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A $60 phone that punches way above its price---if you don't mind the ads.Read more

Amazon Prime members can get the Blu R1 HD for just $50. It's an awesome value for that price, but there are a couple huge trade-offs. Here's our review.Read more

The Blu R1 HD isn't good enough to be your go-to phone, but it's passable for a preteen or as a backup device.Read more

Arriving roughly eight months after the R1 Plus, Blu's newest phone, the R2 Plus serves as a worthy update with improvements in a handful of key spots. While it's not an outright successor with spec change across the board, it's timely and worth your attention. As we approach the second anniversary of the "$50 phone", the R1 HD, we've seen the line evolve a little. It has now become quite clear that this isn't just an Amazon or Amazon Prime series of devices. In other words, we don't expect that an "R" model phone will be cheap or offered as an Amazon exclusive. Even before spending time with the phone we were impressed at the speed at which Blu released a follow-up device. As customers we are conditioned to look for successors roughly once per year. On the other hand, we wondered whether there would be enough "new" here to justify its launch. Similar to its predecessor, the R1 Plus, the R2 Plus puts the entry level experience squarely in its sites. Specifically, it takes on the likes of Motorola and its G5 Plus. For the 2018 iteration we have a $179.99 price tag ($129.99 at launch) so it's definitely on the less expensive side of things. As an unlocked handset, the R1 Plus works with either AT&T or T-Mobile's networks as well as any of their respective MVNO brands. For those of you living outside of the US, the globally unlocked device works with Orange, Vodafone, and many others. This is  a dual-SIM device which means you can actually pull service from two carriers at once. It's also a bit of breathing room for when you might travel to another country and need a local SIM card for a short while. General Impressions As was the case with its R1 models, Blu has cut the corners in a couple of places, but nothing that gives us pause for concern. The packaging isn't glamorous but you don't care about what is on the box so much as to what's inside. Getting into the box we find there are no headphones but there is a microUSB charger, a silicon protective case, and a screen protector. Again, nothing special or noteworthy but they are a nice gesture; most consumers buy these things anyhow. Hardware Whereas the R1 HD was a good 15-18 months behind the curve for low end devices, the R2 Plus continues to close the gap. It builds on things in a few key areas and comprises an all around solid package for those not looking to spend much money. First time smartphone users may not realize it, or likely even care all that much about the hardware, but these are what you'd get in a mid-range and upper end phone from 2016. Seasoned users coming from a higher end or flagship phone from the last year or two might consider this one more of a sidestep than a step forward. Those of you who have ever owned, or spent a moderate amount of time, with a flagship phone from the last few years will likely be familiar with the "premium" experience. This is generally comprised of, but not limited to, glass on one or both sides, metal housing, and/or expensive build materials. Despite Blu's billing of the sleek metal body housing, the R2 Plus is not a premium device.  You've still got a protective shell to remove for access to the SIM card(s) and microSD card slot. On a more positive note, the case itself doesn't feel as pliable or plastic as what you might have seen in cheaper phones from days gone by. Indeed, the R2 Plus is rather utilitarian by today's standards and probably won't draw the admiration of others. Key Specifications Android v7.0 Nougat Mediatek 6753 | 1.3GHz Quad Core Processor with Mali-T720 32GB Internal Storage with microSD (up to 64GB) 3GB RAM Memory 5.5-inch 1920 x 1280 pixel display 13-megapixel rear camera 5-megapixel front-facing camera 4,000mAh battery Network: 3G: 850/900/1700/1900/2100 4G LTE: 1/2/3/4/7/12/17/28 Build & Design The R2 Plus delivers the same 5.5-inch display as its predecessor; however, this time the resolution has been bumped from 1280 x 720 pixels to 1920 x 1080. It's somewhat noticeable when you compare the two, but it's hard to truly discern much higher than this. Would a 2K screen be great? Sure, but we like money, too. The target user will appreciate the display here and text, pictures, and video look just fine for our needs. We've said it many times, but you truly don't see the differences or where corners are cut as much until you compare it to a pricier or bigger named counterpart. On their own, phones like the R2 Plus are perfectly good for most, especially the buying demographic. Shine a light on them, though, and you can see where someone like Samsung or LG might command a bigger price tag. Blu's first phone of the year is nothing special on the outside, but it never pretends to be anything more, either. Whereas last year's model felt a little thicker than some of the other 5.5-inch phones of the time, this year's model doesn't. Perhaps this is due to having a battery that's 1/4 the capacity: