UnihertzAtom - The World's Smallest 4G Rugged Smartphone with Android 9.0 Pie, Unlocked, 4GB RAM, and 64GB ROM (T-Mobile & Verizon Support)

So, I like to support things I love, and things that are different. I have to say, I've really fallen for this little phone. It's called the Atom, as in the smallest unit of matter. And it's made by a strange-phone-producing company called Unihertz. I just want to endorse this phone because it's so dang cool, feels great, and it just plain gets out of my way.For people who don't want to stare at screens when they leave the office, people who would rather spend time with family instead of social networks, and for people who don't want to carry around an enormous wafer of glass in their pocket, this little thing fits the bill. Great for phone calls, calendar, the occasional note or photo. You can even search things on the web, if you really want to. It's just as fast as a giant rectangle and can do the same stuff. But with a screen just over 2", not wanting to spend a beautiful, sunny day on your phone is kind of the point here. As it should be.For my phone wish list, while the Atom doesn't quite check all of the boxes I would like, it does check a lot of them. I didn't realize a phone's form factor would be so important, but that's become my favorite thing about this phone. It's hilariously fun to make calls on this little thing, and it feels GREAT in the hand.So HOW could the Atom be improved? Here are a few things...On Cloud AvoidanceFor those weird ones among us who want to avoid cloud services, the Atom needs much better USB sync with the Mac. Once you get the hang of USB settings on the phone, third party SyncMate sort of works, but it's slow and cumbersome and sometimes only works if the phone is kept active through the sync. And if you have an old calendar, a lot of contacts, and a few photos, SyncMate will time out every time. You have to rely on manually exporting photos using Android File Transfer. Seriously? This is all a royal pain in 2022 that ought not exist.On Ditching GoogleLike most Android phones, Google has its tentacles wrapped around the Atom phone. Want to download an app? You have to sign into Google, or find some alternative. Directions? Google. Not to mention Google tracks everything. I realize that escaping Google for syncing, directions, etc. is quite the feat unless you're a Librem 5, a PinePhone or a ClearPHONE. But I wish more companies would try to do it. Seems like Unihertz, with their Apple-like "think different" approach is in a good place to put the "hertz" on Google. I wish they would.On Beefing Up the BatteryThe battery on the Atom is decent. It will last about a day. Maybe a day and a half with low use. And it might be better still than the tiny Palm Phone. But it could be better. If it would last 3-4 days like my old BlackBerry Classic, you'd really have something.On Right to RepairLastly, right to repair. Unihertz, please take a cue from companies like FairPhone. Make your phones user upgradable and repairable! List parts and prices on your website and provide instructions to users. At least make the battery easily replaceable. Sustainability is fine, but it's mostly about convenience and long product life for me.On Carrier and Purchase AvailabilityAs of this writing, AT&T has booted me, a customer for over a decade, off of their network citing that they would no longer support the Atom. Unihertz says that Verizon will support this phone so long as the SIM card is activated in another phone and the IMEI numbers on the phone are updated (instructions for which are available through Unihertz customer care). Verizon will neither confirm nor deny this, though I have briefly used their prepaid plan with the Atom following this method and the Atom's convenient dual-SIM feature.Enter T-Mobile. To my surprise and glee, T-Mobile openly still supports the Atom, per their customer care AND as reflected through their website's "bring your own phone" IMEI search. So far, the phone works great on T-Mobile, and I'm happy with the service.In short, there needs to be more support for the Atom in the U.S. And there should be more places to buy it and other unique phones like this. You can forget finding the Atom locally, and that's a crying shame. Personally, I blame Americans, with our tendency to buy whatever top corporations sell in the phone stores. We need to work on that.In Summary...I wouldn't say these were cons to me purchasing the phone, so much as they are a "wish list" of things I might like to see next in future iterations of the phone, and upgrades to be made.For me, though the Unihertz Atom doesn't have a perfect score for my wishlist, I would say its most endearing feature, being size, outshines every other phone I've looked at. And that's why I got it. This tiny thing is still such a novelty to me that I can't seem to get over. In terms of form factor and general function, I think Unihertz hit this one out of the park. Looking forward to seeing what comes next for the Atom.

Overall, I gave this phone a 5 star review, taking everything into consideration. If I could give it a 4.5 star rating, I would. here's why. Now, let me first start off with the fact that I have been using this phone as my ONLY phone for the past month, approximately. I only saw reviews of people using it as a secondary phone when I bought it for myself, which is part of why I'm leaving this review and why I'm going to go so in depth.Straight out of the package, it feels extremely nice and good quality. It just feels good, you know? It didn't feel cheap, it was very well packaged, and overall, I really enjoyed the buying and unboxing experience.To get it set up took a little learning curve, mainly just because i had never used a sim tray before, and I will shamefully admit that I had to look up an instructional video as to how to use it. After that, the only trouble I ran into was that for some reason, multimedia messages would not send. I later discovered that it was because I had yet to turn my data on. (I'm not dumb, usually, I swear).Using this phone, the internet loads quickly, I haven't had anything crash on me whatsoever. Texting works fine, calling works great, camera works great, fingerprint scanner is honestly amazing (didn't have one on my old phone, never going back). I can run facebook, instagram, google, anything i could do on my old phone (a samsung galaxy J3v6), I can do on this phone. Obviously, the screen is tiny, so certain things are hard to read, but that is to be expected. I can easily slip this into my pocket and take it on the go, and I love the small size. It was one of the main selling points for me. Everything works amazingly ... except the touch screen can be a bit irritating at times. In general, it works pretty well. Occasionally, it just takes a few tries to click something. But it is very occasional.As for the battery life, for a small phone, it does amazing. If you turn battery saver on, it lasts just as long as my old phone did, if not longer.The screen is a bit pixelated, which makes it not great for Netflix or YouTube, but honestly, it really doesn't bother me. Watch it on your computer or tablet, or even screen share with your TV.People were talking about how difficult typing is. Using the swipe to type, it's been perfectly fine for me. quick and easy.Overall, this phone is amazing for what I wanted it to be. I knew I spent so much time wasted on scrolling through Facebook feeds, watching YouTube, etc, and I wanted to cut down on that. And it works. I can still access it all, whenever I want, I can still just text people, but I find myself calling my family more, checking facebook less, and certainly watching youtube less. It is extremely durable, which is great for my clumsy self, keeps me more connected with the people I love, while also aiding me in spending my time on more valuable things than mindless scrolling.I will continue using this as my sole phone and if anything on this review changes, i will be sure to update my review. I hope this helped someone out.TL;DR: Great phone for people who want to have access to everything, but still try to cut down on screen time. Great for clumsy people and outdoorsy people alike. Good battery life, especially with battery saver on. Everything works (internet, social media, basic games, all that jazz), sim transfer works well. Touch screen can be a little touch and go, but great for the most part. Fingerprint reader works great! Typing really isn't as difficult as everyone says once you adjust. (pro-tip, use swipe to type)