The Blu Vivo Air
The Blu Vivo IV was released in June 2014 and has easily been recognized as Blu’s best phone in terms of design. The Vivo Air, also a super-thin and super-light device, was released shortly after, though it’s still less powerful than the Vivo IV.
The specs of the Vivo Air include: a 5-inch 1280×720 Super AMOLED display protected by a Gorilla Glass 3; dimensions of 1139.8 x 67.5 x 5.15 mm and weighs less than 100 grams; a 1.7 Ghz octa-core MediaTek MT6592 processor that has ARM MALI 450 GPU; an Android 4.4.2 operating system; a 1gb RAM and 16gb storage; a 2100mAh battery; an 8mp rear camera and a 5mp front camera; microUSB port and 3.55 headphone jack; and an 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM/GPRS/EDGE, 850/1900/2100 4G HSPA+ 21Mbps wireless capacity.
The Vivo Air is $100 cheaper than the Vivo IV at only $199, though the Vivo IV has a 1080p display, a 2gb RAM, and a 13mp rear camera.
Design and Build Quality
The Vivo Air feels like a premium device that’s thin, light, and stylish. It’s very comfortable to hold and doesn’t look like a cheap phone at all.
The front and back part has a Gorilla Glass 3, and since the phone has slightly tapered sides, it’s not difficult to carry around. The back is also grippable, so you won’t be very worried about breaking it in case you accidentally drop the device. The Vivo Air also comes with a silicon case that’s a freebie for all Blu devices for those who are really prone to dropping. Blu provided two color options for the phone, which is black and white-gold.
Display
The Vivo Air’s Super AMOLED panel provides for a very good display even if it’s only 720p. Here are some good points:
- Right amount of color balance. It is not oversaturated, as in other displays. It’s perfect for watching videos, etc.
- Viewing angles are great
- 8mp rear camera has good quality, particularly for a phone that costs only $199.
Overall performance
The Vivo Air uses an Android 4.4.2 OS that runs on Kitkat, although Blu plans to update this to Lollipop in mid-2015. There are a lot of good things to say about the Vivo Air’s performance:
- Google Now can be easily accessed by long-pressing the home button
- Capacitive keys are very functional. Long-pressing the menu button shows the “recent apps” page
- Battery percentage can be displaced inside or beside the battery icon
- Octa-core processor performs well
- No lags despite the low RAM
Things that could be improved:
- A “recents” button rather than a “menu” button
- An on-screen navigation
- Put an app tray
- 1gb RAM. Seriously? A RAM of this size contributes to the slight degrading of the phone over time. To make up for it, Blu has a RAM cleaner installed in the phone settings, although it seems to contribute little.
- Only three or four hours of screen-on time for heavy usage. The good news is that charging is quite fast
- No LTE
- No MicroSD card slot.
Blu retained other aspects like the stock launcher, and the weather widget. The display is quite similar to a iOS, but if you’re more of an Android fan, you have an option to use third-party apps like Google Now or Nova. Blu Vivo Air’s performance provides a good user experience at a small price, and that’s a very good thing.
The Blue Vivo Air provides an unexpectedly good experience. There are a lot of things to love about it, from the sleek design and premium feel to the remarkable performance. It’s a very affordable phone, too – the device certainly gives you the best value for your money. The only downsides of the phone is that it has limited storage capacity (only 16gb) because there is no MicroSD card slot. But this can be easily fixed, if Blu wants to. It’s the best cheap phone in the market right now, and I’d definitely recommend it to everyone.
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