This is an unlocked 4G smartphone and it costs $99 new at Amazon.
Let me say that again. THIS IS AN UNLOCKED 4G SMARTPHONE THAT COSTS JUST $100 BRAND NEW!! No contracts, no payment plans.

This phone works. It takes a standard SIM card from any GSM provider (AT&T, T-Mobile, Consumer Cellular, etc, see list above). Ask your provider to send you the settings to get it connected to their network, or if you are slightly tech savvy, just Google the 4G APN settings for your provider. It is currently running Android KitKat, but BLU says it will be upgradeable soon to Lollipop, which is smooth as silk.

I wish I had more to say about this phone, but my wife latched onto it almost as soon as I got it out of the box, and she has decided to sell her Samsung S2 and replace it with this BLU phone. She loves it. She has found the phone easy to work with, and has managed to do most of the set up herself.

The 5" screen is a significant improvement over the 4.5" of the S2, and she thinks the colors are very good. She even likes the pictures it takes, despite the 5MP camera which is pretty minimal for a phone nowadays; and to tell the truth, I didn't find anything lacking in them either.

Ok, it isn't as smooth as my S4, and you can't wake it up by waving your hand over it, or expect it to track your eye movements, but for a simple smartphone with 4G, GPS, Bluetooth, it's a marvel at $99. The 4G is slightly slower than 4GLTE, but is adequate for most tasks, especially considering the plethora of Wi-Fi available. I just watched the HD trailer for Ex Machina over 4G with no buffering. I wouldn't trade my S4 for this phone, but my wife sure wanted to trade her S2 for it. And for many looking for their first smart phone, this would be an excellent choice.

UPDATE 5/31/2015: I just downgraded this phone from 5 stars to 4 stars due to the disappointing quality of the phone's camera. I have been using the phone for awhile now, and everything I said below still applies. However, after now having taken numerous pictures, I realized the picture quality is poor to average. The camera has trouble focusing and most of the shots come out a little bit grainy, especially for 5mp camera (which is what my older model LG phone had). If BLU cut corners on this phone to keep the price down, then this is where they cut it. Do not purchase this phone if you take a lot of pictures and the quality of those pictures is important to you.

Bottom line, for my needs, this phone is great. And so is the price. I like the Android OS, as that is what I am used to. My cell phone needs are basic, but I do appreciate the 2 cameras, and especially appreciate the generous screen size, something that was sorely lacking on my previous LG phone. I don't often run multiple apps at the same time. My gaming needs are extremely simple. And, I never used my cell phone for watching long-playing videos or movies--but that may now change with this fantastic, large screen!

I am with Metro PCS and had to upgrade my phone to a GSM model, anyway, so this phone arrived at the perfect time, and it works great with Metro. I didn't have any trouble opening the phone to install the battery (just slid a finger nail underneath the case). I took the phone to a Metro PCS store and they installed a sim card and transferred my old SD card, and I was good to go.

I have to comment on a couple of items that were brought up in other reviews. I have no problem at all with using the Google speech to text function on this phone (both with Google search and with text messages). It was a little tricky to set up the voice function in the text messaging app (my last phone already had this feature installed), but I eventually found it in the Settings app, under Language and Input (you have to check the Google voice typing box). And, yes, the phone does a very soft and short vibrate when you touch the back or the home keys. For me, personally, this is not a problem (in fact, I didn't even notice it until it was mentioned in some other reviews!), but not everyone will feel the same, and there is a way to turn off this feature and others in the Settings App under Audio Profiles>General (hit icon to right)>scroll down to System (uncheck all boxes for sounds and vibration features you do not want).

I think this is a great phone at a great price. Does it have all the bells and whistles of an iPhone or a Galaxy? No, but I don't believe it is competing with those phones at this price point. If you are looking to spend around $100 on a cell phone, I think you will be very happy with this phone. One more important consideration:

It is very difficult, at least at this time, to find a case for this phone. Those that are available are the wallet style and ship directly from China. I did locate a case that is custom made for this BLU model (with the holes in the right place for camera use), but that was from another website that specializes in merchandise shipped from overseas. It will take a month or so to get here. In the meantime, I ordered Premium Faux Leather Universal Wallet Case for BLU Studio / Life / Vivo / Dash / Win Smartphones + SumacLife TM Wisdom Courage Wristband (White) to protect the phone until the custom case arrives. It is inexpensive, serviceable, and arrived in only a few days from California.

