T-Mobile REVVLRY Review: Stylish Phone, Affordable Price

Read this comprehensive T-Mobile REVVLRY review and take a closer look at this affordable smartphone with a stylish and compact body.

T-Mobile REVVLRY smartphone released in July 2019. In this age of cutting-edge technology, T-Mobile decides to push its own-brand affordable device for low-entry users.

T-Mobile REVVLRY is a part of the REVVL family. The US carrier has introduced several phones under this banner before. In order to market this catalogue, T-Mobile uses catchy jargons such as Max Vision, which is available in REVVLRY, and TurboPower (available in other variants).

REVVLRY has some interesting features you should take into consideration. Also, how can one not love its eccentric name? The name reminds us of feature phones with various gimmicks before smartphones took the world by storm.

If you are interested in getting a closer look at this phone, read this T-Mobile REVVLRY review to find out whether this phone is worth the price or not.

T-Mobile REVVLRY Key Specs

T-Mobile REVVLRY specifications:

• Weight: 167.8g
• Dimensions: 148.6 x 71.4 x 8.1mm
• OS: Android 9 (Pie)
• Screen size: 5.7-inch
• Resolution: 1520 x 720
• CPU: 1.8GHz Octa-core, Qualcomm Snapdragon 632
• RAM: 3GB
• Storage: 32GB
• Battery: 3,000 mAh, Non-removable
• Rear camera: 13MP
• Front camera: 8MP

T-Mobile REVVLRY Design

The T-Movile REVVLRY has a stylish design that follows the trend of recently-released phones. Every edge of its body is rounded and looks pleasant to look at. It also feels light and comfortable to hold as this phone only weighs 167.8 grams.

This phone is made of plastic with a glossy finish. It does not look cheap at all. We even almost mistook it as a mid-range phone. However, wireless charging is unavailable due to its material. It makes sense since this is not a flagship phone.

Although the overall design is desirable, the T-Mobile REVVLRY has a wide notch and big chin. We believe that the screen size would be a lot bigger if they could make the bezels smaller.

T-Mobile probably decided to make the notch wide to accommodate the selfie camera with a built-in flash on the front. It is a feature that is not common in phones nowadays.

Meanwhile, the back cover houses a 13MP camera, an LED flash and a fingerprint scanner. All of them are lined up vertically and give a nice accent to the back cover. You can also find a big T-Mobile logo on the back. If you find it campy, you can buy a phone case to cover it.

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T-Mobile REVVLRY Display

The T-Mobile REVVLRY uses an IPS LCD panel on its 5.7-inch display. The resolution is only 1520 x 720 pixels and has a density of 295 pixels per inch. Because of the teardrop notch, the aspect ratio of this phone’s screen is 19:9. This aspect ratio is commonly found in phones with a notch or tall displays.

The problem with the 19:9 aspect ratio is that it is not compatible with a lot of apps, games and videos. You may find videos that do not fill the entire screen or look cropped.

We watched a video with 16:9 aspect ratio and managed to change the aspect ratio using VLC media player. Despite the weird aspect ratio, the T-Mobile REVVLRY has a decent display quality and looks bright in sunlight as it boasts the Max Vision technology.

However, we believe the pixel density should be higher since the phone has a large screen size. It does not look as sharp as other phones with higher density. We also find the notch to be a letdown as the display could be more spacious.

Another complaint from us is its big chin. It does not give a pleasant look at all and kind of annoyed us. It is a bit nitpicky but we needed time to get used to the display when watching videos.

T-Mobile REVVLRY Camera

This device has a 13MP main camera on the back and an 8MP front-facing camera. The main camera is complemented by an f/2.0 aperture lens and an LED flash. It is capable of taking HDR shots and can record videos in 4K quality at 30 fps. Meanwhile, the selfie camera has an f/2.2 aperture lens and also an LED flash.

The camera software is satisfying as it gives you a lot of options for you to tinker. It has manual photo controls and optical image stabilization (OIS). Both cameras produce above-average photo quality during the day, but indoor and night shots tend to be blurry and full of noises.

There is no night mode available so you have to do post-editing to improve your photos. Proper lighting is also needed when you are doing a video call or teleconference.

Moving on to the most interesting part, this phone provides a lot of video options. You can shoot slo-mo videos, timelapse videos and even hold YouTube live directly from the camera menu.

