BLU Vivo 5 hands-on

Miami based smartphone maker BLU has been making great strides over the course of the last year, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they’re generating even greater news out of CES 2016. Known for its affordable set of smartphones, they’re continuing the trend with its BLU Vivo 5, which interestingly enough, is accompanied with its most premium design to date. Good looks combined with great pricing, what more can you ask for?

Design

Quite simply, the Vivo 5 capitalizes on the svelte construction that the Vivo Air series is known for, but instead of glass surfaces, its body is an all-metal one that screams premium. Well, the design has an uncanny resemblance to the iPhone 5/5S, in how it features a chamfered beveled trim. Despite that, the Vivo 5 is remarkably svelte and super lightweight, showing us that it’s possible to achieve such a meticulous, premium design on such a light budget.

Display

Okay, for the price and all, the BLU Vivo 5’s 5.5-inch 720 x 1280 Super AMOLED display is warranted given that 720p resolution definitely fits its price point. Details are decent enough to make out with our eyes, plus, it’s accompanied with all the typical qualities of AMOLED technology – like its over-saturated color tones, pitch black color, and wide viewing angles. Needless to say, it’s a dazzling feast to the eyes with its brilliant glow, but more importantly, it has all the suitable traits to complement its premium design.

Interface

Running BLU’s custom Android 5.1 Lollipop experience, it follows in the same capacity as other affordable smartphones we’ve been seeing of late – in how it eliminates the apps panel from the interface. Of course, that means that the homescreen is saturated by a ton of icons, which can become a bit disorganized if you’re not constantly managing them. For what it’s worth, the basic function of Android are all present here, but don’t expect the same kind of experience that power users are exposed to on other custom experiences.

Processor and Memory

In order to achieve its low cost, the BLU Vivo 5 is powered by an octa-core 1.3GHz MediaTek 6753 processor coupled with the Mali-T720 GPU and 3GB of RAM. The RAM alone is something that stands out, especially for a BLU product, so we really hope that this combination will help propel the handset to perform decently to a certain degree with hardcore gaming. Most entry-level phones usually falter in regards to this, so we’re a bit cautious about recommending this one for that exact purpose.

Stuffed with 32GB of internal storage, it’s a capacity that we have to mention is pretty generous – made better knowing that there’s a microSD card slot for expansion as well.

Camera

Also, it’s looking to be the kind of thing that’ll come in handy when it comes to snapping all sorts of photos on the fly, since it’s fashioned with a 13-megapixel rear and 5-megapixel front camera combination. BLU’s phones have never been known to be strong performers when it comes to their camera performances, however, things might hopefully change with the introduction of this smartphone. Let’s pray it does!

Expectations

Almost hard to fathom, the BLU Vivo 5 will launch with a hard-to-believe outright cost of $199. Taking into consideration its premium design, it’s something that’s worth commending because it doesn’t look or feel like most phones in the sub-$200 range. Not only that, it’s an unlocked GSM phone with dual-SIM slots – allowing global travelers to easily switch between accounts on the fly without having to swap cards. There’s a ton of value right from the onset with this one, but we’re curious to see if there’s any substance and backing with its real-world performance.