Gabb Z2 Phone Review
*This post contains affiliate links. Exhausted Mama receives commissions for purchases made through the affiliate links in this post. Thank you for supporting this blog!Deciding between Pinwheel and Gabb
My daughter and I chose the Gabb Z2 phone to be her first phone. We talked about the two phones we had narrowed it down to (Pinwheel vs. Gabb) and both agreed that the Gabb Z2 phone was the way to go. Although the Pinwheel phone has options for apps, my daughter decided she didn’t need or want them. If there was something she wanted to do, she decided she could use the other devices we had in our house. She didn’t need all the extras on her phone. She just wanted to be able to connect with her friends via text and talking (although, it’s mainly just texting). Gabb provides all the things she would want in addition to unlimited talk and text.
My daughter was so excited when it finally arrived at the beginning of September. I couldn’t even get a picture of everything in the box fast enough; she had it unpacked, in the case, and plugged in before I got my act together. So, minus the phone, this is everything that came in the box—we ordered a case and screen cover during the checkout process. The stickers were a nice surprise. The screen protector was a bit tricky to put on; we used the dry method. If we had to do it over, I think we’d try the wet method. Gabb included instructions/a short cheat sheet with the phone to explain voicemail set up, etc. It was straightforward and allowed my daughter to start using her phone immediately.
Adding Music to the Gabb Z2
As with anything new, there were a few things we needed to figure out. Transferring music onto her phone was not as straightforward as I had hoped it would be. But, we figured it out in the end. We had to add a folder under the photo folder to finally get it to work. Once we did that, it was just a matter of clicking and dragging the selected songs to this new folder. She says the file manager is pretty easy to navigate and to add to in general.
Texting
The main reason we waited to get the Gabb Z2 phone instead of getting the Gabb Z1 phone when I first found about Gabb was because of texting. With the Gabb Z2 phone, my daughter is able to send and receive pictures as well as group texts. We were happily surprised to find out that she is also able to receive some video files and gifs. She can even send videos herself if the files are small. It seems that larger video files and gifs won’t come through. My oldest doesn’t really seem to care about this, though. She did say that group texts can take a while to send and sometimes she has to resend them. If you are concerned about sending and receiving pictures or videos, there is a Gabb plan without these options.
Camera Quality
The camera on the Gabb Z2 phone is really good, to the point where one of her friends complemented her picture quality and wanted to know what type of camera her phone had. She has been taking tons of pictures and was very excited to be able to take videos as well. She did mention that there is no slo-mo option when taking the video, but you can slow the video down when you watch it. There is also a video app on the phone that makes it really easy to watch and organize all of her videos.
Sound Quality of the Gabb Z2
She loves the size of the phone and the buttons and says the phone does everything she would want it to. It has great reception as well, even better than our landline. This surprised me as my cell phone isn’t better than our landline.
The phone comes with a voice recorder, which she says is high quality and picks up even faint sounds. The sound quality is also good. The case we ordered through Gabb has a small hole for the speaker which reduces the volume a bit. She said it’s easy to cover the hole accidentally, but she’s getting used to where it is now.
The radio seems to have a quirk as it only works if you plug in headphones. She said you can plug the phone into a speaker, but you still have to have the earpiece plugged in for the radio to work. A nice surprise was you can personalize the home screen, including the icon shapes and layout and there are some other neat effects. The Z2 phone also has a calendar that she has been putting all of her school assignments in. I think she gets a kick out of it as she asks me what her homework is (we’re homeschooling, so I’m her teacher) and what needs to be done and then pulls out her phone to enter it on its due date.
Gabb Z2 Phone Case
Since the Gabb Z2 was just released at the end of August, there weren’t many phone case options when we ordered it. Once we got the phone and were able to look at the different holes for plugs and the camera, I did some research and found out that the Gabb Z2 is the same as the ZTE Blade A3 Prime. My daughter then decided to order other cases since we were able to find some she liked. The ZTE Blade A3 Prime cases have a square and so allow more sound to come out, although the camera hole is a tad short and covers up the second light or flashlight slightly. She’s happy with them, though, and now has a few to change or choose from depending on her mood.
Happy with the Gabb Z2 Phone
I know some parents may be worried about calls from unknown people, and my daughter has received a few calls (maybe three) from numbers she didn’t recognize. She doesn’t answer them, though, and just ignores them. Then we block them. It hasn’t been an issue or problem. To be honest, I like the fact that she can get calls from people not in her contact list because I texted her number to some family members and they were able to text her without their numbers already being in her phone. She wouldn’t have received these if the phone wasn’t able to get calls/texts from people not in her contacts.
