ControlZ Review: Renewed Smartphones at Budget Prices

With increasing iPhone prices, customers are buying refurbished iPhones. This not only provides an affordable option to own an iPhone but also without compromising much. To cater to this, ControlZ recently entered the scene to change the refurbished smartphone game in India. While dozens of services sell refurbished smartphones, ControlZ offers some good options at competitive pricing. We tested two smartphones from ControlZ to find out how good they are in this review.

ControlZ Review: Renewed Smartph0nes Up for Grabs

To test the claims made by ControlZ, we bought two smartphones from their website. One iPhone and one Android smartphone to test them for the quality. Here’s the review of the ControlZ to answer all your questions about their renewed smartphones.

Online Store and Catalogue

ControlZ primarily sells renewed smartphones via its online store. We see two types of smartphones on the website: Premium renewed and Open box. Other than iPhones, there is only OnePlus for the Android counterparts. And for that also there are only a couple of models available.

We got two smartphones from the website for our review: an iPhone and an Android smartphone. Our selection of smartphones includes an iPhone 11 Pro and a OnePlus 7. Both of these smartphones cost Rs. 45,498 on the ControlZ website. The iPhone 11 Pro 64GB is for Rs 31,499, and the OnePlus 7 128GB is for Rs 13,999. Both the smartphones reached us appropriately packed in a large box.

According to me, the price of the OnePlus 7 is quite reasonable, but iPhone 11 Pro 64GB seems a bit overpriced. Both smartphones are four generations old and are not even 5G compatible. Buying a 4G smartphone in 2023 will be a big mistake. We bought them just for our review.

I found no problems or issues navigating the online store to find a phone and noticed that the available choices were numbered. There are only two Android smartphones available, and both from OnePlus. Also, these smartphones are too dated to be recommended to anyone. I suggest ControlZ expand the collection of smartphones to give customers a variety of options to choose from.

Unboxing Experience

ControlZ designed its custom box to make the unboxing experience fun for the user. Made from recycled materials, the box opens vertically, unlike most smartphone boxes. You must remove the top cover, pull the tab, and pull the halves apart. The smartphone pops up automatically, sitting in its cavity.

All the accessories are provided in the box, including a charger, a cable, and a SIM tray ejector tool. I will give ControlZ 8/10 points for thinking about the unboxing experience. But the box should have markings to tell the user how to open it. I almost opened the box flat on the table, which could have ejected the smartphone from the box on the floor.

Physical Condition

Both the smartphones provided for review are as good as new. It is almost impossible to tell that these are renewed smartphones. Both look brand new, and we found no scratch on the smartphone’s body or display. The OnePlus 7’s back panel looks replaced, but that can only be noticed if you look too closely.

A poor-quality screen protector was pre-applied to the smartphones to protect them from scratches. So we replaced the stock screen protector with some new ones. But we cannot complain much since this screen protector is only provided to keep the phone safe till you get a new screen protector.

The renewed smartphones we got here for review do not appear to be renewed, as they are of such good quality. The iPhone 11 Pro looks almost new without flaws, dents, or scratches. OnePlus 7 does look like it had some work done, but that’s also not easy to tell at first glance. Overall, I am pretty much satisfied with the build quality of the devices.

Performance, Sensors, and Battery

We tested both smartphones to check if the renewal process had affected performance. After running the AnTuTu benchmark on both smartphones, we got similar results as we would have gotten on a new device. All the sensors in both smartphones are working perfectly fine without hiccups or stutters.

As far as the battery is concerned, we can see 100 percent battery health on the iPhone, just like the brand claims. We couldn’t check the battery health of the OnePlus 7, but we ran a couple of battery tests on it and got satisfactory results. No issues were experienced on the iPhone, even after using it for a few weeks.

Accessories

ControlZ provides third-party accessories with the renewed smartphones. Only the open-box smartphones come with the original accessories of the smartphone. The chargers provided with these renewed smartphones have the ControlZ branding. This ensures that the customer gets the best quality accessories with their smartphones.

The OnePlus charger worked flawlessly with the smartphone and charged it pretty quickly. But the charger we got with the iPhone didn’t seem to work as intended. It says 20 Watts, but it took way longer than expected to charge the phone 100 percent. Overall, I am pretty much satisfied with the accessories provided with the smartphones.

Renewing Process

ControlZ does a rigorous renewal process that includes several tests to ensure the smartphone reaches the customer in flawless condition. The renewing process uses a limited number of new components, meaning the components must be salvaged from dead devices.

ControlZ keeps the renewal process confidential and does not reveal the list of components replaced in the device. I think it should be transparent, and the customer should know about the components replaced. The refurbished smartphones I bought from other services did provide me with the list of components replaced during the process.

Warranty Situation

ControlZ provides different warranties on different smartphones. In the case of Android, you get 12 months of warranty, but with iPhones, you get a whopping 18 months of warranty. This is the longest warranty duration I have ever seen on a refurbished smartphone. This is commendable because usually, you get a maximum of 6 months warranty with renewed products.

Since ControlZ does not have offline stores or service centers, customers can only claim a warranty through the website. The customer must fill out a form on their website if the smartphone starts acting up during the warranty period. An executive will pick up the phone from the customer’s home and return it after repair.

According to ControlZ, this whole process takes about a week. Not only that, ControlZ also provides a 7-day replacement warranty on all smartphones. So, if you receive a faulty device, you can get it replaced within seven days. ControlZ’s warranty policy for renewed smartphones makes it stand out from the rest of the players.

Healing the Environment

ControlZ is not in this industry only to make a profit but also to heal the earth and the environment. Smartphone manufacturing requires a lot of minerals extracted from the earth. The whole manufacturing process from the beginning also increases the carbon emissions to the environment, destroying the earth.

ControlZ aims to reduce this environmental harm by switching to renewed smartphones. The renewing process generates less carbon emissions compared to the manufacturing of the new smartphones. It also contributes to less electronic waste by salvaging as many components as needed to renew the smartphones.

ControlZ: Pros and Cons

After testing the renewed iPhone 11 Pro and OnePlus 7 from ControlZ, here are the Pros and Cons to summarize my review:

Pros

• Flawless renewed iPhones with no marks of usage.
• One hundred percent battery health guaranteed.
• 12 months to 18 months warranty with pickup and drop support.

Cons

• Dated smartphones with limited options.
• Android smartphone has marks from the renewal process.
• The price is a bit higher for iPhones.

ControlZ: Final Verdict

ControlZ is doing a great job of giving new life to the old and discarded smartphones and making them reusable. It also gives customers another option when looking for affordable smartphones. The device catalog is very small right now, limiting the options for anyone looking for refurbished smartphones. The pricing of the smartphones is also not very convincing when it comes to the iPhones, as most of the iPhones listed are dated.

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