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BLU R1 HD - 16 GB - Black - Prime Exclusive - with Lockscreen Offers & Ads
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| List Price: | $109.99 |
| Price: | $59.99 Details |
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com
2 new or used available from $56.42
Average customer review:
Introducing R1 HD, the newest member of the BLU smartphone family. The new R1 HD promises performance, power, and style.
Most helpful customer reviews
1845 of 1937 people found the following review helpful.
BEST BANG FOR YOUR BUCK !!!!!
By Mad Scientist
I received the BLU R1 HD - 16 GB – Black yesterday in the mail. I was too excited to receive it and for $ 60, I did not expect much out of it. As I opened the package, I found a nice looking box in the package. It was nicely sealed and well packaged. I opened the tab and could not wait to get my hands on this amazing product. As I opened the package, the phone was nicely wrapped in a bag with a screen protector on top to protect the screen from scratching. After I took the protective cover from the phone, I found an amazing looking screen the fitted in my hand nicely. The curved screen is often found in high-end phone but I was surprised to find in a phone under $60. Once I got my hands on the phone, I was looking for the battery to put it in and get it started. However, I could not find the battery. It turns out that the battery is built in and it is non-replaceable battery. But that’s ok, for $ 60, still not a bad bargain. I turned the phone on and it took about 10 minutes for set-up and update the phone. After that, I put my sim in and I made couple of phone calls. It has duel sim card slot and one micro SD card slot ( The maximum accepted is 64GB). The sound quality was very good. I tried the speaker phone and it was loud as well. After that I downloaded couple of games to try. I was blown away with the speed of processer. It held up very well. What was more impressive is that it stands by its name HD. That’s how the picture quality was. After that, I jumped on Amazon videos and started watching movies. Again, the clarity of the picture was outstanding. Another benefit of this phone is that because it is BLU-Amazon partnered phone, you can download Amazon Prime Videos on the phone when you have Wi-Fi so you can watch it offline when you have no internet connection. To me, it’s a plus benefit. Now comes the part of actually putting the phone to the LTE test. It did stand up to the LTE test. It downloads and uploads in a zoom. The down side to the phone is that the phone camera quality lacks a little. However, for $ 60 it is to be expected. Another reason this phone receives four stars from me is that the manual is very poorly written. In the packaging there is no headphones like other manufacturers do. But again, for $ 60 it’s a great phone. Not advanced as other but very well designed and easy to use phone.
THE PROS OF THE PHONE
PRICE ( WHEN COMPARED TO OTHERS)
1.3 GHz Quad Core Processer
QUALITY
5.0 “ CURVED SCREEN & RESOLUTION
4G LTE UNDER $ 60 (FOR PRIME MEMBERS)
ANDROID 6.0 (LATEST VERSION UPON RELEASE OF THIS PHONE)
2 GB RAM
EXPANDABLE MEMORY (UP TO 64 GB)
CONS OF THIS PHONE
POOR PACKAGING ( not bad but could have been better comming from Amazon)
POOR MANUAL
NO HEADPHONES
REAR CAMERA (ONLY 8 MP)
FRONT CAMERA (5MP)
In short… this is the best phone you can buy under $ 60 (for Prime Members)
I AM A NEW REVIEWER THAT HAS ACTUALLY PAID FOR THE PHONE AND HAVE NOT RECEIVED THE PRODUCT FOR FREE. THEREFORE YOU CAN TRUST MY REVIEW AS I HAVE NOTHING TO GAIN OUT OF IT. [...]. THANK YOU FOR TAKING TIME TO READ MY REVIEW.
1565 of 1650 people found the following review helpful.
The only thing "cheap" about this budget smartphone is the price!
By J. Paul
[[VIDEOID:aa978fea9739035403a4e833bda7b93d]]The reasonably low price is the only thing that is cheap about this smartphone! I purchased this phone with the intent of using it for when I go on vacation (especially abroad) and don’t want to risk anything happening to my expensive iPhone. The fact that it is unlocked makes it easy to just pop in my sim card and go as I see fit.
FIRST IMPRESSION:
My first impressions of the phone are that although light, it does not feel “cheap” like you would expect a phone in this price range to be. It is about the same size as an iPhone 6, or Samsung Galaxy S5 in case anybody was wondering.
Typing on the phone is easy and feels good, due to the responsive feedback. The auto-correct is accurate and makes sending texts messages a breeze.
SPEED:
The phone features a 1.3 GHz Quad core processor, and 1 GB of ram. Although there ARE phones with better specs out there, I have found that this phone was able to keep up with just about everything I wanted to do, whether it is browse Reddit, order on Amazon, etc. The phone comes with Android 6.0 Marshmallow which is very easy to navigate and user friendly.
CAMERA:
The camera quality on the smart phone is OK. Not horrible by any means, but not the best either. The camera does not perform very well in low light, and will take grainy pictures if a good amount of light is not present. Comparing to my iPhone 6s Plus, I have found that although the R1HD does not capture as wide of an area as the iPhone, pictures come out a bit warmer, which was a pleasant surprise. The camera is 8 mega pixels, and the front facing camera is 5 mega pixels. Not bad for $50. I was not impressed with the video option. Videos come out a bit shaky and grainy. Please see my picture and videos for reference.
SOUND & CALL QUALITY:
The sound quality of the R1HD is good. Calls come in clear and do not sound muffled. I really like that the manufacturers of this phone decided to put the speaker on the back. This means that when lying down and watching videos, the speaker is not covered like on the iPhone. While I do like the placement of the speaker, it is a bit small. I would have liked a dual speaker design like the iPhone. If you plan on showing a group of friends a video, it may be a bit difficult to hear. In short, the speakers are not the strongest. I would definitely recommend using head phones if you plan on listening to videos of movies. The speaker is OK at best.
