Advance 5.0 - Unlocked Dual Sim Smartphone - US GSM - Black

This phone is a unbelievable value. I've had all Iphone products, Samsung, Nexus 6 etc and this phone is not them. However, this phone resets the bar on what the others should be. Will this phone do 99% of what just about every user demands? Dual sims work flawlessly, runs all the apps in the PlayStore. You won't be able to just install everything your hearts desire, you'll have to manage storage memory. There is a slot for a up to a 64 gb card for media and apps that allow you to move them to the SD card, but you'll see that few apps can be moved to SD card anymore (not the phone's fault). The screen is not HD or Retna but it's 100% acceptable. Good viewing angles, clear, bright, etc. I've had phones that had poor displays and you couldn't see the screen if you tilted the phone, this is not the case with this phone. Battery life is really really good. I run dual sims (work/personal) and I'm 60% when I go to bed. Build quality is much better than I expected, very solid. Call volume is a bit low, but this seems to be a common issue with Android, not the hardware. For $60 you will not be disappointed. You'll probably wonder what an extra $600 for a high end phone really gives you. My family member also has a Blu phone, different model, and it's been 100% for 1.5 years. She loves it and laughs when she tells people she paid less than $100 for it.

So.. I had been using a Samsung Galaxy S2 for a few years. It had been a trusty friend, but it was acting up really bad. (can someone please explain to me how solid state devices behave any differently over time) I had already re-flashed, used many different ROMs, even back to stock, and the phone was just too unreliable. I am in a financial bind, so cost for a new phone had to be very low. I did the Craigslist thing, it looked like I would not be able to find a decent phone for less than $100 used. On a whim, I shopped Amazon, and found these Blu phones. Well, again, sticking to a low budget mindset, I picked the cheapest phone available: Blu Advance 5.0 I read ALL of the reviews. And frankly, I think some folks just got bad hardware. I decided to take a chance. Starting with the basics: The phone feels solid. Feels good in your hand. The screen, has its weaknesses (lowysh resolution, smudgy, and hard to see in bright light), but overall, a bright, clear, high contrast screen. Battery of 1800Mah, I figured 1-2 days, depending on use. (I was right) Not much for accessories in the box, but hey, I paid $59, got the phone delivered to me SAME day... brand new (not some used 2yr old phone off craigslist), One regret I have was not including a screen protector in the purchase.. it would have been free delivery too. Turning it on: I am a geek..lets get that out of the way. But when I buy electronics I try to start as an average user would. And so I followed basic steps, and soon my phone was up and running. The phone was zippy enough out of the box, and I began installing my stuff Oh.. the limits: Soon enough, I started running out of internal space. Out of the 4Gigs of internal storage, looks like only 1.3 are "userspace". Of the 1.3Gb, 650Mb are left for installable apps. The other 650Mb are already taken with userspace apps like Chrome, and the few bits of software already installed on the phone. Around the 4th app installation my phone choked out.. I had 130Mb left. Trust me, I played around as much as I could with the native Move2SD tool. But there are just too many apps that will NOT move to SD. They are flagged as immovable, and thus, App2SD (native Android method) will not work. I used the phone for about 3 days with these very tight restraints(telling myself to just be a normal user), and when I installed Google Maps, I realized that not only the app itself refused to move to SD, but if you wanted OffLine maps, they had to be downloaded to the onboard storage. There is no setting for downloading them to the SD card. That was the last drop. There has to be a way: I have been rooting and replacing firmware on every phone I have touched for a decade. I am no stranger to the process. I will not post rooting instructions on Amazon, but once I rooted the device, I was able to transform this entry level phone into a mid level device. My girlfriend has a Galaxy S6, And there are things that work better on my phone now. (proven by benchamrks and empirical observation). The solution: I did NOT replace the stock firmware.. just rooted the phone. Once the phone is rooted, I usd an SD Card and lnk2sd to "link" internal apps to the SD card. I used an 8Gig Class 10 Kingston SD card... though the process/solution WORKED, it was SLOW. It is the price you pay, I figured, for using a cheap phone. Oh a whim again, I decided to check out throughput/bandwitdh results for MicroSD cards... and boy.. there is SUCH A DIFFERENCE from card to card. I mean, small random writes/reads are the biggest factor when using a MicroSD card as your "primary disk". The throughput numbers posted by the SD association (the the inherent Classes) only take into account LARGE contiguous Reads and Writes. Turns out that my Kingston only pumped 0.17Mbps for random writes. Yikes! ( [...] ) After some research, I purchased the Samsung Evo Plus 32Gig for $11 at my local Best Buy. The Difference was BRUTAL. Apps that were just too slow, or quit at random when moved to the SD card were now FAST.. ZIPPY. My phone had been transformed. The only real limit that cant be broken now is the RAM size. It is fairly low at 768Mb, but I will live with that. It really only affects the number of concurrent apps. No single App I use demands more than that. Numbers: Turns out that the Evo Plus is faster than the internal storage.. doubt it? Run the benchmarks. On the best case scenario (contiguous Read/Write), the internal memory pumped 65/10.5Mbps. While the Evo pumped 67/16.5Mbps for the same test. It means that the internal "sd card"/storage is actually inferior to the "external" SD Card. I was floored with the Write difference. I cant find a benchmarking app to measure small/random reads/writes. i am tempted to write one. But from empirical observation, I doubt the Evo is slower, if anything, it appears faster again. Closing: So.. there you have it. This is a good phone. I have talked on it (handset, headset, speakerphone, and bluetooth), , played games on it, did a battery test... all ion all, it is a better phone than my S2, and I doubt that an average user would feel it is any worse than the $200-$500 phone in his pocket today. For $59, this is a bargain for sure. To the folks who complained of hardware related issues: get a replacement from Amazon. Have a great day folks! Enjoy your phone.