R1 Plus has 4,000mAh, R2 Plus has 3,000mAh. Whatever it is, the phone feels good to hold, even with a smaller, single hand. The curved display is something we've come to expect in phones in 2018 so it was nice to see that present on the Blu R2 Plus. It's a nice aesthetic choice that rounds off the overall experience and also helps in the event of an accidental drop. Holding the phone and spending a few minutes taking things in, you don't get the impression that you have a "no-name" or "off-brand" device. We've liked watching Blu evolve over the years; its phones tend to keep pace well with most OEMs and never try to punch above their weight. Suffice it to say, this certainly doesn't feel cheap or inexpensive. The model we were sent is black, however you can also purchase the R2 Plus in gold. We suspect it looks a little more polished and eye-catching but that's not to suggest the black is ugly. The aluminum battery cover has a flat, almost matte finish but it does register fingerprints and oily touches rather easily. Not to worry, though, as it's easy to clean up. As for the general configuration of the phone, the volume rocker and power buttons are on the right side of the display. The power button carries over the knurling from its predecessor, as do the volume buttons. It's very minor, but you can feel it nicely when fumbling for the phone in the dark. All three deliver feedback and response in line within our expectations. The headphone jack is found at the top side, toward the left of the phone and the microUSB port is at the top, too. Yes. At the top. And it's still microUSB. Given the overall packager here we're okay giving a pass on the charging port, but the placement leaves us scratching our head. For the R3 Plus we expect to see USB Type C. One of the biggest missing pieces from last generation is present for the 2018 model. Since Android 6.0, the platform has supported fingerprint readers at the OS level. And, while it was not in the R1 Plus, it's here. We like the added layer of security and verification and certainly recommend using it where possible. Our review unit was responsive and picked up fingerprints quickly. Surely there's some chart somewhere that ranks response times and measures them in fractions of a second. Let's just say that there was never a problem with registering touch and leave it at that. Battery The rear cover is removable, opening up access to the microSD card slot and dual microSIM card slots. It's worth noting that the battery is not removable. At 3,000mAh it's in line with most devices on the market, but it's actually quite a step down from the R1 Plus. We tend to charge phones at night out of habit just to be safe; we never really ran into a problem with battery that wasn't solved with a few (10-15) minutes on the charger. We were really happy to see that Blu didn't keep the same type of battery cover that was found on last year's model. That was truly one of the hardest cases we could get to remove. The R2 Plus is much easier and comes off without much fuss. Camera Like the R1 Plus, the R2 Plus features a 13-megapixel rear camera but this time we get a slightly better f/2.0 aperture. This was noticeable right away when we started shooting pics in the dreary Ohio winter evenings. The R2 Plus handled indoor and low lighting conditions better and the shutter responded quicker. Around front we have another 13-megapixel camera, and again the same aperture settings. This is remarkably better than the 5-megapixel selfie camera on the previous edition. Both cameras include an LED flash and a handful of shooting modes. There's not a lot happening in the actual camera app so we might suggest downloading something else from the Play Store. It's okay to get you started, but you will want to spread your wings if you're looking for additional settings and configurations. Given the cost of the R2 Plus, we were pleased with the pictures. As we've noted in other reviews, a lot of what we do with our photos tends to live in the cloud or are often viewed from mobile devices, it's really tough to find fault with the quality. A lot of people just throw a filter on a pic, upload to social media, and call it a day. The R2 HD works more than sufficiently. HDR pictures took a little bit longer to snap and process so keep that in mind when selecting your subject. If you're shooting still images, nature, or slow moving subjects, it's fine. But, throw a cat or a child in the mix and you're not going to keep up very well. Toggle off HDR and grab those sort of shots, just be prepared for lesser quality color, vibrancy, or accuracy. Software If you've ever read our reviews on Blu, one of things we've come to appreciate in its devices is that they're pretty much unadulterated versions of Android. In most cases this means almost strictly Google apps with a small mix of apps sprinkled in. Other than that, it's just about the same look and feel that you'd get directly from Google. The R2 Plus keeps the tradition alive and doesn't have much at all. Our review unit had Amazon, Prime Video, Opera, and Next Radio. There's a full suite of Google apps and services present, too. Titles include Drive, Calendar, Gmail, Messages, Maps, Photos, YouTube, Play Music, Play Movies & TV, and the Play Store. Interestingly enough, Blu