Unihertz Titan 6GB+128GB, Rugged QWERTY Smartphone, Android 10 Unlocked Smart Phone, Black (Support T-Mobile & Verizon only)

Let me start by stating that no amount of reviews stating "this is a giant device" could prepare me for how large this thing really is. When I received the package I was shocked and simply couldn't stop laughing at the enormous brick of a phone that was inside. However, I don't find that to be a negative in the slightest. The large size makes it feel very sturdy and solid, makes the physical keypad extremely comfortable and easy to use, and the wide display makes reading text and working with documents a breeze.The keypad is great. The key layout does take a bit of getting used to, with shift and alt being above the keypad rather than below them. But once you get used to it, it's almost flawless. The keys are easy to press and it's comfortable to type on for long periods. The backlighting is a bit uneven on my device, but it doesn't bother me.The only real complaint I have is with the camera. I had assumed it would be the same module as in the Atom, which has a quite decent camera. However, I think the camera module used in the Titan is different. The camera software is definitely different and missing some features, such as slow-motion and panorama. It takes adequate photos outdoors, but relatively poor photos and videos indoors, and the autofocus is extremely finicky and will only stay locked on a target for a few seconds before returning to the center. Plus, it's mounted so that the device needs to be held sideways to capture in landscape orientation. Due to the device's large size, this is cumbersome and uncomfortable. The camera app does offer square capture modes by default, but those result in significant cropping of the image. Because of the poor experience using the Titan's camera, when I expect to take photos or videos, I generally have either my Atom or a standalone camera with me.I do not play mobile games but I would guess that the form factor would make that difficult, though emulators would probably work well due to the physical keypad. However, I think it's pretty clear that's not what this device is designed for.The battery life is incredible. I am a heavy user with several hours of screen time per day, plus not having fixed-line internet at home (rural area) means I rely on the mobile hotspot function nearly all the time. This phone will last 25-30 hours with the hotspot on, which is more than I've ever gotten on any device (I'm used to 5 or 6 hours in that use case.) It does not charge quickly, drawing a maximum of 7.5 W from a power supply, but the relatively slow rate at which that charges the approximately 22 Wh battery means I don't need to worry about excessive wear from heat. The time taken to charge is also offset by the very long battery life.As far as software updates are concerned, this device does appear to already be EOL, with the latest security patch being September 2020. This is my fourth Unihertz device (two Jelly Pros (one died an unfortunate death by being accidentally washed and dried - it powered up when plugged in, but didn't respond to touches or button presses) and one Atom have preceded this device,) and that appears to be par for the course with Unihertz devices - they historically have provided one major Android update, and then support for a few months after that, before moving on. It's not great, but not a big deal to me - however, it is something to keep in mind if you intend to purchase this device.The software is not perfect. As some others have pointed out, disabling App Blocker is a must. Otherwise the system kills background tasks almost immediately. I believe this is a Mediatek (SoC vendor) function rather than a Unihertz function, but I could be wrong. Regardless, you will absolutely want to disable App Blocker. Previous Unihertz devices included a function called DuraSpeed, which did the same thing.Also a must is enabling Rotation Control under Intelligent Assistance. The display is technically portrait, being 4 pixels taller than it is wide. This causes some apps (YouTube, for example) to want to rotate the screen sideways, making holding the device very awkward, as described above with the camera. Rotation Control allows you to override this, forcing apps to display in the correct orientation.Performance is good. As a purely anecdotal statement, the only time I've noticed any slowdowns or stuttering is when connecting or disconnecting Android Auto, but that seems to make any phone struggle a bit.Overall I'm extremely happy with my Titan. I had wanted one when it was launched but due to several factors going on for me at the time, I couldn't afford one, even at the reduced pre-launch price. I bought it initially just to collect it, but I almost immediately started using it as my primary phone. There are a few imperfections here and there, as mentioned above, but overall Unihertz produced an extremely good device.

I'm writing this new review after I've had the phone for over 6 months. If you want a cheaper smartphone with a keyboard this is probably you're best option but it does come with lot's of downsides and annoying quirks. Overall I can't recommend this phone even if you really want a keyboard. It's just not worth the headaches.Pros:Physical keyboard: The buttons themselves work well and despite having been around sand and even having small spills I have yet to have any issues with the keyboard itself, though I will get into issues with spellcheck in cons.Durable:This phone was advertised as rugged and it is. Other than some scratches on the case I haven't had any issues with numerous drops. It's listed as waterproof and so far none of the spills or water on my phone has caused any noticeable issue. But I'm not going to test dropping it in a bucket of water to find out for sure. It not only came with a screen protector on the phone it came with a spare one too. But that's also a necessity given that this is a small brand and nobody else produces them. But I still see it as the extra mile.Android: Personally I've always loved the android OS so if you do to then you're good to go. Not every phone with a physical keyboard runs android so it's defiantly a perk.Other than those it's a smart phone. It's not massively different than any other phone and it's easy to get use to except for all the little quirks. The longer I have the phone the more those quirks become infuriating.Cons:The Spellcheck: The Spellcheck on this phone is horrible. Constantly correcting words I regularly use or names automatically. It's incredibly annoying to have to go back and retype the word numerous times before the phone stops changing it. There's no way to add exceptions to spellcheck as far as I can find but you can use other keyboard apps on this phone. Microsoft swift key is able to recognize a physical keyboard and will disable the virtual board as soon as you press a button. So you get the spellcheck features of swift. But it also becomes an issue to type certain symbol that are not on the physical keyboard. Things like % and $ I use often and Trying to type them in requires me to get the swift virtual keyboard to pop back up just to be able to the 1 symbol I need. I've found workarounds for most of my issues but it took a while and honestly the Phones spellcheck could just be better designed in the first place.Programmable button: This thing is also a pro as it does have some nice settings but it's sometimes an annoyance. By default if you hold the button down it will turn on the flashlight and double. Both are pretty useful. You can also change it to open up a symbols menu for typing, which conveniently still doesn't contain % or $ symbols. So it's a pretty useless menu. I don't hate the button but I wasted so much time trying to find the settings for it only to find out the options are not very useful for me.Screen size: This is one of the biggest issues. Lot's of apps were not designed for a square aspect ratio. So lot's of apps will have issues like overlapping buttons or scaling the size down so it's hard to even use. I've never used one of the blackberry key phones but from what I hear they don't have that issue while still having a keyboard and android. So future Titan could defiantly do better by having a more standard aspect ration similar to the key phones while still hopefully maintaining the better price.The sensor warning is horrible. I've never seen any phone with this. When you turn the screen back on, every single time, A popup screen with come up telling you there is dust or to remove the protective film that came on the phone. There is no way to turn this off and it pop ups and prevents you from using your phone for a couple of seconds. Which isn't even long enough to read what it says.The phone is unusable when plugged in. The screen reacts extremally weirdly to every touch. Not the only phone I've had with that issue but this is by miles the worst.This is the 3rd review I've written because my opinion of this phone has gone from good to bad over time. This phone is horrible. Don't buy it. If you really want a keyboard then this is the best bang for you buck. But it's just not worth it to me. Touch screens really aren't as bad in hindsight after this phone.