This is a definitely decent Smart Phone. It is fairly basic, but the big plus in regard to testing it out was it comes unlocked and is compatible with my service provider. In fact, it is compatible with other service providers as well. Just check compatibility with your SP before buying.
Currently I own an iPhone6 so making comparisons between the two phones doesn't seem very constructive because it is like comparing apples to oranges. I have been using an iPhone since it first came out and will continue using it. While this phone functions well in most ways (mail, calls, texting, Internet connection, etc.) there are a few things I don't like. The camera images are grainy and dull. There is a certain jerkiness and slowness if multiple apps are running simultaneously. The speakerphone is weak and the charging outlet is at the top of the phone and seems oddly placed because I am used to everything at the bottom of my iPhone. All are sort of minor complaints especially since this is a good deal for a Smart Phone that is pretty nice for the price and fairly substantial.
I like the colors available and size of the phone which is trim and not by any means clunky.
Overall, while this phone has minor limitations it is definitely serviceable and perfect if you don't want to spend a lot of $$ on a phone.

I've played around with a lot of phones for extended periods of time including the iPhone 4S, Casio Commando, LG G3, and my current Samsung Note 4. Going into this review and looking at the BLU Studio G's price tag I knew that I shouldn't expect current generation quality from it and what I ended up experiencing was an OK phone that does what it is meant to be; a backup smartphone for non-Verizon clients.

Compatibility:

Now, first and foremost, THIS PHONE WILL NOT WORK WITH VERIZON. The Studio G, while dual-sim, only works with GSM while Verizon uses CDMA making the phone incompatible with Verizon so just know this. I even called up Verizon, gave them the device's serial number (IMEI) and they told me it wouldn't work so if anyone says otherwise, I'd like to know how. It WILL, however, work with AT&T, T-Mobile, Metro-PCS, and various other phone providers as GSM is the global standard. While GSM exclusive, the Studio G is unlocked so you just grab a sim card from your local provider, plug it in, conduct a hardware swap online (most carriers have online support and self-service), and you're good to go.

Functionality:

I conducted a series of tests on the Studio G to see how well it would function under normal smartphones conditions such as internet research, funning apps, games, and video streaming.

The first test involved accessing my Gmail, Facebook, and Twitter accounts. While accessing and running Google Play seemed noticeably slower than other phones, I expected some degree of relative slowness compared to phones that cost roughly 5-7x this one (IE: the Samsung S6 and the iPhone 6). The Studio G performed adequately for these functions.

My next test involved downloading the playing certain apps, both offline and DRM (always online), to see how well the Studio G handled a larger workload. THIS is where the trouble started. While downloading Crusader's Quest the phone began to get warmer at a noticeable and, soon, alarming rate. While most phones get a little warm while updating and downloading, this was unusually warm. Before Crusader's Quest could finish the download I received an error message stating the phone's temperature was too high and I was forced to shut it down to avoid permanent damage. I waited five minutes to let it cool down and tried again.

While the device did boot up normally, the heat began to build up again once I began to play another game (Tetris) as Crusader's Quest failed to run on it. Through Tetris I learned the Studio G has a decent touch screen and response time but not the type I would trust playing games that require very quick responses especially if it involved player vs. player (PVP). I then tried downloading and running Netflix to see how well the Studio G handles streaming. Once I downloaded and logged into Netflix I gave the phone time to cool down to get the most objective trial. I then loaded up The Fifth Element (great film, BTW) and didn't last five minutes before I received another temperature warning and had to power down.

I ran into this issue almost every time I played a DRM game but not so much with offline games. This leads me to believe that the Studio G warms up too high if it needs to transmit a great deal of data even unto WiFi (which was my primary source of data exchange since I'm a Verizon client). This reinforces my idea that the Studio G is a backup phone only as I can't see myself getting used to such limitations till I get a new one whenever that may be.

Camera:

The camera is OK, a mere 5 megapixel, which is close to the iPhone 6 but still meh, and the camera function is very strobe-ish.

Overall:

All in all, the Studio G is a backup camera with severe limitations but, then again, you get what you pay for. The Studio G is NOT a longterm solution by any means.