OTHER:
The lock screen offers do not get in the way as much as one might think. In fact, I have found that I’ve already been introduced to some products I wouldn’t have normally known about. I have included a picture to show what the ads look like. IF the ads bother you, you can spend a bit more money and purchase the version without ads.
OVERALL:
Overall, for a smart phone in this price range, you can’t go wrong. Although the video quality and speaker could be a bit better, you can’t expect much more from a smartphone in this price range.
Please let me know if I can answer any questions about this Smart Phone!
266 of 287 people found the following review helpful.
Awesome Phone for the Price, and in General!
By Hunter
I've had this device for about a week now. If there is anything that comes up that I don't like after a month I will update the review.
***Usage***
The main thing that's missing in all reviews is how the people are using their device. This device is actually being used as my daily driver. I upgraded from an ever aging galaxy s3 which was rooted with cm 12.
***Hardware***
I know I know this does not come with a snapdragon 820 or 4 GB of RAM. Is it as fast as a galaxy s7, or a One Plus 3? No. But this costs sixty dollars where as the One Plus 3 costs $400, the s7 costing about $650. In fact if you look up on YouTube this device vs Galaxy S7 speed test, the S7 is barely faster. With my usage the hardware is just fine. The processor is snappy enough. I've had little to no lag. I've experienced no force closes. The 2GB of ram can keep about 5 apps open. And 16 GB of storage is more than enough for me. However, there is a micro SD card slot if 16 GB just isn't enough. The screen is better than my s3 screen. No it's not 4k. It isn't even 1080p. It is a 720p IPS panel. This pannel seems like a very good 720p pannel. Viewing angels are great, and colors seem good enough to me. The pannel is also protected in Gorilla Glass 3 which should offer enough protection for most people. Finally, the build quality is awesome for this phone. I know people will hate me for this but the build quality is better than a Galaxy S5 (However the Galaxy S6, S7, and One Plus 3 all have better build quality). The S5 has plastic edges, this has metal edges. The S5 also has a plastic back. So does this. This is an A+ in build quality for the price. And a B+ in build quality for any price. All in all the hardware for the Blu R1 HD is superb. I'm a geek and I have no problem what so ever with the speed of this phone. If you do basic stuff like Facebook, Instagram, Web Browsing, Music Listening, YouTube, and even games like Candy Crush or Temple Run this phone will do very well. Even more demanding games will do okay. However if you want the best performance, fastest game playing device, this is not for you. Instead look at a One Plus 3, Galaxy S7, or an iPhone 6s.
***Cameras****
The cameras on this phone are not any where close to as good as an S7, S6, S5, or S4. I would say the back camera does a little bit better than my Galaxy S3. The camera also shoots way fast. I would say the Back camera can snap a picture about as fast as the Galaxy S5 does. The front camera in my opinion is equal to the S5 front camera. And it even has front facing flash so low light quality should be better than the S5 on the front camera. All in all for the price point the camera is excellent, and in general the cameras are okay. I'd give an A+ for the price point, and a B- in general. I will include some sample shots in the pictures section.
***Speakers***
My biggest complaint about this phone is indeed the speakers. Yes it is a budget phone. No I don't expect these speaker to have good mids, lows, and good bass. However I do expect the speakers to be loud enough. These are anything but loud. Most YouTube videos require you to turn the volume all the way up just to barely here what the person is saying. If you watch movies these should be just fine if you like turning the volume up all the way. In this price range I would give the speakers a B-, and in general a C.
***Wifi, Cell Service, and Bluetooth***
The wifi is great on this phone. I seem to get the same signal strength out of this device as my mom's S7 does. However on our 100mbps fiber to the home network the S7 would get almost always 110mbps. Where as the Blu R1 HD would get about 37mbps download. The Blu also does not support the 5GHZ band.As for cell service, the Blu worked wonderful on AT&T's network. Cell strength was always the same as the S7. The Blu scored on average 61 mbps on AT&T's LTe network. I have yet to test my mom's S7. However, in the future I will update this review with the results of my mom's S7. Bluetooth was just like any other device. I could go about 15 feet away from my Bluetooth speaker before music started to get choppy. Bluetooth streaming was also smooth with little delay. There was also no "choppiness". All in all for sixty dollars; connection wise this phone gets an A+. And in general a B- (because of the wifi speeds).
***Call Quality****
Call Quality is just like a flagship from 2012. There is no HD Voice. There is no Voice over LTE. And there isn't even support for Wi-Fi Calling. However, calls were always loud enough, and sounded just the same as my Galaxy S3. I also received no dropped calls. All in all for the price point, call Quality is an A-. And in general, a B-.
***Software***
The software on the Blu R1 HD is nearly stock Android. The only differences I could see was that Blu does not use the Google Now Launcher. And there are some extra display, and sound settings. There is also a separate Gallery app. And the camera UI is tweaked. The software always runs smooth, and is very fast and fluid. There is also no bloatware, except for the Google apps.If you get the Amazon Prime version, you will also have Amazon's apps preinstalled.You will also have ads on the lock screen which I personally do not mind at all. I have no complaints about the software, and I'd wish all budget phonrakers would take the Stock Android software approach.
***Updates***
Many people say BLU does not have a good history for updating their devices. This is true; however, I've already received two software updates in the two weeks I've had this phone.
***Final Verdict***
In my opinion there is no better phone you can get at this price point. If you don't do a lot of heavy gaming this phone is a much better choice than forking out $650 plus for an S7. I would also only buy the 16GB and 2GB RAM model if only because in this day and age that is the minimum.
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