doesn't offer the same software experience from one phone to the next. Be it tiny changes in what can be configured, the pre-loaded apps, and/or the camera application, it's always a surprise. By and large, though, Blu does stick to a pretty lean UI and configuration. The R2 Plus runs Android 7.0 Nougat, which is technically only one full version behind what's available today. We're seeing quite a few new models running 8.0 Oreo out of the box so it would have been nice to have here. How much does that matter to the target demographic? Probably not as much as it does to fanboys and loyalists. One feeling we often echo for low-cost devices, or those from Blu, is that you might want to consider the device "as is" when it comes to software. More specifically, you ought not look for Android updates. In most cases, the users for these sort of phones is not demanding and cares little of the actual version of Android so much as to how it works. And, given that the overall look and feel has not changed drastically in the last generation or two, this works in Blu's favor. Still, we would have liked to see Android 8.0 Oreo; it's been available for more than a few months to OEMs. Android 7.0 means still have some of the latest in protection from Google, plus all of the recent design principles. The stuff in 8.0 is more finely tuned and a little more customizable, sure, but it's not necessary. Truth be told, it's still newer than what a lot of current Android users have today. For what it's worth, we noticed that this had the Android security patch dated from October 5, 2017. As long as security, malware, and other threats are dealt with in a timely or orderly fashion it shouldn't prove to be much of an issue. Performance We didn't use the R2 Plus as a daily driver as much of our time over the last ten days (post-CES) has been hectic. But, we did throw on a handful of games that we've been playing and we did sync up a few of our accounts. We're used to having phones with 4GB of memory and a generally more robust set of hardware. Does this make the R2 Plus noticeably slower or laggy? Not for what we threw at it. The R2 Plus handles typical daily tasks without any issue. Be it browsing Facebook and other social media, Reddit, casual gaming, messaging, and daily tasks, it took things in stride. Having said that, the R3 Plus will need 4GB RAM if it hopes to catch our eye next generation. Conclusion Blu continues to walk the line of affordability and performance, especially along the lower end of the spectrum. The R2 Plus is a solid unit that should work well for its intended uses. For someone who is just getting into smartphones and doesn't want to commit to long-term financing or expensive devices, this is a good start. Likewise, it's a decent sidestep or "band aid" phone should you have dropped or lost your current phone. We have no issues with recommending the R2 Plus. There are a few quibbles and questionable choices, but nothing to the point of telling you to avoid the phone. Why is a microUSB charging port on the top of the phone? Why are we still using microUSB? Why doesn't Blu have the exact same software suite and configuration on all of its phones? You can purchase the R2 Plus through Amazon for $179.99 starting immediately. As an incentive, you can save $50 with an early adopter discount. At $129.99 this is an really interesting device and one to consider for your GSM needs.Read more

The Blu R2 costs only $110, but you can easily find a better budget Android phone for your money.Read more

When it comes to the topic of reviewing a phone that carries a retail price of roughly $100, it’s easy to view them in a favorable light. How can something that doesn’t cost all that much ultimately disappoint? Surely, it’s worth the price tag, right? As it turns out, there are instances where you can quickly identify where a phone cuts corners. Be it in the build materials, or camera quality, or half-baked interface, there are times where we’d be totally happy spending a bit more in order to get something a little better. And, as the price of unlocked phones continues to bottom out and get more competitive in the sub-$200 space, we find some brands doing better here than others. Miami-based smartphone maker Blu gets it. As a company who consistently releases lower-cost alternatives to bigger brands, its phones are typically a great value proposition. In other words, you don’t have to spend a lot of money on its products; you often walk away with a device that justifies its cost. The latest from Blu is its Studio Touch, a $100 unlocked smartphone that works with GSM networks such as AT&T, T-Mobile, Cricket, and MetroPCS. On paper, its hardware specifications read like a mid-range phone from 2014. But, there’s just enough here to help it stand out from those older devices. Software For starters, the Studio Touch runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow, the latest official release from Google. Yes, there’s the 7.0 Nougat stuff breathing down our neck, but it’s going to be some time before we start seeing a plethora of models rolling out with that version. Having such a modern build of Android is a pretty big deal, particularly in the area of security. By running 6.0, the Studio Touch comes with protection against those pesky mobile