BLU is working hard to make a place for itself in the affordable unlocked phone market, and one of its latest offerings is the Life One X. Although it may not be a name that immediately comes to mind when thinking about major Android device manufacturers, Miami-based BLU offers a good range of compelling devices that can appeal to the right person who puts cost high on their list of necessities when buying a phone.
The Life One X (yes, exactly the same as the HTC One X) brings a pretty incredible set of specs to the table along with nearly-stock Android 4.2 and support for dual SIM cards for a mere $279 unlocked. And just like other recent BLU products, it wraps it up in a solid but uninspiring design that'll get the job done but won't win any design awards. But again, the phone is $279. Hit the break to see a bit more of what the BLU Life One X has to offer and what we think of the device overall.
When you take the Life One X out of the box and hold it in your hand, you get the feeling that BLU is directly targeting a specific manufacturer with its design (and no, not the one that shares the product name). In the same way that the BLU Life View squared off against the Galaxy Note 2, the Life One X looks quite a bit like the Galaxy S4 from many angles. Although its back casing is mostly metal and there's no physical home button, the visual similarities are uncanny. Even the blue and white color choices look just like it.
Usually when you buy a phone at this price, you don't expect much in the way of high-end specs. That's not necessarily the case here, as the Life One X hits all of the bullet points of a modern, well-appointed device. We have a 5-inch IPS display at 1080x1920 resolution (that's 440 ppi), a 1.5GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 16/32GB of storage and a 13MP camera. It also has dual SIM slots with support for HSPA+ 42 (sorry, no LTE) on AT&T or T-Mobile.
Unfortunately these very solid internal specs don't lead to the best software experience ever. Be it a lack of software optimization (we're looking at Android 4.2) to the hardware components or just lower-quality components themselves, the Life One X just isn't as smooth or quick as you'd expect with the horsepower under the hood. Web pages can stutter when you scroll, Google Maps has a couple hiccups when you pinch-to-zoom and there's just a bit of hesitation as you roll through the home screens and settings menus. It's a real shame, as the visuals themselves look great on this display.
We know the market the BLU Life One X is targeting may not be the most discerning about phone performance and will focus on the price tag instead, but we've seen plenty of other manufacturers put together smooth performance at this price point or lower. Everything about the phone just seems "adequate," from the build quality and design to the software and camera performance.
And at this price point, that just might do it for enough people to spark up some sales numbers. BLU continues to make a much higher quality product than you expect for the price, and if it just kicks up the performance that extra bit to make even high-end phone users impressed, there could be a long line of well-received devices coming in the future.
Nice job of Blu to seize the market’s opportunities and vacancies then, albeit maybe, just maybe, their fresh 5 incher would have benefited from a slight performance gain. Even risking to add $10, $20 on top of the $179 currently charged on Amazon.
The most advanced of the newcomers is the Studio 5.0 C HD. For US$149, it provides a 5.0-inch screen with a 1280 by 720 pixel resolution, an 8-megapixel camera on the back and a 2-megapixel front camera. Under the hood, there is a quad-core processor from Mediatek running at 1.3GHz. The device has 1GB of RAM and 4GB of storage that can be expanded to 64GB via a microSD card slot.
For users who want a slightly smaller phone, Blu offers the Studio C Mini for $119. It's powered by the same Mediatek processor and it too has 4GB of storage and a microSD card slot. But the amount of RAM has been halved to 512MB and it has a 4.7-inch screen with 800 by 480 pixels. There is a 5-megapixel camera on the back and a 2-megapixel camera on the front. Those two phones are available now on Amazon.com.
For users who want a 5-inch screen, but a phone that's even cheaper than the Studio 5.0 C HD, Blu also offers the Studio 5.0 C and the 5.0 CE. Both offer 854 by 480 pixel resolution, are powered by dual-core processors running at 1.3GHz from Mediatek and have 4GB of storage that can be expanded by up 32GB with a microSD card. Active apps will have to share 512MB of RAM.
The DASH JR is meant to bring exceptional value to the consumer by being the first entry level smartphone available with 1GHz CPU and 3.5-inch HVGA Resolution LCD at a sub $49.00 price point unlocked. Powered by Android v2.3, the DASH JR also features a 2.0 Megapixel Camera, expandable Micro SD Slot, Wi-Fi, as well as Dual SIM functionality.
The DASH MUSIC 4.0 focuses on Music and Video Playback user experience, with dual front facing speakers which produce loud and brilliant sound reproduction quality. In addition, the DASH MUSIC 4.0 is equipped with a 4.0-inch High Resolution WVGA LCD, a Dual-Core 1.3GHz processor with HSPA+ 21Mbps connectivity, 3.2 Mega Pixel Camera, Dual SIM functionality and expandable Micro SD Slot, while running on Android Jellybean v4.2, and will be priced at $99.00 unlocked.
The DASH 5.0 brings affordability to the increasing demand for large screen devices, featuring a 5.0 inch FWVGA LCD with incredibly thin bezel mount, and slim profile of just 9.3mm which makes handling the device incredibly comfortable. In addition, the DASH 5.0 is powered by a 1.3GHz Dual-Core processor with HSPA+ 21mbs connectivity, 5.0 mega pixel camera with LED Flash, expandable Micro SD slot, Dual SIM functionality, running on Android Jelly Bean 4.2, and will be priced at $129.00 unlocked.
