BLU G61S | 2023 | 3-Day Battery | Unlocked| 6.5” HD+ Display | US Warranty| 64/4GB | (Bronze)

Bottom line up front: Good for the money. Not great.I've long been a fan of BLU phones. Between me and my kids we have gone through about 8 of them in the last 10-ish years.My last phone was a BLU VIVO X5, which I bought for about $75 ~4 years ago, and I used it constantly in the US and overseas and very much liked it. It came with a cheap case and a flimsy screen protector -- I used both and the phone still looks almost new.I use phones for calling (weird, I know), text, maps/navigation, Uber, weather, checking the news, a few social forums, eBay, and corporate apps such as Outlook. I did take photos on occasion, and the photos are of generally fair to poor quality. The camera is not a strength of the VIVO X5. I did have to replace the battery after about 2 years when it suddenly failed, but I found them on Amazon for about $25 and bought two. I do not play games or music on my phone.Unfortunately, my company recently required us to have at least Android 11 to access the corp apps, so I had to replace my beloved VIVO X5. I bought this phone, so all my experiences are relative to the VIVO X5.My G61 came with a phone case, albeit a big, industrial-looking one. I think it protects it well, but it makes a big phone even bigger and harder to slip in and out of pockets.*Pros* of this G61S (more or less in order from biggest Pro to smallest Pro):* Price is right. Hard to complain about any functional smartphone at this price, even with some shortcomings.* Battery can last 3 days of my normal use if it is on battery saver. Without the battery saver being on, it lasts about half as long. I've used Samsung phones, but I really like the battery manager on Blu phones. So, good battery life.* Bigger viewing area* Hotspot works well, which I use a lot.* Camera is certainly better than the VIVO X5, but not on a par with better contemporary phones.*Cons* of this G61S (more or less in order from biggest Con to smallest Con):* Though the battery lasts a long time, it is not end user-replaceable, which is super annoying. I know a lot of phones are this way now, which is a huge turn-off.* Fingerprint recognition works most of the time, but occasionally I have to use the screen unlock code. Not a show stopper, but an annoyance.* Initially it felt slow, but I did a factory reset and now it seems speedy.* Bigger and heavier. Again, not a show stopper, but an annoyance. Some people won't care and will think it a fair tradeoff for the larger viewing area, but I prefer the smaller, lighter VIVO X5 to this one.* Call sound quality is pretty scratchy. Not sure if that is the phone or just the calls I've taken with it so far.Summary: Good, and a very good price. But not perfect. If you are looking for a good phone with a case and screen protector (buy separately) for under $100, this is a great option. Not the best camera, and probably not the ultimate for gaming.

If it isn’t already obvious, this isn’t a flagship smartphone like the S23 or the 14, or whatever is currently the hot new phone. This is a budget Android smartphone. However, when it comes to the BLU G61S, that isn’t an entirely bad thing. Full disclosure, I’m not a smartphone expert, but I’m not exactly ignorant when it comes to features. If this tells you a little bit more about my smartphone usage, I’m not really one to take pictures on my phone except for rare occurrences. That being said, I’ll do my best to give this phone as comprehensive of a review after a day of use as I can. Also, the attached image is to show an example picture I took from the balcony of my apartment.The sad thing about my experience when purchasing this phone was there wasn’t enough viable information about it when searching online. Which is my purpose of writing this review. I bought this phone as a replacement since I needed one for my lifeline. The one I originally had (A Galaxy S6 Edge…an older phone) I gave to my wife since she needed a phone for work and it was unlocked. Prior to buying this phone, I had also been using a OnePlus Nord N20 5G phone (which I’d consider a mid-range phone). I tried to get a phone as close to the specs of the Nord N20 without breaking the bank, and this was close enough in my budget.PROS:-The extras this phone came with went above and beyond. The rugged case in includes was made with this phone in mind. I had tried to get a case for my old S6 Edge before and it was an off-brand case that required me to force down buttons to wake the phone and adjust the volume. With this phone, simple button presses.- The size of the screen. I went in looking for a phone with a larger screen, around the same size as my Nord N20 and this phone fit the bill. Also just a little bit lighter than my N20 without the case- Call quality. This will also be in the CONS because the call quality is middle of the road. After having called a couple of people, the quality can be a bit hit or miss.- FM Radio. Kind of a novelty in my eyes but still pretty cool. Requires you plug in ear buds to use it. And yes, it has a headphone jack.- Speaker volume. The speaker when playing audio gets nice and loud. My initial test was playing a song from YouTube. Sound quality shines when using ear buds, in my opinion.CONS:- The screen quality looks to be just a little washed out compared to my Nord N20 but it’s not entirely bad. Colors just look a little cooler than what I’m used to. Maybe a minor nit-pick on my end.- No fast charging. It’s more of a nit-pick with it being a USB-C connection. I guess I was a little spoiled by my N20’s fast charging.-Call quality, again. My first test call was to my daughter and she told me it sounded like I was echoing a bit.- Game performance. I get that this phone isn’t a powerhouse, but with 4GB ram I thought it might run Pokemon TCG Live. Barely got 10-15 FPS in a match. Tried Pokemon GO and the AR camera did some weird things when trying to catch Pokemon. Those were the only two games I tested as of writing this review.- Mobile Services. This phone comes with a program that likes to install a bunch of random bloatware and games. On the flip side, it also keeps the phone’s OS automatically updated. The games are nothing too intrusive and can easily be uninstalled as can pretty much any app. My recommendation is to disable this app ASAP and manually check for updates whenever possible in the settings.Do I recommend this phone? As long as you know what to expect, yes. If you’re buying this phone thinking you’re going to get top of the line, cutting edge features, look elsewhere. If you’re on a budget and need a phone for basic purposes, buy this phone. I only paid a little over $80 for it and I'd say that's a fair price for what you're getting. I also think it’s an ideal phone for when you need something cheap and quick until you’re able to get something nicer or a phone for a kid or teenager who might not be as careful with their technology.UPDATE - After 9 days of useAfter using this phone for 9 days, I think I have a better grasp on what this phone can do and how well it does it. When it comes to Spotify, this phone does pretty well. One of my other complaints, and it's minor, is how difficult it can be to dismiss notifications. I have to drag my finger completely across the screen just to (sometimes) dismiss a notification. Sometimes it takes a couple of tries, but it'll eventually go away. I'm also a fan of how bright the flash is on this phone for the flashlight. I stand behind my initial recommendation. This is a great cheap phone for someone who needs a cheap phone.

After intense research I found that this phone would be best for me after my last Blu phone started overheating to unsafe temperatures.And this phone delivers, you can switch between apps with almost no delay and doesn't refresh every app every time. Making verification easier without the need to grab a second device to look at my email.It has a large storage and comes with little blotwear and most can be deleted anyways.You can still overheat this phone but you have to practically be trying to do that. Full brightness and intensive games are not for this phone but low brightness and it runs no problem.Screenshots are a bit janky to do, and battery life is only three days if you are conserving battery. But can last most of the day with constant use pretty easily.If you are okay being a little behind in the latest Android release then this phone is great.However it fails with the camera, the selfie camera is great and high quality. No notes, however the back camera will not take high quality shots. Which is no big deal for me, however might be a deal breaker for some people. The video feature also drops the camera quality more and audio can become distorted pretty easily.Over all 4/5, could be improved but is a great budget phone and has served me well