I try 5 times then it tells me to enter my pin. That rarely happened with the Moto. Samsung could improve this feature. It does work, it's just extremely sensitive to exact placement and pressure. Overall, you can't go wrong with this phone. Just don't expect a US warranty experience, as it's not in the normal sale area if you buy it in the US. That said, your credit card company likely provides an extended warranty anyway (most MC and Visa cards do), so if for some reason you run into life / functionality issues, consider contacting your credit card company benefits department.