BLU Products, a Miami-based mobile phone manufacturer known for selling unlocked devices in the US, has introduced 7 new Android smartphones at 2015 International CES in Las Vegas. Blu smartphones seems to offer a great value for the price as they are priced relatively lower that other phones in the market. BLU says, “With our new device launches customers will see our unrelenting focus on improving design, quality and user experience in addition to continuously driving down pricing.” Blu’s statement on improving design and quality turns out to be false, when one does a quick study of their products. Blu actually sells knock-offs or rebranded smartphones with their own brand name, the fact that most US publications don’t tend to cover in their articles.
Out of the seven smartphones unveiled by Blu at CES 2015, two of them are rebranded ones. Apparently, Blu’s Vivo Air is a rebranded Gionee Elife S5.1 and Blu’s Studio Energy is a rebranded Gionee Marathon M3. The Vivo Air has a 4.8” display and is 5.1mm thick just like Elife S5.1 whereas Studio Energy comes with a 5000mAh battery as seen in Marathon M3. The re-branded devices from Blu feature the same design, specifications and exactly same dimensions. But we’re not sure about the quality as their pricing is tad lower than the original devices. We strongly believe that rest of their devices, i.e. Life One (2nd Generation), Life One XL, Studio X, Studio X Plus and Studio G would be rebranded as well.
Below are the technical specifications and photos of these phones, compare them with Gionee smartphones and figure out the fact yourself.
Blu Vivo Air Specifications –
- Network: (GSM/GPRS/EDGE) 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, (4G HSPA+ 21Mbps) 850/1900/2100
- Display: HD Super AMOLED 4.8-inch 720 x 1280, with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection
- Processor: Mediatek 6592, 1.7 GHz Octa-Core with MALI-450 graphics GPU
- OS: Android 4.4 Kit Kat
- Camera: Rear – 8.0 megapixel, autofocus with LED Flash, (1.1mm pixel size, 1/3.2 inch sensor, 2.4mm aperture), HD 1080p@30fps video recording Front – 5.0 megapixel
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi b/g/n/, GPS, Bluetooth v4.0, Hotspot, micro-USB, FM Radio
- Memory: 1GB RAM, 16GB internal memory
- Dimensions: 139.8 x 67.5 x 5.15 mm
- Battery: Li-Ion 2100mAh
- Available Colors: White/Gold, Black
Price – The Vivo Air will be available in White-Gold or Black-Gun Metal, and will go on sale Mid-January at Amazon.com and other retailers unlocked for $199.
Blu Studio Energy Specifications –
- Network: (GSM/GPRS/EDGE) 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, (4G HSPA+ 21Mbps) 850/1700/1900, 850/1900/2100
- Display: IPS 5.0-inch 720 x 1280 HD, with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection
- Processor: Mediatek 6582, 1.3 GHz Quad-Core with MALI-400 graphics GPU
- OS: Android 4.4 Kit Kat
- Camera: Rear – 8.0 megapixel, autofocus with LED Flash, (1.4mm pixel size, 1/3.2 inch sensor, 2.2mm aperture), HD 1080p@30fps video recording Front – 2.0 megapixel
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi b/g/n/, GPS, Bluetooth v4.0, Hotspot, micro-USB, FM Radio, OTG Reverse Charge
- Memory: 1GB RAM, 8GB internal memory + microSD slot expandable up to 64GB
- Dimensions: 144.5 x 71.45 x 10.4 mm
- Battery: Li-Ion 5000mAh
- Available Colors: Ceramic White, Sandstone Gray, Blue, Gold
Price – The Studio Energy will go on sale end-January at Amazon.com and other retailers unlocked with dual SIM support for $179.
Interested users, visit here to check the features, price and technical specifications of rest of the Blu smartphones announced at CES.
