Blu Life One X Review - Review 2022

The Blu Life One X ($149; 16GB) is arriving at the tail end of 2022, a year that has seen a remarkable number of loftier-quality, low-cost unlocked smartphones. And nonetheless, thank you to an impressive combination of pattern, hardware, and software, it easily overshadows all of our previous favorites in this price range. The Moto Thousand no longer looks like such a expert deal compared with the Life I X, which offers a sleeker pattern and a sharper display (along with equally solid photographic camera performance and the promise of Android six.0 Marshmallow) for the aforementioned toll. That makes the Blu Life One Ten our new Editors' Option for upkeep unlocked phones, and the device to vanquish in 2022.

Pattern, Brandish, and Features

At that place's nil about the Life One X that looks or feels upkeep. The phone has a swish aluminum frame with a grippy matte texture. And information technology'south surprisingly graceful, measuring in at 5.ix by two.9 past 0.3 inches (HWD) and five ounces. It makes the Moto M (5.vi by ii.9 by 0.5 inches, 5.v ounces) seem downright mesomorphic in comparison.

Life One X back

In that location are satisfyingly clicky power and volume buttons on the right side of the device, an audio jack on summit, and a micro USB charging port on the lesser. The soft-touch on back panel (available in black or white) has a false-leather texture, reminiscent of the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 ( at Amazon) . It can exist peeled off to reveal two SIM card slots, along with a microSD card slot that can handle cards up to 200GB. Unfortunately, the battery is sealed in.

The 5.2-inch IPS LCD is rich, brilliant, and well-baked. Its 1,920-by-1,080-pixel resolution is impressive for a phone at this cost point. It has 424 pixels per inch, which is significantly denser than either the Alcatel One Touch Idol 3 ($139.99 at Amazon) (401 ppi) or the Moto Chiliad (329 ppi). Colour reproduction is particularly good, the screen is still visible in direct sunlight, and Blu includes some presets to let you alter contrast, sharpness, and colour temperature to your preferences.

Network Functioning and Audio

The Life One Ten has HSPA+ (850/1700/1900/2100MHz) and LTE (2/4/7/12/17) bands, giving it stiff U.South. LTE compatibility. It includes bands that are oft omitted on other affordable phones, like T-Mobile's Band 12 and AT&T'due south Band 17, which permit for amend indoor connectivity. Unfortunately, the telephone is missing Band 5 for AT&T, but I tested it on AT&T's network in midtown Manhattan and still saw strong network performance. Voice calls are generally solid, with noise cancellation successfully blotting out background sounds.

Life One X side

The phone supports Bluetooth 4.0, but it lacks dual-band Wi-Fi and NFC, which are uncommon in this toll range anyway. Also unsurprising is that the single back-facing speaker sounds depression and tinny, though wired and Bluetooth sound sound just fine.

Processor, Bombardment, and Camera

The Life 1 X is powered by a midrange octa-core Mediatek MT6753 processor, which punches higher up its weight in general performance and gaming. The device has 2GB of RAM, which is more than than you lot get in the Moto G. I was able to multitask seamlessly, with very lilliputian lag. I also never hitting the RAM usage limit, which is often a problem on budget phones. In terms of gaming, I experienced some dropped frames, simply the phone handled games like Asphalt 8 and Mortal Kombat 10 relatively well.

Despite a 2,900mAh prison cell, battery life isn't a strong suit. The phone clocked four hours and 4 minutes in our battery rundown test, in which nosotros stream total-screen video over LTE with screen brightness set up to max. That'south significantly shorter than the Moto G's half dozen hours and 32 minutes. This is likely due to the Life 1 X's bright, pixel-rich display, which sucks down far more power than the Moto G's 720p screen. You should still exist able to get in through a mean solar day of regular apply, just this is really the merely category in which Blu doesn't have a leg up on the competition.

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Luckily, the phone has respectable imaging prowess, thank you to its 13-megapixel rear shooter and v-megapxiel selfie camera. Outdoor and indoor shots come across clearly, with skilful colour reproduction and detail. The camera also records solid 1080p video, and the forepart-facing camera is good for both selfies and video chat.

Life One X camera

Software, Pricing, and Conclusions

The Life One 10 runs an almost-stock build of Android v.1 Lollipop, and Blu promises an update to Android half dozen.0 Marshmallow in early 2022. There's no real UI layer running on meridian of Android here, aside from an integrated app cleaner, a SwiftKey-esque keyboard, and some gesture controls.

There are a few pre-installed Amazon apps and Yahoo Weather, but yous tin uninstall all of them, rendering the phone bloatware-complimentary. You go 9.63GB of available storage, which doesn't audio like much, but combined with microSD slot, storage shouldn't be a problem.

With Motorola no longer providing the fastest updates and scrapping support for several older devices, in that location's no longer a compelling reason to choose a telephone like the Moto G or the Moto Eastward over the Blu Life One 10. That ways the Blu Life I X easily offers the best combination of blueprint, hardware, and software y'all can get for $149. After testing it, I'1000 actually surprised it doesn't price $100 more. It's a fantastic deal, and our Editors' Choice for affordable unlocked phones.