12 months, 16 days, 21 hours, and 54 minutes after I first heard about Trump Mobile’s T1 Phone 8002 (gold version), I’m finally holding one in my own hands.
That’s right, The Verge’s Trump phones have arrived. And yes, I do mean phones – we have three of them: We ordered two, paid for two, and received three, all of which were sent to the wrong address. You can’t beat service like that.
My phone came with a free Trump Mobile SIM card, even though I’ve not signed up to the company’s mobile plan, plus an A4 quick start guide that was quite clearly printed on a standard office printer. Inside the box, there’s a SIM tool, clear plastic case, 33W charger, and a gold-and-black braided USB-C cable that feels remarkably cheap. Then you get a second set of instructions, this time a tiny booklet that covers everything from initial setup to how to make a phone call or take a photo with the camera. I get the feeling this phone isn’t intended for a technically minded buyer.
As for the phone itself, my first impression was how oddly tacky it is. And I mean that quite literally — the gold, plastic back panel has a slightly sticky sheen to it, and has already picked up plenty of dust and fingerprints in just an hour or two. Even more encouragingly, my phone has a tiny scratch in one corner that was there before I even took it out of the box.
Setup went pretty smoothly at first. It installed all my usual apps from my Google backup to go alongside the preinstalled Truth Social, claims its February Android security update is the latest it needs, and unlike YouTuber Quinn Nelson my fingerprint sensor works just fine. I’m based in the UK though, and so far the Trump phone isn’t playing nicely with my British SIM card — I can make phone calls just fine, but it won’t connect to LTE or 5G. I’ll have to see if I can fix that, or if the Trump phone is strictly for Americans only.
Either way, I’ll have a full review of the T1 Phone next week. Let me know in the comments what you want me to test.
Photography by Dominic Preston / The Verge
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