The quality is not the greatest in the market but it is not embarrassing to be posted on social media. The OIS ability helps a lot when shooting in an active situation.

T-Mobile REVVLRY Storage

T-Mobile REVVLRY has only one variant, which is 32GB of storage. In this age of storage-hungry apps and HD videos, 32GB is barely enough.

However, this phone has a dedicated slot for microSD. You can move your files to the microSD storage if the internal storage is full.

If you think buying microSD is too much of a hassle, you can also upload some of your files to cloud storage. Sadly, you have to pay extra bucks and need a seamless internet connection when uploading, syncing or downloading.

You can also try deleting cookies and cache periodically to free up some space.

T-Mobile REVVLRY Performance

This phone employs Qualcomm Snapdragon 632 with 1.8GHz Octa-core. Snapdragon 632 is a System-on-a-Chip (SoC) that is usually found in middle-level phones.

The chipset is also equipped with Adreno 506 GPU, a mid-range mobile graphics card. Because the chipset is in the mid-range territory, this T-Mobile REVVLRY performance review will be more critical.

The phone works almost perfectly thanks to its operating system. This device is equipped with customized Android 9.0 (Pie) but it almost looks like stock Android. It does not struggle when running basic apps. The interface is not as clean as phones with stock Android but it does not feel cluttered too.

Despite its price range, the REVVLRY is actually able to pull off menial tasks and some demanding applications and games. The transition between applications works smoothly and it almost does not take too long to load new apps.

However, multitasking can be kind of an annoyance since the apps often keep reloading when you switch between apps.

Scrolling through social media is pretty smooth although it could do some improvements. Small lags happened here and there but it is rare. We found it a bit laggy when opening a few applications at the same time.

The phone can run some demanding games at the lowest settings although it is not recommended. It can heat up fast when executing heavy tasks. Once the phone heats up, you are most likely to find FPS drops during gameplay.

When we used this phone to stream videos, it did not freeze up and loaded up the contents effortlessly. However, how fast the phone loading up videos depends on your internet connection as well.

This phone has a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a proximity sensor and a compass. Unfortunately, the fingerprint scanner is slow as it almost takes you a second to unlock the phone. It is even slower if your fingers leave a bunch of smudges on the scanner.

The gyroscope improves the experience of playing first-person shooter games, such as PUBG, by miles. You do not have to move your in-game character manually because of the sensor. If you are not used to it, you can turn down the sensitivity.

Overall, the T-Mobile REVVLRY is far from being a performance powerhouse but it surpasses some of our expectations. In terms of performance, this phone is more suitable to be a mid-range phone in spite of its affordable price.

T-Mobile REVVLRY Connectivity

The T-Mobile REVVLRY packs 4G connectivity which supports LTE bands 2/4/5/7/12/38/66/71. Just by looking at its name, you are probably aware that this phone is not unlocked and only supports T-Mobile network. Internet speed may vary as it depends on your area and the weather.

If you encounter problems with your network, you can connect to nearby WiFi. Furthermore, you can turn this phone into a mobile hotspot.

You can transfer data via USB Type-C or Bluetooth 4.2. Also, Bluetooth allows you to connect your phone to wearable devices such as external speakers and smartwatch.

T-Mobile REVVLRY Battery

This phone is powered by a 3,000mAh battery and it is non-removable. The capacity is small for a phone these days. The manufacturer claims that the phone can pull off 24 hours talk time and 19 days of standby time.

The Snapdragon 632 supports Quick Charge 1.0, which offers 10W charging via USB Type-C. 10W charging is twice as fast as basic 5W charging on most low-entry phones.

However, we have to remind you that Quick Charge is an optional feature on this chipset. As far as we know, T-Mobile REVVLRY does not claim to have this feature.

Is T-Mobile REVVLRY a Good Phone?

For a $168 phone, this T-Mobile REVVLRY review finds that this phone is worth buying. It manages to impress us in various sectors, from design to daily performance. Although the price seems affordable, this device is probably more suitable to be a mid-range phone. It does not shy away from offering interesting features.

However, we are not sure if we want to make this phone a daily driver because of the battery capacity. Also, the cameras are average and the thick chin can turn away customers who want a large display.