BLU sent me their latest budget smartphone called the Life One X. it’s a mid-range smartphone with a low-end off-contract price of just $150. There’s really a lot to like about the Life One X beyond its price and its specs but to give you a teaser, some of these specs include a 5.2-inch 1080p HD display, MediaTek 1.3GHz Octa-Core processor with 2GB of RAM, a 13MP main sensor and a 5MP front-facing camera sensor, 4G LTE, and Android 5.1 Lollipop. We can get our first glimpse at the Life One X by sliding off the top of the box to reveal the device wrapped up in some plastic. I’m going to go ahead and set the device off to the side for now to take a look at what lies underneath.
We have a standard micro USB charging cable, a standard US wall wart, a pair of ear phones with removable tips and music playback support, as well as a protective case. BLU pretty much always includes a case with their devices in the box but this particular case is certainly the most high end case I’ve seen in a BLU device in more than a year of covering BLU devices. It’s a flip style case that features a very nice large window to view all of your notifications. I certainly look forward to testing this case in detail. The last few items in the box include some paperwork detailing instructions to use the device as well as instructions to properly install a SIM card. In addition to the protective case though, BLU also includes a screen protector here as well to provide all around protection to the device.
So with that all said and behind us, if we go ahead and take a look at the BLU Life One X and take it out of the plastic bag, we’ll see a very good looking smartphone. Once again, I’ve covered many BLU devices over the past several months as many of you know. This is one of the best-feeling BLU smartphones on the market. The back cover material is plastic. However, it features a faux leather texture that really feels great in the hand. It reminds me a lot of the Note 4 from Samsung and that’s a very good thing. In addition, it features some aluminum frame that stretches around the entire device to add some additional integrity to the device. The front glass panel is also curved ever so slightly around the edges to further improve the user experience. BLU has really done a great job with the Life One X in the hardware department. Some other features worth mentioning include the ability to remove the back cover and insert up to two SIM cards and one microSD card for expandable storage. There’s also a front-facing flash next to the front-facing 5MP camera sensor. It’s really not every day you see a front-facing flash on a smartphone so that’s kind of neat to see.
If we power on the Life One X, we’ll notice the beautiful 5.2-inch 1080p LCD display. I would have liked to have seen an AMOLED display but the display looks very good. It’s very bright, has very good viewing angles and accurate color reproduction. I honestly don’t have any complaints with the display on first impressions. The Life One X is being powered by a MediaTek 64-bit Octa-Core processor with 2GB of RAM. And in my limited time testing, it appears to keep up with many of the low to mid-range Qualcomm Snapdragon processors. The thing I really loved about this BLU device is how pure it is. It runs Android 5.1 Lollipop out of the box and there are very little customizations.
There are some Smart Gestures in the settings that include double click to lock screen, pocket mode, unlock using power button, flip to silence phone, and flip to snooze. We also have a Smart Awake section to activate various functions by drawing on the screen when the device is asleep. So that’s really about it, everything else is very pure stock Androidesque.
The BLU Life One X does feature a 13MP camera sensor on the rear and a 5MP camera sensor up front with a front-facing flash, I shall add. In my full review, I will be sure to test the camera in detail rest assured. But until then, here are some sample photos. Let me know your thoughts in a comment down below.
The BLU Life One X features a non-removable 2900mAh battery that should last a full day. We can only wait and see. It’s priced at $150 off-contract on Amazon.com.