(UPDATE: SD card functionality is better than I had thought.. three-stars to four. While it was hard to find, I'm new to Android, so...) The price is shockingly low. But it has insufficient internal storage (4GB which in practice means less than 500MB) to be super-useful these days. Count how many apps you have downloaded on your phone and need. If that number is more than 20, this phone is a hassle i.e. you will be deleting your cache, and swapping in/out unused apps all the time. (There is a setting to "default" to using the SD card . Settings:Storage, click the first "Preferred install location" text which doesn't look like a button at all. Specify SD Card in the pop-up.) You will still have to manually move apps to the SD card and occasionally clear your cache. (Or over time, you'll stop being able to update apps or install new ones.) Sometimes when apps update, they forget they need to move to the SD card. (Avast Mobile Security is making cleanup a little easier.) So why four-stars? It's cheap, it has worked pretty well so far, the camera is ok, and 15-20 apps is all I need. You should also plan on getting an SD card. Aim for 4 GB more than you want to use for your music and photos. It's my first Android phone; but it's ok. (Had to go to the AT&T store to get a new SIM for it. Just swapping SIMs did not work. They didn't know why; it should have.)

I cannot be happier with this phone. I was taking a trip overseas and figured I wanted a local smartphone while I was here. I looked around for a while and BLU had really good reviews so I figured I'd take a shot. I checked to make sure it worked in the country I was going to on a couple of sites and it seemed like a go so I bought this one. I was not looking for too much in terms of features. I need to call, text and use a couple of apps. I've been using it for three days and no troubles at all. Best of all the quality seems fantastic, the screen is super nice, colors are great, buttons work fine. First, the price point is insane. I can't believe this thing is only sixty bucks. I can barely tell the difference between this and a top of the line phone. I don't sit around taking selfies all day (I have a life) so the camera quality is no big deal to me, I have not even tried it so I can't say good or bad either way. Learning to use the phone is really no big deal. At first you have to get used to the system but I know that within a week I'll be using this like I had it for five years. There are two sim slots, full size and mini, so buying a sim card or chip was super easy. Plugged it in and the phone was working. It's like I never missed a beat switching hemispheres. Top notch and worth the money. When I'm done I'm going to leave it here as a gift for a friend and they are looking forward to their new phone.

I brought this phone abroad with me for a few months because it was unlocked and I didn't want to risk having my more expensive phone stolen. Overall, this phone for a backup is a pretty good choice. It works decently and has a good battery life. The reason for the 3 stars instead of 4 or higher is because this phone has so little space for apps on it. You can add an SD card, and I added a 64 gb one thinking that would allow me to install whatever I needed. However, most apps cannot be put onto the SD card and also even apps that can be put either completely or partially install to the phone first and then have to be moved to the SD card which kind of defeats the purpose (there is a setting where you can theoretically have it install to the SD card first, but in my experience it didn't work). 4GB sounds like a good amount of memory but most of it is taken up by junk apps that you can't delete. I currently have a gmail app,google maps, groupme, whats app, venmo and a pdf reader on my phone (some of which are partially on the sd card) and my phone is completely out of space. Also, theres a few random bugs (might just be my phone though), for example, if i turn brightness on, when my phone goes to sleep the screen will not come back on unless i hard reset it (not a problem though if the brightness is kept off). Also the camera takes really awful pictures (I generally use my phone to take pictures of notes for class, but it is impossible with this phone to do so). Overall though its cheap and works pretty well in doing the basics so if you need a backup I recommend it, but if you want a full time phone, I would not get this one purely because of the lack of space.

