BLU is a little-known American mobile phone company founded and headquartered in Doral, Florida. The company may not be talked about as one of the big boys of the smartphone world, but has launched a few products in recent times that have garnered quite a bit of attention in the media and gone on to do brisk business in the market. One of the BLU devices that got a lot of coverage in the media earlier this year happens to be the BLU R1 HD that originally came with price-tags ranging from $99.99 to $109.99 for the two unlocked variants. However, the model that gained everybody’s attention was an ad-supported, specially-curated version that was offered specifically to Amazon Prime members for just $49.99.
Both BLU and Amazon are now suggested to be gearing up for the launch of the next-generation BLU R1 handset if an FCC filing is anything to go by. The upcoming device is named the BLU R1 Plus and just like its predecessor, it will also apparently have a ton of preloaded Amazon apps on the home screen, which may well be an indication that the device may, once again, be sold exclusively on Amazon. However, it is anybody’s guess whether the retailer or the vendor will want to sell the device for just 50 bucks this time around. While the FCC listing does reveal some of the important hardware specs of the upcoming smartphone, a lot still remains to be answered.
Taking a look at the BLU R1 Plus, the device is expected to feature a 5-inch 720p display panel just like its predecessor, but will apparently be powered by a slightly faster and more power-efficient chip from MediaTek. While the BLU R1 HD was powered by the MT6735, the upcoming device is expected to rock the MT6737V under the hood. While both these chips come with integrated quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 processors, the newer chip is expected to be slightly better in terms of both power and efficiency. Interestingly, for what surely promises to be a budget device, the BLU R1 Plus is expected to come with a massive 4,100mAh battery. The device is also expected to feature a micro USB port, support dual SIM cards and have a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Coming to the software side of things, the BLU R1 Plus will come with a number of pre-installed Amazon apps, including Amazon shopping, Drive, Kindle, Music, Video, Photo and Alexa. Interestingly for a phone so tightly integrated with the Amazon ecosystem, the BLU R1 Plus will also reportedly feature the standard array of Google apps like, the Google Play Store, Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube and Play Music. There’s no word on the version of Android that will be pre-installed in the phone, nor is there any info currently about its pricing or availability.
