At CES 2016, the Miami based phone manufacturer Blu unveiled the Vivo XL, expanding their lineup of budget smartphones. Design wise, the phone is constructed of a reflective plastic material that may attract fingerprints but is not too slippery in the hand. One of the phone’s most striking aesthetic features is the shiny gold finish, which makes the device look quite a bit more premium than it’s $150 price tag would suggest. Yes, just $150 off contract.
Inside the phone you’ll find a 1.3Ghz MediaTek MT6732 octa-core processor coupled with a Mali T720 GPU which is not the best by any means, but it is enough to run Android Lollipop without any hiccups on that 5.5 inch 720p AMOLED display. On the software side of things, the phone runs “Carefree” launcher, which is the default launcher and does come with a few software enhancements as you can see in the video, but if you’re the type who likes to play around with how the phone looks and feels, an alternative launcher will do you wonders — that’s the beauty of Android.
Being a budget smartphone, you’d expect sacrifices to be made in terms of battery, but the VIVO XL aims to prove you wrong. It packs an enormous 3150mAh removable battery, which combined with the (only 720p) display and the software tweaks Blu offers, make the battery on this phone last longer than most phones with an even larger battery. Also, having the added benefit of a USB-C port capable of fast charging is really the cherry on the cake for heavy users.
There are, of course, other features, such as the decent 13/5MP camera combo, micro-SD support up to 64GB, and dual-sim functionality that really complete the package. This gives the VIVO XL a great value for the money, but watch Kevin break it down, in more detail, in the video above to find out if this is indeed the phone for you.