BLU Vivo XL3 -5.5” HD+ 18:9 Display Smartphone with Android 8.0 Oreo –Gold

So, I really wanted a Pixel, but I needed a phone fast. I'd swore I was not going to buy another BLU (this is my 3rd one ), but when I saw that this lovely thing runs Oreo, I had to get it.Though I still miss my S5 for the photos ( I have one just for that, does not work with TMobile), I am much happier with the speed, performance, battery life, and options for arranging the apps and screens. Can't believe I just said that. One of the best features is the ability to turn off data and still make calls. My prepaid plan is old and they are taking back "unlimited data," so it has been important to be able to ride WiFi only with my data-hungry apps.Speaking of which, Google Maps is a delight on this phone. Instagram works really well, but I'm not in love with the lens on the onboard camera. It looks slightly like a fish eye effect is on each picture.Otherwise phone calls sound great, external speaker is pretty loud, YouTube looks great and there is a microphone jack that does not suck. Google Assistant is quick, reliable and learning everyday!Oh! You can unlock it with your fingerprint. I cannot believe this is a BLU. The price point is astounding. I'm still in the market for a higher end phone for production reasons, but I will have no issues using this one for managing internet biz.

First, some context: I've had a BLU Life One X 2016 before, and that phone was kind of meh. It didn't cost much, which is what I wanted at the time to try to come back to Android. Now, I ended up hating that device, because BLU promised a 6.0 update (came with 5.1) within 3 months, and instead it came 15 months later. That's false advertising, and I felt terribly betrayed, swore to never buy from them again.Fast forward to 2018: I now understand BLU is a budget OEM, and whatever device you buy likely will die with whatever OS it came with. This is why I chose to get the XL3 instead of the Plus model, as the former comes with Oreo 8.0 while the Plus comes with 7.1. If you catch the XL3 on sale, it's decent value, just know you'll probably never see anything other than 8.0 on it. Still, for a phone that cost barely more than a Benjamin on sale, you could do much worse right now on April 2018: passable quad-core CPU, 3GB RAM, 18:9 screen, which yes, it's 720p instead of 1080p, but it's perfectly fine unless you're used to flagship phones (in that case, why are you even looking at a Blu device?). A few impressions:CPU: it's not the fastest, but I've yet to notice any lag. Things load at an acceptable speed.RAM: this makes a big difference and keeps things much more fluid than my previous Moto E4 with 2GB RAM.DISPLAY: sharp enough, it won't win any awards but it looks good, colors are nice and it's bright enough for a sunny day outside. Love the 18:9 ratio.CAMERA: again, it won't win any awards, but the 13MP front and back cameras take decent pictures (the box says the front is 8MP, but you can enable 13MP resolution within the camera). I included 2 samples to give a sense of the quality. As with all phones, forget about low light quality.BATTERY: I'm not the heaviest user, but it lasts all day using the typical social media, email and text use.CONNECTIVITY: It supports bands 2/4/12 so it's golden for T-Mobile's LTE. Bluetooth connects flawlessly everytime (I don't even disable it). So does Wifi.Verdict? As long as you're OK not getting software updates, if you catch this phone on sale (like the launch sale where I got it for a great price) then this phone is pretty decent value. Will it knock your socks off? No, it won't. Is it a perfectly fine everyday workhorse? Yes it is, and it does so for cheap. Now that I've recontextualized in my mind what BLU is as a company, my negative impressions from the past are gone. For these sale prices, you could just buy a phone every year and it'd take you 6 years to spend what you would on a Google Pixel.Sample images: 2 indoor screen quality, 1 outdoor visibility, 1 back case, 1 thickness, 2 back camera samples, 1 front camera sample.

I love this phone. My previous LG K7 only had 8gb of internal memory which is practically nothing. Even tho I had a 16gb external sd card in it, I couldn't download most apps. The phone wouldn't even update the ones I had due to 'insufficient storage'. I'm currently using only about half the the memory with all my apps on this phone. Have all my photos and music on a 32gb external sd card. For full disclosure, tho, there were some problems at the beginning. My computer wasn't reading the external storage card so I couldn't drag my stuff over. Customer service in Florida is awesome. Only two phone calls and the phone works perfectly. First call was to update the software, which for some reason, wasn't the most current. It updated but didn't fix the problem. The second call advised a factory restore. It was pretty scary since I spent two days customizing the thing, but luckily it was smart enough to remember most of my stuff. It worked and I have had zero issues with the phone since. I would add, too, that both phone calls were answered by a live person very quickly. Loading time is fast enough for me, the quality of the screen is great, the battery seems to have good life and I love the fingerprint id. It's sleek and beautiful. I just wish it was easier to find cases. It comes with a dopey zebra thing. I don't know why they didn't make it clear to show off the beautiful gold color. However, all in all, it's the best $129 I've spent in a long time.

Android 8 Oreo de fabrica, absolutamente cero bloatware y especificaciones solo vistas en equipos mucho mas costosos.Se siente de buena calidad y es ligero. Llegó con una mica protectora para la pantalla instalada de fábrica, mas una adicional en la caja, además del protector completo que lo hace lucir muy bien.Hay algunas aplicaciones que se siente que tarda un poco en responder, pero regresando al precio, es mucho mejor de lo esperado. Muy recomendable.

No me enviaron el producto original. Y el reembolso sólo lo quieren hacer por el precio del producto, no por total que se pago con los gastos de importación.

It's OK, would have been better if it had two simm slots as well as a SD slot, haven't found out yet how to power off and get it to power on fully when I have a pin set?It'll be OK till 5G, NFC are available at a reasonable priceJune 2021 Lasted two years, charging/USB socket no connection for download and power very sensitive to get connection, and suspect battery management very poor sometimes less than 12 hours with not much use, I power it off and the battery is still 100% six months later

Phone was great for a couple weeks. Now glitches non stop, turns off and on and erases apps. Basically only good for wifi now which is also hard to connect to