For the money, this BLU Studio phone is a really good value. I use this as a spare phone, and though I don't like it as much as my every day phone, it really has all of the features that one could want. This primarily uses a Google platform, so it helps if you are already familiar with these products and features. The "Ask Google" feature is rather handy, and honestly, I find it to be more useful than Apple's Siri. (I prefer reading text, I guess.) The camera feature is adequate, although the resolution is not as high as other phones; but again, for the money, it's just fine. There is a radio feature that allows your headphones to serve as an antenna, which has come in handy in recent weather outages. It's not as fast or flashy as other Android phones, but that's not really what this phone is designed to be. If you're looking for fast or flash, this is not the phone for you. If you're looking for a basic phone with camera and messaging features, this is what you need.

I would say that this is a great phone for first time smart phone users or for those who only use their phones for basic functions. (I'm looking at you, Dad.) The price is great and it's easy to use. I'm glad to see that there are more reasonably priced phones like this one on the market today.

This phone is very good for what it is - an inexpensive, don't get locked into a carrier phone. It holds a charge all right, and the sound quality was not as bad as some of the other reviews indicated. That camera was below average, and given that I think most of us now use our phones as our cameras, this could be an issue. The display is sharp, and the ease of use is what you would expect from an
Android. The touch screen was a little slow by comparison to my BlackBerry. I am not a big app person, but the few I loaded installed quickly and worked well, without slowing the phone down too much. Synched with my BlueAnt with no problem. Mobile Hotspot worked with no problem.

I am very pleased with this phone. It is large, has a good amount of memory, has a very good sound and a good camera.

I measure the actually screen size at approximately 3 x 5 inches. This is the largest screen I have ever had on a smart phone.

The video quality is excellent. I have watched movies and television shows on the phone and been able to enjoy them thanks to the screen size and video quality. I have watched replays of parts of baseball games and horse races and found the picture quality excellent.

The phone comes with an FM radio. I also listen to music from other sources. The phone comes with an ear piece that I use when listening to the radio. I have listened to music on the phone without the earpiece and the sound quality is excellent considering it is coming from a phone.

The sound quality when I am talking to people on the phone is good as well. I have no trouble hearing someone or being heard.

The camera on this phone is good. It has many features including a flash. It has a main camera and a front camera. It has some nice features like a face beauty mode, normal mode, live photo mode and panorama mode. It has a video camera as well.

Because of the listed 4 GB of internal memory and 512 RAM I have been able to download a good number of apps. I have also been able to store a lot of photos.

I enjoy using all the Google features. Google has become very interactive. If I want to know the weather forecast, the score of a baseball game or the location of the nearest gas station all I do is verbally ask Google and get the answer. Google maps is great on this phone. I once was low on gas and asked the phone where the nearest gas station was and it mapped the route for me.

The voice recognition feature makes it rare that I have to manually type anything on this phone but when I do I am able to do so with my large fingers with ease because of the size of the phone. I have used other smart phones where I often press the wrong letter because they as so small on the screen.

The battery life for this phone is good. The phone comes with a USB cable and charger that can be plugged into and wall outlet.

When I am home or at places that have WIFI I use the WIFI feature. It works fine.

Th phone does come with a screen protector that I have yet to be able to make bubble free. When I called BLU phone support I got no help and was told to go a phone store to see if they could help. I will see about buying a better screen protector when I have the chance.

This is a great phone. It is like a small tablet.

I receive this phone about a week ago and have also purchased the Blu Studio Energy and love both of them. My background is coming from the Samsun# Galax# S4 and S5. I like the Galax# but always had a hard time using the keyboard for texting no mater if I used the one that came with it or downloaded one. I just could not get past that oh and the cost of one to buy outright. So I figured I would do some research and came up with this Blu brand cell phones. They are fairly new in the cell phone market kind of like HTC and others were but are now considered big brand name phones. The sound and screen quality are every bit as good as the big names out there. Oh and I bought a tempered glass screen protector and you cannot even tell it has a protector on it and does not smudge up anywhere as much with it on. I will never go back to using the peel and stick plastic screen protectors.
The build quality is just as good as the Samsun# and function every bit as well and even better with the keyboard. It seems that the Blu is much more accurate so I do not get anywhere as much typos anymore. This phone has a very high quality feel to it but does not slip out of my hand as easy compared with my past Samsun# phones. The rear camera quality is excellent and even better than my Studio Energy that I also have. Now the battery life is right on par with most other smart phones with about 2 days of average use before needing to recharge. My Studio Energy I almost always go 9-10 days on one battery charge which is insane and makes my wife with her iPhon# so mad because her's is always plugged into the wall or car outlet.
For the price point I have yet to come even close to finding a better phone that I really cannot find any flaws with. I don't think you will be disappointed with this phone or the Blu studio Energy which is very similar to this one but has a super long battery life. Either way you can't go wrong and I am had dot please when it comes to cell phones.

