BLU has a history of producing affordable phones with decent-enough specs. Some may have had software issues in the past (including a spyware incident), but they're solid phones for the money. Following that trend is the Life One X2 Mini, which offers some pretty impressive hardware for the low price of $180.

The Life One X2 Mini (jeez, what a mouthful) measures in at 142mm tall, 69.6mm wide, and 8.7mm thick. It sports a 5.0" 1080p display, which isn't really all that "mini," especially considering the standard X2's 5.2" panel. Other specs include a layer of Gorilla Glass 3 above that 5-inch screen, a Snapdragon 430 (shared with the X2), an impressive 4GB of RAM, a lofty 64GB of storage, and a microSD slot. BLU is specifically touting the fact that the X2 Mini is the first phone with 4GB of RAM for under $180. Also onboard are a 3000mAh (update: it's actually 2300mAh, according to the Amazon listing) battery, an FM radio, T-Mobile band 12 and AT&T band 17 LTE support, but no ac WiFi.

Camera-wise, X2 Mini has a 13MP Sony IMX258 sensor with an f/2.2 aperture and PDAF. This sensor has been used on a ton of other phones, including the LG G6 (I was surprised too), Sony Xperia XA, OnePlus X, and Xiaomi Mi5s Plus. Video is, unfortunately, capped at 1080p at 30fps. The front-facing camera is an 8MP unit with LED flash, which could come in handy if you frequently take selfies in the dark.

In traditional BLU fashion, though, the X2 Mini ships with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. It's been over six months since Nougat began rolling out, yet a brand new phone, in March of 2017, is shipping with Marshmallow. Average consumers probably won't care at all about this, but BLU seems to be somewhat targeting the enthusiast market with this phone's 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. This also doesn't inspire confidence for timely updates in the future. Come on, guys; we know you can do better than this.

If you're still somehow interested, the Life One X2 Mini is already up for sale on Amazon for $179.99 in Grey, Gold, and Apple-style Rose Gold. From 11am to 5pm EST today (March 17th), it was on sale for $50 off, but that promotion has obviously since ended. Personally, I wouldn't touch a new phone that's running Marshmallow with a ten-foot pole, no matter how discounted it is.

PRESS RELEASE

Source: Amazon, BLU