Telstra Essential Smart 2.1 Review- Is It Any Good?

Telstra is a popular phone company that has released many phones over the years and the Telstra Essential Smart 2.1 is one of the newer ones. It is a budget smartphone that is alright for it’s price but it’s not for everyone. In this Telstra Essential Smart 2.1 Review I will be talking about the Telstra Essential Smart 2.1 and how it works so you can decide if it is the right smartphone for you or not.

What Is The Telstra Essential Smart 2.1?

The Telstra Essential Smart 2.1 is a budget smartphone with a 5 inch display. It is a cheap and low end smartphone but it can still get basic tasks done. While it’s not a very reliable phone it does have all the basic features a smartphone needs.

The Telstra Essential Smart 2.1 is a bit slow because it doesn’t have very good performance. It is not very fast or responsive and I have sometimes noticed a delay between tapping and icon and the app opening meaning it is not always instant like on many other smartphones.

The phone is alright for basic tasks and anyone learning to use a smartphone. It is reasonably priced but you can get better smartphones for around the same price of the Telstra Essential Smart 2.1. Despite it’s flaws the phone is still good for calls, texts and a few other basic tasks so it does have a few uses.

If you are looking for a great alternative you should consider the Motorola Moto e32 which you can learn more about if you read my full review and you can get your own Telstra Essential Smart 2.1 by clicking here

Daily Tasks On The Telstra Essential Smart 2.1

Daily tasks on the Telstra Essential Smart 2.1 are simple but slow to do even with basic tasks. Doing basic tasks like calls, texts and basic web browsing is quick and easy but it is the only thing that the phone is actually good at doing.

As for other tasks like watching videos and playing games it’s not very good due to the slow load times and bad performance of the phone. It is possible to watch videos and play games on the phone but it is not something I would want to do too much on the phone.

Due to the issues discussed above I think the Telstra Essential Smart 2.1 is best for basic tasks and should be avoided if you are going to be doing things like watching videos and playing games. The phone is not something many people are going to want but it is good as a backup or emergency smartphone.

Battery Life & Multimedia

Battery life on the Telstra Essential Smart 2.1 is not that good as it only last about 3 to 4 hours on one charge depending on what you are doing. If you are watching videos and playing games the battery will drain faster but even with basic tasks and light usage it will not last the full day. The phone also takes around 4 hours to fully charge which is quite a while and should charge a lot faster in my opinion.

As for multimedia the Telstra Essential Smart 2.1 has the basic multimedia capabilities that most other smartphones have like the ability to listen to music, watch videos and take photos. But the cameras are low quality and take pretty bad photos. To make matters worse video playback is not that good in high quality and to get a smooth performance you have to watch it in lower quality.

Other multimedia tasks like photo and video editing are possible on the phone but it is not something I recommend you do because it is quite slow and not easy to do due to the phones low end hardware. As you can see multimedia is not that good on the phone and is best for basic multimedia tasks only. The Telstra Essential Smart 2.1 has 1G RAM and 32GB internal storage that is expandable up to 256GB using a Micro SD card.

Internet & Connectivity

The Telstra Essential Smart 2.1 can connect to the internet via WiFi or mobile data and it works fine. The internet browser is Google chrome which works fine and is possible to download and install other web browsers from the app store. Web browsing is quite easy on the phone and is reasonably fast if you are just using basic websites. It’s a bit slow when loading images and videos but it works fine for the most part.

As for connectivity the Telstra Essential Smart 2.1 has Bluetooth which works fine for transferring files between other Bluetooth devices. It also has a FM radio, flashlight, headphone jack and a Micro USB port but lacks other connectivity features meaning that connectivity is quite basic and low end on the phone. It’s not surprising given the phone is cheap and low end but I do think it could have had better connectivity features.

Apps & Gaming

The Telstra Essential Smart 2.1 comes with a few apps preinstalled but not as many as some other phones come with. It mainly just has the basic apps like Calls, Texts, Contacts, Google Chrome, YouTube and a few others. The phone also has an app store which is the Google Play Store which does work but can be slow and it crashes sometimes.

There are quite a few apps that you can download from the app store for the phone but it’s to download basic and lightweight apps. This is because many demanding apps won’t run well on the phone because of it’s hardware limitations so it’s best to stick to basic and non demanding apps.

Gaming is possible on the Telstra Essential Smart 2.1 but it is not very good. It doesn’t have any games preinstalled but you can download many different ones from the app store. There are many games that won’t run well or at all on the phone because of it’s hardware and it can even struggle with low end games so it’s best to keep gaming to a minimum on the phone.

If you do want to play games on the Telstra Essential Smart 2.1 stick to basic games with low end requirements for better performance. You shouldn’t expect any good graphics either as the graphics are not that good on the phone. But as I already said gaming is not something I recommend on the phone so it’s best to avoid it as it will be a bad experience.

Is The Telstra Essential Smart 2.1 For Me?

I recommend the Telstra Essential Smart 2.1 to anyone who is look for a basic smartphone that is cheap and affordable to use for basic tasks like calls and texts. I also recommend the Telstra Essential Smart 2.1 to anyone that is look for a cheap smartphone to use as a backup or emergency smartphone.

I don’t recommend the Telstra Essential Smart 2.1 to anyone that wants a smartphone to watch a lot of videos and play a lot of games. I also don’t recommend the Telstra Essential Smart 2.1 to anyone that wants a smartphone with better features and more than just the basic hardware that the smartphone has.

Specifications

5 inch 480 x 960 FWVGA display
3G & 4G connectivity
1GB RAM
Quad core 1.4 GHz Speedtrum processor
32 GB internal storage expandable up to 256GB using a Micro SD card
5 megapixel rear camera with flash
2 megapixel front facing camera
2000 mAh battery
Android R Go Edition operating system
Flashlight included
Headphone jack included

Pros & Cons

Pros

Cheap & affordable
3G & 4G connectivity
Large and clear display
Good for calls, texts and basic web browsing
Has all basic features a smartphone needs to have

Cons

Slow and unresponsive
Bad performance and delays when opening apps
Sometimes crashes when running apps
Low quality cameras and audio
Bad battery life and slow charge time
Has basic and low end hardware
Watching videos and playing games is difficult and does not run well

Conclusion

In conclusion the Telstra Essential Smart 2.1 is a low end budget smartphone with a 5 inch display. It is slow, unresponsive and has some delays when opening apps. But it is fine for basic tasks like calls, texts and basic web browsing. The phone has bad battery life, slow charge time, low quality cameras and bad performance which makes it hard to watch videos and play games.

These types of tasks should be avoided if possible due to the bad performance and low end hardware on the phone. I recommend the Telstra Essential Smart 2.1 to anyone look for a cheap and basic phone for basic tasks like calls and texts or to anyone that wants a cheap smartphone to use as a backup or emergency smartphone.

But I do not recommend it to anyone that wants to watch a lot of videos, play a lot of games or wants a smartphone with better features and more than just the basic hardware that the smartphone has. The Telstra Essential Smart 2.1 has it’s uses but for most people it would better to look at other options. Even though it could be enough for some people it would not get many people through their day.

Thank you for reading. I hope that you enjoyed this Telstra Essential Smart 2.1 review. If you have any questions or if you need any help let me know in the comments.