I'll admit it - the only reason I own a smart phone is because of BLU. I don't have to sign a contract that requires me to pay for a phone over the course of years; I don' t have to get some special plan that supports some impressive features of a phone. In fact, I pay $40/month for my service which has unlimited text, calls, and data (though speeds are throttled after 1GB, I believe.)

But despite it being a smart phone, I have a problem lumping it into a comparison between iPhones and Samsungs and such: those products are priced with a premium, do have some value-add, and while BLU holds its own admirably with basic functionality against them, the fact of the matter is that they are products with very different audiences. And BLU has found a great audience in our household.

This is our biggest BLU phone yet at 5.5". While I agree with some other reviewers that cutting off some of the memory despite Android become more resource intensive, in practice, I have not noticed a slow down at all. I don't generally have a lot of things going on my phone at the same time, but with a couple apps (web browser, amazon app store, audio player), nothing seems slow or lagging. As with other BLU phones, I'm impressed with the product considering its price point.

For this particular phone, the screen is obvious bigger, but also brighter and more vivid than our previous phones. The touch screen one one of our others has always been a bit spotty - it works, but sometimes a tiny bit more touch-contact is needed for it to realize you're touching it. That's not the case with this one - gentle touches work fine.

The cameras, while they're not going to replace my standalone camera for important pictures, takes acceptable pictures, and the audio (speaker), like all phones to me, is acceptable as well but certainly less than desirable. Quality headphones sound much nicer.

All in all, this is another winner from BLU. Fully featured, fully functional, and an excellent price point, as long as you're not comparing it to a device that has a different audience and is much more expensive, you really couldn't ask for a lot more from a phone. Recommended.

[Good]

No noticeable Android crapware: Crap ware describes useless apps that you can never delete. Even my Moto X has them. It is really nice that BLU decided not to install crap ware. Instead you have a nice clean Android phone. Normally you only get this with Nexus models from Google. This is so rare outside of the Apple world that I didn't want to rate this at 3 stars, especially for a budget phone.

Cheap: By comparison, unlocked iPhones are around $599 and Moto X is around $249.

Nice IPS screen: Is it comparable to an iPhone or top of the line Android phones? Not really but it's pretty nice for a budget phone.

Able to update to the latest Android version (currently Lollipop as of this review)

The battery is accessible. (Yes almost all Android phones have this feature. This point is for iPhone owners.)

Unlocked

5 megapixel camera for both front and back

[Ok]

It looks decent.

Build quality is so so. Then again most Android phones, even the Moto X, feel this way. Why? Because in exchange for being able to access the battery, you lose a lot of quality with the casing. Everything is plastic. Sometimes it's just cheap plastic, but other times it's covered with carbon fiber. It's rarely a nice all-metal and glass case like an iPhone. In Blu's defense, this is a general problem that affects 95% of phones, if not more.

Video is only 720P and not 1080P. Until 4k is widespread, this is probably something most people won't notice.

[Bad]

Only 512 MB RAM: Why is this bad? Android is a resource hog, meaning in exchange for customization and widgets; you need a strong CPU and a lot of RAM. While the CPU is decent, you really need at least 1 GB of RAM or you'll see slowdown with everyday use.

[Misc]

It can use SD cards up to 64 GB in size.

[Verdict]

This is way better than the budget LG Android phone that I owned, but I would get the BLU Studio X Plus - Unlocked - Black instead even though it's about fifty dollars more as of this review. Why? Because it has double the RAM and the screen is slightly bigger as well.