threats that plague outdated phones. Another key benefit of having Android 6.0 comes in the user interface, customization, and optimization. By that we mean stuff like Project Volta, Android Doze, and, of course, Material Design. You likely won’t find those details in that 2014 handset with similar hardware. As it typically does, Blu has opted for a stripped down approach to Android. You’ll find very little installed on the phone that isn’t from Google. And, because it is carrier-agnostic, you won’t be looking at pre-installed apps from wireless providers or third party developers. This is not to suggest that the phone is completely void of any additional software, though, as there are a couple of titles present. Among them are Amazon, Amazon Kindle, Amazon Apps & Games, McAfee Security, Truecaller, and Opera. As for the Google apps, the Studio Touch comes with the usual suspects in Gmail, Chrome, Drive, Maps, Hangouts, Messenger, and Play Store, Play Movies & TV, Play Music, and YouTube. The phone is also loaded with utilitarian apps for FM Radio, SIM toolkit, videos, email, file managing, music, and a few others. There’s a little something for everyone here with a bit of overlap, but nothing aggravating to the end user. Design There’s nothing about the Studio Touch that jumps out at you, but we didn’t expect that going in, either. The “black” version we reviewed offered up a black face but more of a slate grey back panel. The front side of the phone finds a 5-megapixel camera sitting just off from the top speaker, while below the screen is a fingerprint reader. Yes, you read that right. There’s a fingerprint button which can be used to secure your login and apps. It also doubles as a home button when physically pressed. On the right side is where the power and volume buttons are located. The power button features a textured design but it’s not all that noticeable to touch. It’s the first one up the side of the phone, but, otherwise, you won’t feel the ridges when blindly looking for the button. Around back is the 8-megapixel rear camera which is horizontally centered and just down from the top. Down near the bottom is the speaker where you’ll get your music. It’s worth noting that there is Blu branding on both the front and back of the phone but neither is gaudy or awkwardly placed. The Studio Touch features an internal, non-removable battery; however, the back panel does pull off so that you can insert one of two microSIM cards and/or a microSD card. We found it rather strange to remove the case as it almost looks like you’re pulling the display out instead of a metal case off the back. Props to Blu here as the aluminum metal casing gives the phone a more premium feel than one might need for this price point. It would be easy to forgo the metal material in favor of the polycarbonate stuff you find in lesser expensive phones. Cheaper doesn't have to be mean cheaply made and Blu got that right. The battery cover wraps around the side and comes up to the screen. Save for the very tiny little notch in the top right you would be forgiven not knowing how to remove it. A weird design choice, yes, but fortunately one you don’t have to deal with often. Display At 5.0-inches, we really like the pocketability and one-hand experience of the Studio Touch. We have internal debates about whether we need more or less, but it always comes down to personal choice. If your hand isn’t all that big, and you want to be able to reach the edges of your phone with one hand, this one should feel good to you. As for the resolution, the Studio Touch gives up a 720 x 1280 pixel picture, or technically HD. Were the screen any larger we might have had a beef with this, but it’s perfectly acceptable here. For one, it helps to keep price down. Also, it doesn’t impact the battery as much as something with more pixels. Reading text, browsing the web, and playing games was as to be expected, and we didn’t run into instances where we felt like it was lacking. Throw the phone into a Google Cardboard, though, and it becomes obvious why we tend to like 1080p and 2k resolution in our devices. Color was accurate and balanced, but we might have liked for a brighter picture in spots. We found that we had to keep the display brightness dialed up near full more often than in other phones. Other than that, the viewing angles were great and the picture was generally quite satisfactory. Camera We found the camera experience to be a fairly good one, just so long as you have proper lighting. Unfortunately, low-light indoor shots proved to be a problem for the Studio Touch. Moreover, there were cases when we found the picture to have a slight haze and/or white glow to them. Outright dark environments and situations with less than perfectly still pictures gave us trouble. Generally speaking, we were happy to use the camera. There were very few instances where we thought, “this doesn’t work for us”. And, to be fair, even a $200 or $500 phone might have issues in some of those conditions. But, we did end up with daytime photos that could have benefited from more sharp lines and distinct edges. All things considered, for a phone that borders on the edge of $100 it is almost exactly what we would have expected. Flickr Gallery Samples If you are looking for a phone that has a kick-ass