To sum up my Gabb Z2 phone review, I am extremely happy with the phone and, more importantly, so is my daughter. It allows her to stay connected with her friends and has all of the options we decided were important for her to have on a phone and none of the things we decided she didn’t need. If you have a child who desperately wants a phone but you’re nervous about handing over a smartphone and all that includes, then I highly recommend you take a look at Gabb (Save with promo code EXHAUSTEDMAMA).
17 Comments
Bennett Flaherty
Such great information for future me, as I’m sure my son will be wanting a phone down the line. (I feel so out of the loop, as I’ve never heard of either of these…Old mom here lol!)
Exhausted Mama
They are both fairly new. I had no clue either until I really started researching.
Aparna Verma
Very helpful review. Thanks for the detailed description
Exhausted Mama
Thank you. I’m glad it was helpful.
Rochelle
Can you turn off the ability to receive texts or calls from someone you don’t know?
Exhausted Mama
We handled it by blocking the number. Since my daughter received the phone last September, I think we’ve only had to block two or three numbers. It hasn’t been an issue.
Kristine
We’ve had our Gabb phone for less than 2 weeks now, and although we love the concept, we are canceling and returning it. We receive 15+ spam calls per day, and also some spam text messages. This phone has no capability to only receive calls and texts from your contact list and not outside numbers (other providers have this feature, Gabb does not). When we called customer service, the only suggestion they had was to turn on “Do Not Disturb” and keep it on, and select the option to only allow calls from your contact list. We did this, and while it reduced the number of spam calls from around 15-20 per day down to 6-10 per day, I’m baffled as to how these calls are still getting through. Extremely frustrated and disappointed. I had high hopes for Gabb, but we’re switching to Pinwheel (who does have a feature that allows you to only receive calls and texts from contacts).
Exhausted Mama
I’m so sorry to hear you’ve been getting so many spam calls/texts. I’d be frustrated too! My daughter has not had this issue. After getting the phone, I registered her number on the “Do Not Call” list. I wonder if that’s helped. I hope Pinwheel is able to meet your needs. I love that there is more than one company providing a smartphone-free option for our kids. If you use my Pinwheel affiliate code (MAMA-TEN), you’ll receive 10% off.
Hilary
Thanks exhausted mama! I appreciate you doing so much of the hard work for us! I love your blog!!
Exhausted Mama
Thanks!
Jack Mastrangelo
This is not a comment, ExhaustedMama, per se, but a question for you. I am an adult and would like to be rid of everything other than talking and occasional texting. Is GABB Z2 a good choice for a dinosaur like me???
Thank you, for your help! – jack
Exhausted Mama
Yes, if you truly just want talk and text, then the Gabb Z2 would be a great choice. It also comes with the added benefit of looking like a smartphone, so no one will know it’s not.
Jon
Just got this phone set up last night as a man working on integrity for my wife.
I chose it over a flip phone because there is no way to get on the internet. It DOES connect to WIFI, but there is no Play Store, and no APK installer. This also means you can’t load a survelliance software onto it – such as Covonent Eyes.
It does what it is supposed to do. However, I do want to listen to podcasts on Spotify or Youtube, or use Google Maps, but this is not an option for this phone. Just calls and texts.
Exhausted Mama
The Gabb Phone (Z2) is just calls and texts. The Gabb Phone Plus does have a Maps app on it as well as a Music app but no podcasts. If you’re looking for a phone that doesn’t have internet but has an option for Spotify and Google Maps, then one of Pinwheel’s phones would be a better option. You can read my review of Pinwheel’s Slim model here.
Kimberly
Hello- My son also has a Gabb phone (and we are also homeschoolers). We like it in almost every way except that we can’t find quality wireless earbuds that work properly. They will pair and play, but none of the touch functions work (volume, skip, repeat)…..which kind of beats the point of wireless and hands free. Samw issue with bluetooth speakers. Has your daughter had this issue? Both Gabb and ZTE have not been able to help. If you have any tips and/or recommendations of what works I would he so grateful. I feel like my son would continue to ve content with this phone if we could just figure out this issue. Thank you so much!
Kimberly
Exhausted Mama
Hi. Thanks for stopping by. I’m sorry to hear about the trouble with the earbuds and speaker. My daughter uses wired earbuds, so we have not had this issue. I reached out to my contact at Gabb about your comment/issue and was told Gabb will be coming out with earphones soon. When I find out the release date, I’ll update my comment for you.
Exhausted Mama
Gabb now has wireless earbuds for the Gabb Z2 and their new phone, the Gabb Phone Plus (review coming soon). You can save 50% on the earbuds and other accessories right now when you preorder a Gabb Phone Plus and use my promo code EXHAUSTEDMAMA.