A $299 Smartphone that doesn't suck?
mertesn
I am Bobby MillerYukon, OK Icrontian
Sources: Press release
and The Verge
I don't make a habit of providing mobile phone coverage, hence the forum post.
Somewhere towards the end of April, Blu Products will release a high-end smartphone you can own outright, unlocked, and with a stock version of Android Jellybean for $299. That's the same price most of the US carriers will charge for a high-end phone with a two year contract. It's called the Life One.
Specs:
- CPU: MediaTek MT6589
-- 28nm process
-- 1.2GHz Quad core
-- PowerVR Series5XT GPU
-- HSPA+ 41Mbps modem
- Display:
-- 5.0" IPS 1080p display
-- Curved Gorilla Glass 2
- Cameras
-- 13.0 megapixel back camera, 1080p recording
-- 5.0 megapixel front camera
- 1GB RAM
- microSD slot supports up to 32GB
- GSM quad band
- HSPA 850/1900/2100
- Dual SIM
-- can make and receive calls on either sim seamlessly
According to an interview with The Verge, the way Blu Products is able to offer the phone at this price is a lack of overhead common to the big names. Blu doesn't have the giant marketing costs of Samsung, HTC, Motorola, and Apple, nor do they pad their price for large profit margins.
There's no LTE for the phone, but it probably doesn't matter if you live in an area with good coverage.
Thoughts?
and The Verge
I don't make a habit of providing mobile phone coverage, hence the forum post.
Somewhere towards the end of April, Blu Products will release a high-end smartphone you can own outright, unlocked, and with a stock version of Android Jellybean for $299. That's the same price most of the US carriers will charge for a high-end phone with a two year contract. It's called the Life One.
Specs:
- CPU: MediaTek MT6589
-- 28nm process
-- 1.2GHz Quad core
-- PowerVR Series5XT GPU
-- HSPA+ 41Mbps modem
- Display:
-- 5.0" IPS 1080p display
-- Curved Gorilla Glass 2
- Cameras
-- 13.0 megapixel back camera, 1080p recording
-- 5.0 megapixel front camera
- 1GB RAM
- microSD slot supports up to 32GB
- GSM quad band
- HSPA 850/1900/2100
- Dual SIM
-- can make and receive calls on either sim seamlessly
According to an interview with The Verge, the way Blu Products is able to offer the phone at this price is a lack of overhead common to the big names. Blu doesn't have the giant marketing costs of Samsung, HTC, Motorola, and Apple, nor do they pad their price for large profit margins.
There's no LTE for the phone, but it probably doesn't matter if you live in an area with good coverage.
Thoughts?
0
Comments
Yeah, just looked up some of the benchmarks for the CPU. While the ones I found didn't directly compare the phone to a Nexus 4, it doesn't look that great after all.
I'd imagine this to be roughly on par with the Note (not II) or a Galaxy Nexus. Certainly nothing to sneeze at, power-wise, but longevity could be a real issue.