SMART BUY: BLU Vivo XL3 Plus and Pure View

BLU.   It’s a name that you should consider whenever you buy a budget smartphone.   BLU.  It’s a Miami Florida-based company that produces high-value, low-cost martphones.  Their primary market appears to be Latin America, but the phones are readily available in the States and generally run about $100 when discounted.  Its most current offering, the Pure View is available on Amazon for about $130.

This small smartphone company hit a rough spot back in 2017 when its China-made, US-designed phones were found to have a bug that covertly sent user data to China.  This led to a suspension of its sale on Amazon until the bug was fixed.  Just the previous year, Blu admitted that a third-party app had been collecting info in the form of text messages, call logs, and contacts on a limited number of devices.  However, it appears to have worked through these privacy glitches.

We took the BLU Vivo XL3 through some paces earlier in 2018 and were very impressed with its lightweight sleek design, powerful processing and relative absence of bloatware.  The battery life was excellent and the camera serviceable.   For $100, we thought we got a great deal for an almost-pure Android device.

BLU has replaced the Vivo XL3 with its Pure View smartphone in 2018.   This phone hasn’t quite garnered the raves of the Vivo XL, but it is still viewed as a fairly competent and attractively priced Android phone.   Its camera is a 13-megapixel rear camera with an f/2.2 aperture that takes functional pictures.  It is fairly energy-efficient when compared to the high-end flagships from the likes of Samsung, LG, and Apple. So the 3000mAh battery keeps this phone alive for a full day with moderate to heavy usage.  Aided by glass and metal design, 18:9 display, and dual front-facing camera sensors, this smartphone rocks for the price of a song…..well, an expensive song, but not much more than $100.

Make no mistake, BLU is not a Pixel or Samsung.  But it offers Android 7.0, speed, sleek design and a functional camera.  If you’re in the market for an unlocked phone, or have a tighter budget to work with, consider the Blu Pure View.   It competes favorably with the MotoG6 and the LG QStylo4 , but at a far more reasonable price.   For an entry-level or high-abuse smartphone device, you can do very well with the BLU.