BLU is a rare mobile phone band that comes from the US -- Florida to be exact -- in a sea of Chinese offerings. Ironically, this American design is still assembled in China. But the cultural difference is apparent with one look at the mains adapter: it is precisely made for the width of Indian power sockets, unlike 9 out of 10 Chinese brands.
The 5-inch 720p HD display (you can record at full 1080p) and the 1.3GHz quad core Mediatek processor may be standard like the 2GB of RAM and 16GB of onboard storage which you can expand with up 64GB on a micro SD card. The cameras as 13MP (front) and 5MP (84-degree wide angle rear) and there is a conveniently positioned finger print scanner next to the rear camera. This is a 4G LTE phone with dual micro SIM slots running Android Lollipop and with the bands to make it truly pan-Indian, and much of Europe-ready to boot.
So far there may be nothing out of the ordinary -- unless you consider the very reasonable price of Rs 8,999. But BLU shows its class in the little things: They throw in a screen guard and a silicone case for free. The basic Android menu has some thoughtful add-ons -- short cuts to Amazon, Kindle, TrueCaller; McAfee net security. In addition to the default Google apps, you have Opera preinstalled -- with some useful Indian apps like Olyx and AskMe Bazaar. Metal edges notwithstanding it weighs just 163 grams.... a great combo of price and performance and 4G-ready at that!
