Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The Blu Vivo XI+ is a stunning phone. Blu managed to deliver a modern smartphone with great specs at a great price. The software (Android 8.1) is snappy and smooth. And they promised Android Pie for early next year, so that’s already one step ahead of the old Blu. The hardware is solid, the cameras are fast, the screen is decent at this price point, and the fact that it has both Face Unlock and Touch Sensor makes the whole package even more compelling Now, the phone is missing two key features: NFC (for Google Pay) and WiFi Calling. Virtual wallets are gaining a lot of traction lately and I’m surprised to see that a relatively cheap component was skipped. And as for WiFi Calling, it’s vital in areas where signal is not the best, it baffles me as to why Blu left out an actual Android Feature out of their software. On a more positive note, the phone has wireless charging and is actually USB Type C. For some reason Blu decided last year to skip entirely USB C (when they used to use it in 2016) but now they are back with it. The speakers are decent. They have some fine tuning but it won’t blow out of the water other phones. The battery is a bit puny considering the size and thickness of this phone. At only 3050mAh and a 6.2” 1080p screen, don’t expect it to last two days on a single charge. Again, considering the size and thickness of the phone, they should’ve at least included a 3500mAh battery. For $349 as starting price is a nice buy if you’re looking to get some flagship quality at a low price, but bare in mind it has its compromises. If you care a lot about NFC and WiFi Calling then go for a Essential instead. But if you don’t care about neither of those, this is a phone to get. It has good, speedy cameras, a lot of features, a lot of on board storage (128GB!) and speedy 6GB RAM. You won’t be disappointed with this phone. As extras, the phone comes with two cases, two screen protectors (one is already applied), headphones, charger and USB C to headphone dongle. This phone is the first of a “New Blu” company and they promised to give better support and better updates. We shall see if they are able to keep such promises by early 2019. Blu has a bad reputation regarding updates and support and this phone is a nice restart to their core values. Hopefully they can deliver.