Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) Project Fi MVNO, which uses Wi-Fi hotspots for calling and data in addition to cellular connections from Sprint (NYSE: S) and T-Mobile US (NYSE:TMUS), is still an invitation-only offering right now. Yet the first professional review of the service by a major publication has emerged, and it's a mixed bag, mainly due to a lack of devices available for the service. In its review, The Wall Street Journal noted that "Google's real secret is in the handoff from Wi-Fi to cellular or vice versa."
The reviewer, Nathan Olivarez-Giles, noted that when he made a call on his home Wi-Fi, then kept talking as he walked out into the streets of San Francisco, "the transition was seamless" and the transition between the T-Mobile and Sprint networks without the user noticing is "magic."
The main drawback to Project Fi right now, the review noted, is that it only works with one phone, an unlocked Nexus 6 smartphone, starting at $500 or $20.79 per month. The phone, the review noted, is built by Motorola in collaboration with Google, and "is a speedy smartphone with a gorgeous display and the best, most unaltered version of Android you can find. But it has a middling camera and its 6-inch display makes it massive to hold. If Project Fi's SIM cards worked in phones from Samsung, HTC—dare I say, Apple?—it'd be easier to recommend." Article (sub. req.)