A brand new mid-range BLU handset, the Vivo XI Plus, has now landed on Amazon without fanfare featuring a 6.2-inch display, an AI-driven chipset, and Android 9 Pie promised at some point in 2019. Aside from following recent smartphone trends with the inclusion of a notch at the top of the display, the company has also reduced the size of its bezels for the device. The display itself is a Full HD+ curved panel comprised of Gorilla Glass 3 and has a 19:9 aspect ratio. Buried in the notch above that display is a 16-megapixel ‘Super Selfie’ sensor which can be used alongside a feature BLU refers to as ‘True Depth Face Unlock.’ Meanwhile, the back of the new smartphone features a 16-megapixel and 5-megapixel dual camera array with an LED flash. The second security method offered on the device sits just below that in the form of a fingerprint scanner.
The intelligent scan features listed above and in the rear-facing main cameras are managed by a MediaTek Helio P60 SoC – which also manages other system-level AI features developed by the chip maker. Aside from dedicated AI processing, that chip is an octa-core design with four ARM Cortex-A76 cores and four more ARM Cortex-A53 cores clocked at up to 2.0GHz. It’s also backed by 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage with the BLU Vivo XI Plus. A micro SD card slot is part of the build as well. That allows for storage expansion by up to an additional 128GB. That’s all driven by a non-removable 3,050mAh battery chargeable by either USB Type-C or Qi Wireless charging pads.
The price is currently set at $349.99. and buyers will find a screen protector, soft case, charger, and charging cable in the box, so there’s nothing out of the ordinary there. However, BLU has opted to include USB Type-C audio adapter and headphones as well. That’s because there’s no headphone port in the Vivo XI Plus’s aluminum frame. Setting aside the promised update to Android 9 Pie, BLU indicates that security updates will arrive more regularly than they have on some of its previous handsets. The handset starts off with Android 8.1 Oreo. The listing also says it is compatible with all U.S. GSM carriers such as AT&T, T-Mobile, and their subsidiaries for both 3G and 4G LTE. Through supporting carriers, VoLTE is possible with the new handset but Wi-Fi calling appears to be one of the few modern features the company neglected to check off of its list.
BLU Vivo XI Plus
