Blu on Wednesday announced two new budget Android smartphones – the Advance 4.0 and the Studio 5.0 II. The smartphones will be marketed towards smaller carriers in North America, including T-Mobile USA in the US and Wind Mobile up in Canada.
At first glance, the two looks pretty sweet and will have some pretty cool specs for a good price. Both smartphones will sport dual-core processors, 512MB of RAM, and 4GB of expandable storage. Users will also get a 5-megapixel camera, which should be sufficient for the normal smartphone photographer. For others though it likely won’t be enough. Other specs are up in the air right now, but the devices will run Android 4.2 Jelly Bean out of the box. From the looks of things on the software front, it will be fully stock. It is unclear if there will be any modifications, but I’m betting there won’t. The announcement this evening comes as a bit of a surprise, especially considering Blu just launched a smartphone two months ago. It also feels random, as if Blu is just throwing paint at a wall with these two products. Maybe they just want to know what phone sticks with consumers. Blu has yet to reveal when the handsets will go on sale internationally, but I’d expect both to launch soon. Currently the Advance comes in at around $89 and the Studio 5.0 II at $139, so they will be very cheap. As for North America, I really don’t expect any of these handsets to come to the United States or Canada. They are just too cheap and budget-friendly for most carriers. It is also extremely difficult for new handsets manufacturers to launch here due to the carriers. If you are on an extreme budget, I’d go with the Moto G in the United States. Anyway, what do you think of the Blu Advance 4.0? What about the Studio 5.0 II? Do they compete with the new Moto G?