(Renewed) Samsung Galaxy Note 9, 128GB, Ocean Blue – Fully Unlocked, 239.00, 279.00, $, .

★★★★☆ I have been using computers since the 70s when I was in college and purchased my first IBM clone in 1992, and was using PDAs very early on. I had one of the first Windows smart phones but got rid of it in favor of a flip phone.....why? As a physician, I had been tied to a pager for years, and I really hated trying to do anything with such a small screen. I never jumped on the iPhone bandwagon either.Finally, as the screen sizes have increased, I decided, ok, there are apps that I may find useful as well as the integration of my Google Calander and Contacts with my phone.But, while sure, I could spend over a grand on a new phone, it just did not seem to me to be a wise use of my money. I had read that a lot of smartphone addict aficionados look for the latest and greatest.....or maybe they did not like the color of their new phone....so they sent it back.Rather than winding up in landfills as a lot of returned Amazon merchandise does, unfortunately, Amazon was wise enough to create their refurbished division in which various refurbishers compete for customer's business. I thought, why not give it a try.I purchased the phone from a company named Kiss in Manhattan where I grew up. They had a high positive rating so I picked them My phone arrived the next day despite the fact that I did not pay for overnight shipping. Unfortunately, as I understand it, the ripples of the COVID situation put them out of business.As for the phone, when I opened up the box, I was shocked. In terms of appearance, there was absolutely no way I would have known it was a refurb....not a mark on it. As far as function is concerned, I used various apps to test it, and it passed. I have been using it since the first week of August. My estimate of battery life remaining is upwards of 90 percent. Of note, at Batteries and Bulbs, I can replace the battery for something like 70 dollars still putting me way ahead of the game since the phone was under 400 dollars. Add a Microcenter 512 MicroSD card for about 50 dollars and I have a phone with 3/4 of a terabyte, far more storage than I anticipate ever using.So, why the 4 stars?The phone is very elegant looking, especially with its curved display. As such, it would look very nice put upon a pedestal in our living room. However, I did not find the phone in an art store. I purchased it to use every day as my mobile phone.What is the Note 9 made of? Simply put, it is basically glass placed over a metal frame which again is fine if you want to display it on your bookshelf, but not particularly practical. Unless a person is downright foolish, just about everyone puts a case on it.You can forget about using one of those clear cases that let the beauty of the phone shine through. Drop it and you are facing an expensive repair. I was using the Unicorn Beetle Pro case with a belt clip which I never used. The phone dropped on the stairs and the inner part of the case broke. I was not really upset about that for the simple reason it saved the phone.Now I am trying an Outbox Defender which looks pretty robust.How about the curved display? Yes, it looks rather elegant, but does one really need it for functionality? The answer is absolutely not. It only serves to make designing a screen protector problematic.As for screen protectors go, I think they are necessary and I have just resigned myself to the fact that the edge adhesives are going to wear out and to simply replace them every once and awhile. They are not particularly expensive.We as consumers really should not put up with this nonsense. Most of the smartphones made these days have similar designs. They reinforce the notion of built-in obsolescence, or in actuality, built-in fragility. Yes, technology changes very rapidly. But, the basic technology of how these phones communicate does not. There is absolutely no reason that we should have to get a new phone every year. They should last far longer than that in my humble opinion.The question is how can we communicate this to the manufacturers? We can't boycott them because they all pretty much do the same thing. It is something it think about.....just saying.

★★★★★ I bought it when my samsung s8 plus went dead suddenly.I didnt want to spend more on phone but ad was already useing high end phone from samsung it was difficult for me to use a midrange phone with compromised quality.Then I saw on youtube its better to go for a old flagship model rather than buying current mid range.I searched and got this samsung note 9 option on amazon.you tube vloggers highly recommended this buying it from here. I was not sure but wanted to risk it as the price was low and there was 90 day return policy.its 1 and half month since i bought samsung note 9 (unlocked) phone.Its running super smoothly .The condition of phone wasnt bad atall.The stylus pen working excellent.Camera is awesome.Guys overall i am very satisfied.The only thing which is a little disappointing is that the protective tampered glass coverings that are available for this phone is awful .Their touch sensitivity is so bad literally you have to struggle to type a message.I just ripped it off from my phone and now its all good.

★☆☆☆☆ This is a NOT FULLY UNLOCKED phone is a Verizon UNLOCKED, Pain in the A** restarting the phone always can't recognized the sim card, wait around 5 minutes after phone recognize the sim car, but still you get annoying messages all the time "Sim Card Not Compatible with carrier", get all kinds of annoying messages from the carrier VERIZON, phone will loose conection constantly, contacted seller did absolutely nothing, instead of exchanging the phone, he ask me to send it to have it checked, I will prefer to take it to a local store and paid $125.00 to fully unlocked the phone. BAD SELLER