Blu Vivo XL3 Oreo 18:9 smartphone for $110

If you want an Oreo smartphone without breaking the bank, and the previous kerfuffles of the Blu brand of Florida do not scare you away, for a very limited time only, you can get the brand new Blu Vivo XL3 for $110 with free shipping with up to two sets per customer at the sale price by Amazon actual.

This is new condition with a USA warranty, factory unlocked and works with GSM networks. As usual, check bands and such to make sure it will work to your satisfaction on your GSM carrier(s) of choice.

The other specs:

  • 5.5 inch 18:9 display (that’s right, a tall budget phone!)
  • Android Oreo 8.0 out of the box (take them more expensive phones still waiting for the over-promised and under-delivered Oreo update)
  • 3GB RAM, 32GB on-board, microSD slot
  • MediaTek quad-core 1.3GHz processor with Mali T720
  • 13mp back and front cameras with LED flash
  • 3000 mah battery
April 11, 2018 Filed Under: android Tagged With: , ,

BLU Advance 5.5 HD for $76 (Unlocked, GSM, Dual SIM)

You can get plenty of smartphone for under $100 these days, although, as always, with apps and OS and the mobile web bloating up, you can almost always get a better experience in the $200+/300+ price range. But if $76 is all you want to spend…

… then you can get the new condition BLU Advance 5.5 HD for $76 with free shipping at Amazon by Amazon actual with a limit of up to three per customer. As with all BLU phones, this is GSM unlocked, without any contract obligations. It is a dual SIM.

This is not part of the Amazon Prime Sponsored ads program, only the BLU R1 is under that program. As the model number hints at, this has a 5.5-inch display, with the Mediatek 6580 quad core processor, 1GB RAM, 8GB internal memory, and a microSD slot (takes cards up to 64GB).

1GB RAM is not a lot these days, but BLU has little bloatware compared to carrier phones (they seem to have fixed the “China phone home” problem with some of their models), so if you are vigilant about which apps you install and allow to run in the background, it’s still usable. I have an older one like that, running Lollipod. I can free up about half of the RAM by paying attention to Task Managers.

This one though is running Marshmallow (Android 6.0). They only mention “HD” as screen resolution, which means it is 720p, which “computers” given the current price 🙂

As usual, double check to make sure it works with your carrier(s) of choice. There are many reviews and answered questions, and both are searchable when you drill further down the ever-growing Amazon website.

May 15, 2017 Filed Under: android Tagged With: ,

Subsidized Phone: BLU R1 HD for $60 (Prime members only)

There’s a new development in the world of phone-buying and this time around it’s not T-Mobile that is changing things up, but rather Amazon. This new promotion is available to Prime members only, and borrows from the Kindle e-reader Special Offers philosophy. You get the phone at a discounted price and for that you get Special Offers on your Lock Screen, below your Notifications and have Amazon apps pre-installed on your device. This is still a no-contract unlocked phone, with the only exception being the Amazon subsidy restrictions.

The first phone to participate in this promotion is the brand new Blu R1 HD. It is available as either a 1GB RAM with 8GB on-board storage for $50 subsidized (or $100 unsubsidized), or 2GB RAM with 16GB on-board storage for $60 subsidized (or $110 unsusbisized). The decision between the two is crystal clear. For an extra $10, you have to to get the 2GB RAM and 16GB on-board storage. You will have fewer performance and multi-tasking restrictions with twice the RAM and internal storage!

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June 29, 2016 Filed Under: android Tagged With: , ,

Power-hungry users: BLU Studio Energy 2 with 5000 mah battery (unlocked 4G LTE) for $180

If you are a fan of GSM and 4G LTE and battery life is your #1 priority, there’s a brand new smartphone coming out with a 5000 mah battery (that’s right, five thousand mah). It is a refresh of a previous model, but now with 4G LTE and improved specs. It is the new BLU Studio Energy 2. And a reasonable price of $180, unlocked without contract requirements.

Having said that, the rest of the specs are in the mid-range, it has 1.5GB RAM, 16GB on-board, microSD (up to 64GB), 5-inch HD AMOLED (which probably suggests 720p), and an unspecified 1.3 GHz quad-core processor (other Blu phones use MediaTek). It is a dual-SIM phone and comes with Lollipod out of the box.

The price at the moment is $180 at Amazon.com (no contract!). The shipment estimate, as of the time of writing is “Temporarily out of stock”.

October 10, 2015 Filed Under: android Tagged With: , , , ,