I don't live on my phone, so simply needed one with a bit more intelligence and larger screen than I had with previous GO type phone. Being Amazon pushed this one and it had the simple features I needed at a cheap price, I bought it. It has good points and bad for sure. Good is price. Was easy to set up with a new carrier. Easy to get SIM card in. Looks nice. About as large a size as you can conveniently hold in hand or slip into some pockets. Android is not too bad to use, but not as smooth and friendly as IOS. Lots of apps out there for it. Down side to this phone are more than there should be, but again its all about price. If you don't add a memory card for storage, you will find you are out of space real quickly. More of these issues for me are things outside my initial requirements, but they may be important to others. Most disappointing item is the camera. It never focuses well nor does it get the F-stop correct so all photos are certainly not keepsakes. I stopped using it for anything except quick picts for sake of remembering something. Then there is Google. Granted Android is their OS, but every time I do something, they want to monitor it and collect it. I'm afraid to take this phone into the bathroom now. I have an Amazon Fire which is Android based, but Amazon did a good job of cleaning out much of that stuff. Yes, Amazon collects stuff as I roam and use apps, but I come to Amazon to shop so I expect they will monitor such stuff. Slowly, I am rooting out as much Google stuff as I can. Returning to the reasons I bought the phone (making calls, texting, GPS, and larger screen), I am not adding other apps or using additional features... except for my Starbucks app. Last issues are OS issues. Have found too much prompting to do things or change things and many apps do not operate consistently between themselves. Simple contacts app lacks some fields of info I want to collect that other similar apps allow. It makes it difficult to add persons to Groups. I hate to have to always be hunting Youtube (google) to find out how to do something simple in these apps. I'll keep it cus I don't need to be tethered to my phone and its an appliance to fit my needs rather than my lifeline to the world. 12/10/2016 - UPDATE. I give up! This phone even for a cheap "get what you paid for" phone is unusable. Not certain if its the hardware, but the Android they use on it makes the phone unreliable and subject to random applications loss. It updates whenever some Android god decides it needs it. The result is purchased or downloaded apps can simply disappear and require reloading. The use of the optional SD card is a joke. Everyone, including Amazon, require their apps to stay in main memory. There is only 4GB in this phone so after the OS, Amazon apps, and of course Goooooogle apps crammed in there, your phone is totally constipated. Few apps will let you move them to the SD card. I have a 8GB card and all I can get over there is about 500Mb. Then the system runs out of memory so you can't play music or take photos or receive text messages. After all that, about all you can do is make phone calls. So, after struggling for about 5 months with this thing, I am tossing it out and going back to an iPhone. It will be a used/refurb cus, yes, I don't want to pay for one phone for the rest of my life. IOS may not be perfect, but its solid and not so bandaided together.

Ok, So i love this phone, this phone is pretty awesome. But i have some issues, well to begin with it is clearly a cheaper phone, although built beautifully and 100% worth the money, actually worth more than 1000% % worth it... but... corners are structurally weak, the glass is thick but it will break if you drop it at a waist height, highly recommend you pick up a decent case. Internal Storage SUCKS! only having 2gbs, and realistically actually more like 1.2gbs, ur gonna wanna pick up a SD card, and whenever you get and app, send it over to the SD card, cause omfg it will aggravate you... Supports 4g relatively well, but short bat life means ur phone will die and i mean fast. Having spare bats or a battery brick is a life saver. This phone is not for those of you who want to have a phone you can sit on for hours. I play Pokemon Go on this, with Bat Saver on and with the auto adjust back light (best feature ever) and i can go for about 2 hours with out shutting off the screen... Not the best ever, considering my brothers Note 6 goes for upwards of 7 hours... If you want this phone here is what you need 16gb - 128gb SD (format it on the phone not computer) Battery pack (recommend a Solar panel carry along charger with battery built in) Tough Case And Screen Cover If you get this phone expect to spend and extra 100$ on accessories if your looking on the high end, maybe 60 low end all parts.

Its a $60 Android phone... if you are looking for Galaxy or Iphone stats - don't buy this. This phone is perfect for what I need. I run it without a SIM card in my car for 2 apps... Torque and MHD (like a small tablet if you will). When it's not in the car, I use it on wifi. It is unlocked, so you do not need to have a cell provider to use it (except if you want to make calls that is). This is great if you have kids that are always wanting to use your phone for whatever app they use and not have to worry about your friends and family receiving illegible text messages or those pics that were supposed to have been deleted. It does not have a HD screen - oh ya its $60 It starts at 4gb and is closer to 1gb with all the apps included - yup its $60 It doesn't have 5ghz wifi capability - how much was it? Yes, $60 The cameras are 5mp back & 2mp front - here is the shocker.... are you ready.... its $60! The fact is, the phone is actually really nice for the price range. If you understand this isn't the latest and greatest phone ($300-$1000) to hit the market - you will be pleasantly surprised how nice this really is. For all the low stars review, I feel sorry for you that you didn't simply read the description before ordering. I mean its very well outlined on what this phone has and what its limits are. P.S. The battery is removable.... get a 2nd one and swap them if you are a busy body talker/social media socialite that can kill an 1800 mAh battery within a day.