BLU is back with a couple, fresh, new budget-friendly devices for 2015. In this video, we’re going to take a first look and unboxing of the $100 off-contract BLU Studio G and see what it’s all about.
You heart that right, the Studio G is a $100 off-contract smartphone, which immediately you’re probably thinking to yourself “it’s going to have terrible specs.” And to be honest, for its price, it really isn’t too bad at least on paper. It features a 5-inch IPS display, a 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 5MP rear-facing camera sensor, a microSD card slot for expandable storage and it will be upgradeable to Android 5.0 Lollipop; which is very reassuring. So as you can see, it could definitely be a lot worse.
But let’s take a look at this device. We can do this by prying off the top of the box by opening up the side flap and we will find the Studio G sitting right on top wrapped up in some plastic. You know, it doesn’t feel quite as solid as the Studio X Plus; which launched alongside this guy; based on first impressions at least. But we will take a more in depth look at this guy here in a moment.
Underneath the Studio G, we’ll find a SIM card installation packet, which is pretty self-explanatory. There’s a micro USB charging cable used to charge the Studio G with an accompanied US wall wart with USB port at the end of it. There’s a 2000 mAh battery included in here, which we will have to install later. And then we have a Quick Start packet, and that is really about it. We don’t have any sort of case or screen protector included in this box like we usually do see with BLU devices.
Now if we take a look at the BLU Studio G and take it out of the plastic bag and peel off that plastic cover, this device actually does have a very similar build construction in mind as the Studio X Plus but with more cheap materials. Primarily, it’s made of all plastic. But it does have a matted black cover as opposed to the slimy back covers found on typical budget smartphones in this price range so I’m glad they updated that and just got rid of the slimy plastic.
There is nothing on the left hand side though in terms of buttons or ports. There’s a power sleep on/off button and volume rocker on the right hand side. A micro USB charging port and 3.5mm headphone jack up top and then nothing on the bottom. We also do have an incredibly low resolution 0.3MP front-facing camera sensor on the front, a 5-inch IPS display which is not HD and that’s about it since there are software navigation buttons. But the back of the Studio G is home to a 5MP camera sensor and flash that does protrude ever so slightly from the back cover. There’s a BLU logo and speaker port on the bottom and then that plastic matted back cover, which I don’t really have much of a problem with because it does offer a pretty decent amount of grip and it looks alright.
Before we can power this guy on though, we do need to insert the 2000 mAh battery by removing the back cover and this is also where we’ll find the SIM card and microSD card slots for expansion storage. But as for how this device runs once all the apps are updated and the setup is done and over with, it’s really nothing to boast about just to be honest. First of all, I found the display to be very kind of pixelated and the viewing angles are terrible. There also appears to be a noticeable lag when I do anything on the touch screen. Basically, this phone isn’t very fast at all. I mean the good news is that it does resemble a near stock Android experience with the Google Now Launcher pre-installed and the fact that it will be upgradeable to Android Lollipop in the near future is definitely reassuring.
I mean for $100, I can’t really expect too much but I would probably spend the additional $50 and buy the BLU Studio X Plus just because I think it offers some slightly better specs. Links below though, if you want to watch my unboxing and first look of that device. And if you guys want to check out the listing of the BLU Studio G on BestBuy, I’ll leave you the link for that as well down below the description bar.
So let me know what your thoughts are on this device before you go.