camera, you’ve probably already got your eye on something else, something specific. If you are in the market for a phone with a camera decent enough to snap silly or keepsake moments to share on social media, the Studio Touch more than fits the bill. At 8-megapixels, it delivers large photos that can be cropped and retouched; imperfections can also be overcome in select instances. It may take some learning in what you can and can’t get from the Studio Touch’s camera. Don’t be in a hurry out of the gate to get rolling as you could run into a series of less-than-desirable pics. Performance Keeping in mind what hardware specs are, the Studio Touch delivers a decent experience. Given we spend so much time with flagship phones and cutting edge tech, we noticed how the phone struggles in areas. The quad-core processor and 1GB RAM are certainly low on the totem pole today. It’s definitely not going to run today’s best games, one of which being Pokemon Go. Indeed, the augmented reality game is built with phones of 2GB RAM in mind. Suffice it to say, we were leery about first person shooters and driving games. Throwing on a couple of other casual games, though, weren’t a challenge for the Studio Touch. Get into social media, basic photo editing, and music and podcasts, though, and this one works as well as a phone twice its price. We enjoyed having the fingerprint reader for security and Play Store authentication. This, and the other buttons, responded well to pressing, and gave a tactile feedback. There was no questioning whether something was pressed. For whatever reason, Blu opted for software buttons on the screen above the fingerprint reader. There’s wasted space on both sides of the reader. While we commend Blu for integrating the added security measure, we would have loved for Blu to fully commit to hardware buttons or software keys. As it turns out, it’s more like one and a half ways of navigating. Listening to music and speakerphone calls reminds us why we like Bluetooth speakers and headphones. After a few minutes of a playlist, we were reaching to dial down the audio. Not for being so loud or overpowering, but because it “sounded like a phone”. In other words, the range could be much better, the bass heavier, and the max volume louder. We didn’t think we’d get anything better out of the experience, but we did ponder whether it might be worth stepping into a different phone. Our usage doesn’t call for much music via the phone’s single rear speaker, but yours might. If you play a lot of YouTube videos or expect to watch movies on it, you’ll want to toss in some headphones. Battery, which is an internal 2500mAh power source, lasts more than a day of average use. We get the sense that we’re getting such decent life because of our conscious efforts. There aren’t any heavy hitting games that we’re playing over and over. It doesn’t hurt to have Android 6.0’s optimizations at play, either. You won’t find any Quick Charge capability here as that’s relegated to select Qualcomm Snapdragon processors. Expect to put in a couple of hours to safely go from empty to full. Conclusion Consumers who want a phone that’s going to keep pace with top games will need to look elsewhere. It’s already not able to handle the demands of some current titles; next year’s crop are all but guaranteed to be too much for the phone. On the other hand, buyers looking for a device that keeps them connected to work and social media will be happy with the Studio Touch. This isn’t the sort of phone that you buy to keep a teen happy, but it’s plenty for parents who don’t find themselves with a face in the screen all day. With support for two SIM cards, it’s also a good solution for people who want a home and work line in one device. It’s getting more difficult for companies to stand out in the sub-$200 phone space. Blu, who has long positioned themselves as a less expensive hardware maker has delivered a “typical” $100 phone. It’s not outstanding, but it’s certainly not lacking. Are there corners cut? Sure. But they’re not huge cuts and there’s no place where the phone feels lopsided. You have to set an expectation of what you should get for this sort of money. Blu didn’t set out to release a flagship phone in the Studio Touch. As such, you shouldn’t set out to do the same things your friend is doing with their high end Samsung. As we were readying our review of the Studio Touch we learned that Blu is releasing an alternate version in September. For only $10 more, customers can double down on memory and storage, getting 2GB and 16GB, respectively. We can’t say without testing it, but that theoretically opens up the door to more games and multi-tasking. Will it get the next major version of Android? It’s hard to say. But, ask yourself when, if ever, your $400 or $600 phone will get it, too. One of the best things about Blu is that its phones are inexpensive enough to replace when the time comes for a new, key Android release. We’ve yet to run into a Blu phone that we couldn’t recommend for the money and certainly aren’t ready to do that with this one. If you’re in the market for an unlocked phone to pair with AT&T, T-Mobile, or any of their respective MVNO’s, the Studio Touch is one to consider. This goes double when you have to work with a smaller budget.Read more