Sign your life away for 2 years and get a super expensive smartphone for $200 or less. That’s how the mobile industry has worked for years. You can save money by getting a month to month plan but good luck finding the cash to buy a smartphone without a contract for $600 or more. Things are changing. A company based in Florida, BLU, is focusing on designing high-end smartphones that don’t cost a fortune. I had a chance to test out the BLU Life Play smartphone.
Hardware
From the moment you grab the Life Play you’ll be thinking, “this thing is slick!” It doesn’t feel cheap. It has a nice large 4.7” screen with a 720 x 1280 resolution. It’s not the highest resolution you’ll find on a smartphone but I think the screen looks great. It’s bright and clear. The back is solid plastic with an 8 Megapixel camera (more on that below).
The Life Play is amazingly light and thin. It is lighter and thinner than the Samsung Galaxy S3 which is amazingly light and thin too. If you’re looking for a phone to slide into your shirt pocket, this is it. You’ll barely even notice that it’s there.
The Life Play cuts some corners when it comes to storage. There is only 4GB of storage. This might be enough for most people using cloud storage but remember, some 3D games can take up half a gigabyte of storage these days or more. That space could run out fast if you want to install a bunch of high-end games.
The Play Smart packs a 1.2 ghz quad-core processor, not the fastest in the business but certainly not low-end. It also has a separate graphics processor to keep 3D games running smooth. As I mentioned above, some of the higher-end games may put a pinch on the limited storage but if you have the space, they should run just fine.
I tried out a few of the newer 3D games and the results were great. Both Ultraman Galaxy and Deer Hunter 2014 worked great and seemed smooth. Better than I would expect from a so-called “budget” smartphone.
The processor is easily enough to keep the interface moving quick and apps loading up fast. In my tests, it did feel a step behind a more expensive smartphone like the Galaxy S4 but it’s not really fair to compare it to a device that is more than twice the price.
Software
The Life Play ships with Google Android 4.2. It’s mostly stock Android, which I appreciate, but BLU did modify a few things. The menus have a different look and feel to them. There are a few tweaks on the home screen that will remind you that this isn’t a full blown stock Android device. Personally, I’d prefer a stock experience but the Life Play is pretty darn close.
There are a few additional apps included but not many. BLU Music, Sound Recorder, File Explorer, Compass, Torch and the FM Radio app are the ones I noticed that are different from stock Android.
Bonus in the box
One of the ways the big phone companies are cutting corners is by putting less “stuff” in the box. BLU does the opposite. They cram the box full of goodies! Not only will you find the typical wall charger, USB cable and ear buds but they also include a silicon case and a screen protector! Nice touch guys. These are 2 things almost every smartphone user would go out and buy on day 1 anyhow. Now, you don’t have to. That’s a good $10-$20 in savings.
Sacrifices for price
The Samsung Galaxy S4 is easily $600+ without a contract. The HTC One is $599. The iPhone 5s is even more than that. So when you look at the BLU Life Play’s $230 price tag you have to wonder, “what’s the catch?” There is no catch but there are a few sacrifices you’ll have to make.
The processor is solid but not the best on the market. The screen looks great but you can find higher resolutions out there. The 4GB of included memory might but a pinch on some users who don’t rely on the cloud for their music and video.
The camera is good but not great. I love the included camera app because it’s filled with cool features but at the end of the day the pictures I snapped with the Life Play just weren’t as good as other smartphones. This is a true example of where Megapixels aren’t everything. I’ll let you be the judge. I posted a few pictures along with comparisons I took with a Google Nexus 4. It’s certainly not a deal breaker at this price point but it’s something to know ahead of time.
The Life Play does not support LTE internet speeds. If you have access to an HSDPA+ network, you’ll be able to get solid speeds but don’t expect LTE performance.
Network Test
I tested the Life Play on the Solavei network in the Denver suburbs (Highlands Ranch.) Solavei is an MVNO that operates on T-mobile’s network. When on HSDPA+, I got great speeds. 10+Mbps down and 2+Mbps up. When I got knocked back to Edge, it was super slow. This will depend on the T-Mobile network where you live. The Life Play only supports 1900Mhz on the T-mobile network and T-Mobile uses other bands in many areas. T-Mobile is upgrading to 1900Mhz in cities across the country. Check your local coverage before you buy. You might have better luck on AT&T since that network works with more bands on the Life Play.
In the Life Play only works on GSM networks. This means in the U.S. it’ll work with the At&t and T-mobile networks.
Conclusion
You will make a few sacrifices for the AMAZING price of the BLU Life Play. None the less, it’s an awesome phone for the price. The screen looks good, the phone feels solid and performance is good. Sure, the Google Nexus 4 was a great deal but that phone is gone and we don’t know if Google will release another Nexus for their previous $250 price tag. Until then, the BLU Life Play is easily the best Android smartphone off-contract for under $250.
The easiest way to shop for the BLU Life Play is on Amazon, it sells for $222.16.