Carbon 1 Mk II Review

#1

I was very excited to find something like Carbon, I liked the concept so much that I even wanted to become a local reseller. Sadly I didn’t know that I am dealing with a very irresponsible company.
After lots of trials I could finally speak to the Sales Manager which promised to send me a pricelist for our collaboration but that never happened.
I waited 3 weeks and then finally I decided that I will order at least one piece to try it out. I placed the order from a business account and I was expecting NOT to pay VAT (as it should be in the EU), but nevertheless I was charged the full gross price. I’ve sent an email asking a VAT return, but I’ve never got an answer on that.
The phone came pretty fast (in 3 days) but then I found out that the phone is actually not that good. Here are my impressions:

  • The phone gets very hot after a couple minutes of usage, I installed an app and after 5-10 mins of videochat the CPU is over 40 degrees C
  • The connections are unstable, WiFi gets often dropped, Mobile net also gets often dropped
  • Battery lasts for a very short time, my 4 year old Samsung with 66% capacity lasts 3 times more
  • Camera doesn’t focus in many apps, so you get blurred pictures. Otherwise, if you manage to focus properly, the quality is OK
  • The sound is very bad, I have trouble hearing others and every other person had trouble hearing me. Literally every person who I called (phone, WhatsApp, Messenger, anything) said that I sound like I was speaking from far away
  • Can’t set different ringtones for the 2 SIMs, maybe that’s an Android problem, but I didn’t like it
  • Proximity sensor doesn’t work, many times when my phone is at my ear some random things get pressed on the screen
  • The stock Android is nice, but lacks some nice features that Samsung’s One UI has, for a person coming from Samsung environment, the Carbon UI just sucks

The biggest problem is anyway, the communication with Carbon. My emails are not answered, I have to send many reminders to receive one answer.
The tragedy came when I wanted to send back the phone. Somebody immediately contacted me and wanted to get my feedback, but I had to insist many times to get the return address from them. I’ve sent my return intention on Aug 3 and they’ve sent me the return address on Aug 9. I’ve sent back the phone on Aug 14 and up until now (Sep 4) I didn’t receive my money back.
I start believing that I will never get my money back and I am sad that a nice idea can die in the hands of some irresponsible people…
Think twice before ordering from them and don’t believe that the phone is something extraordinary. The marketing is good, but the technology sucks and the company is a disappointment.

#2

Hello Danny,

I am very sorry to hear that you struggled with our support.
Yes, recently we are lacking capacity on support, and we are hiring to close the gap.
It’s not an excuse indeed.
In the last 2 weeks, the whole team was in a workshop in Berlin, and there was no resource to response.
We will sort it out for you on Monday first thing.
I know about your early communications with us, regarding the reseller conversations.
I hope this experience doesn’t judge us going forward, as we are truly appreciate our Carbonizers customers for their genuine believe in Carbon Mobile.
We will indeed keep you as a Founder for the next release for next year. Meanwhile, we will handle your issue by Monday.
Wish you a great weekend.
Best,
Firas.

1 Like
#3

Well, i´m sad to read such things. There seems to be a big gap with the quality of the devices. I have to admit, that the battery could last longer, but it has not the largest capacity. My Huawei P30 lasts longer, has the better camera and i got it for free. So it is the better phone. But it is not the Carbon, which is the product of a small startup. And i love it f.e. when the carbon logo blinks in blue, when i receive a Telegram-message. Why does it not show a green logo, when i receive a Whatsapp-Message? Or can i configure this somewhere?

For me the Carbon is less a smartphone, than a piece of art. It is something like a Spyker or a Wiesmann. They was surely not the best cars for their price. But if you see one of them, it is something special.

1 Like
#4

If what Danny iwrote is true - and I have no reason to doubt - then, Firas, I must say thatyour behaviour was unprofessional. That is theworst one can say about a company. But over the years, I have found that this kind of management a startup company occurs often. They concentrate on their product, and once it is ready, they forget that there is more to selling a product than producing it and waiting for the enthusiastic public to rush the store to get one…
There needs to be a whole customer relationship organisation - and procedure - behind the product. That includes: sales, despatch, communication with customers, complaint handling, product wharehouse planning,… among others.
In other words, a back end organisation behind the website frontend.
In the case in question, there should have been at least one customer rep. who could have informed customers and prospects that the company is „in limbo“ because of employee training, and „we will come back to you within X days“. And who could have taken each important case in his hands and feel responsible for its solution.
That is what I learnt when I started work in a manufacturing company.
Volker

1 Like
#5

Hello all,

There was a miss-understanding with regarding to support with @dannyritiu
We have resolved the issue.
I appreciate all your feedback as well.
We know that there are flaws that can be okay for some people who like Carbon MK II and some other can’t accept some compromises.

We truly appreciate your support for Carbon Mobile, and we are indeed committed to make even better products from our learning during the development, production, and of course your experiences!.

3 Likes
#6

Yes, it is sad to hear such a negative review. I for one am glad to have learned the terminology regarding my main complaint… which is the “proximity sensor”. While I now use a different phone app which makes things better… I still have things launch just by having my face against the phone. Plus I agree that I get complaints about the sound when talking on the phone. Basically I always use speaker phone so I can hear, but the person I’m talking to may or may not have a problem hearing.

#7

I trust you Firas because Carbon Mobile is your dream and I want that dream to succeed.

Some of the issues are dealbreakers for some people unfortunately but you’re committed to improving and have the competence to improve.

For the audio loudness issue, large companies would dismiss the concern but you went to the effort of procuring the problem devices and are working to track down the issue. That shows you do care.

Please use our feedback to improve but don’t waver in your vision!

#8

Update: after my feedback which went public, the team immediately contacted me and made a very generous offer so that’s a very positive point for them.
I didn’t write my feedback with a destructive intention, it was a last resort for a call for help. Thankfully that did work. What I can hope is that Carbon team will really learn from this and they will improve both the device and the customer relations services.
I also understand that Carbon is a startup and the team is small, but in that case you must focus even harder on the customer services. You can’t afford unhappy customers. DHL can, DB can, Lufthansa can, but not a startup trying to build something new.
I consider myself a patient customer and I didn’t jump into conclusions from the first email, but OK, let’s say everybody deserves a 2nd chance (in this case a 5th chance :sweat_smile:), so I cross my fingers for Carbon and I hope the Mk3 phone will be a success!

1 Like