This is a very impressive phone which is a viable alternative for those of us who won't pay five hundred bucks or more for a premium brand phone.

This does everything an iPhone does including taking HD videos. It also has come a long way since the first BLU phone I reviewed in the looks and design department, the camera department, and the screen brightness and resolution. It also found and connected with my home network immediately, something the old first BLU phone never managed to do.

This boasts two impressive 13 megapixel cameras with Sony sensors on both the front and back. Both cameras have automatic flash, and the photos I took with this on each camera were stunning. There are a couple of fun software imaging programs included which smooth out skin and narrow faces, as well as convert color photos to black and white.

While the first BLU phone I reviewed was a bulky bright ugly pink affair with nothing but glitches, I'm happy to report that this is a completely sleek, thin, lightweight slick and beautiful phone. It comes with headphones for listening to music and FM radio, charging cord, clear protective case and screen protector.

The instruction booklet, in both Spanish and English, is printed so that you will need a magnifying glass to read it, and is just a very cursory guide to a few features written an a brief incomplete way.

The large screen will light up a dark room, and the colors and resolution are beautiful. This is a handy size for pocket or purse and while not being too small is still small enough to fit into my small purse. The screen is even good enough to enjoy viewing an entire movie on, despite the small size.

This uses the Android KitKat operating system. Sound quality is amazing.
Check out some of the impressive specs:

4.7" HD Display: (720x1280) 13.0MP Front and Back Camera with LED Flash with HD recording (1080p).
* 16GB Internal Storage with 2GB RAM and a Micro SD up to 64 GB
* 1.7 GHz Octa-Core Processor with MALI 450 GPU , Android 4.4 KitKat
* Premium Sound Quality with Wolfsan WM8918 audio chip

Every feature of a high priced iPhone is included in this, aside from video capability. Nothing is second rate or noticeably shabby about this phone. On the contrary, it looks beautiful, charged up very fast, is a pleasure to use, and is a thoroughly well thought out and perfectly designed powerhouse. Setup, including updating the firmware, was done in five minutes.

You don't need to pay over five hundred dollars for a full featured, beautiful thin lightweight powerful phone which you will be buying a separate case and screen protector for any more. You only need to pay the current list price for this BLU Selfie of $249. Put in your Sim Card and congratulate yourself on your intelligence for saving all that money.

I apologize upfront for such a long video, but I tried to show off the hardware and user interface, as well as giving my impressions of the phone. To save you some time, the highlights are listed below. I've also uploaded a higher quality version of the same video to YouTube (see comments section for the address).

I've been using this for about three weeks now, and I'm overall quite pleased with it. First off, this is a very nicely made phone that performs well. No part of it feels cheap. The Gorilla Glass 3 screen feels great, and I expect it to hold up as nicely as my Galaxy S3 screen that has the previous generation of that glass (and the S3 screen has remained pristine after almost three years without a screen protector).

The cameras and screen are big highlights of this model, and clearly the front camera is the biggest marketing point. Do the cameras live up to the hype? I sure think so! I clicked on the cameras almost right out of the box, and the back camera seemed on par with other nice camera phones that I've used. Then, I switched to the front camera. Woah (said in my best Keanu Reeves impression). I don't often find myself caught off guard by tech gadgets these days, but the clarity was outstanding compared to other phones that I'd used prior to that. I just bought a Fire Phone this past week, and it also has a nice front camerabut it's not Android, and that comes with some issues. So, for Android phones, this is the best that I've seen. After using the rear camera more, I noticed that it is much better at focusing in close than my S3. It can't get super close without using one of the pretty inexpensive add-on lenses available on Amazon, but it does a very nice job of focusing within a couple of inches. Although not unique to this model, it just amazes me that you can buy this for about what I paid for a much lower resolution camera eight-ish years ago, and not only does it blow that camera away, but it's also a fully capable smart phone. Just staggering what you can get these days.

The screen is just beautiful. The specs on the resolution make it seem weaker than others, and based on specs I would have passed on this, but I think that it looks fantastic with no signs of a lack of detail. Brightness is great, as are the colors. Seriously, there is just nothing about the screen that I don't like.

As for the BLU user interface, it's more iOS than Android - but you can tweak it a bit and get close to the feel of an Android interface without installing a different interface. By "more iOS," I mean that all of the apps are shown on the home screens - there is no app tray like stock Android has. I show in the video how I essentially got an app tray, which was just by putting apps into a folder and then putting that folder on the bottom set of icons. It's really easy to do. After I did that, it felt a lot more like my other phones to me. Just keep in mind that the apps on the home screens are not short cuts like on regular Android, so if you drag them to the trash icon, it uninstalls them instead of just removing them from the home screen (it says that, but I almost did it before I looked harder).

One issue that I've had with mine involves (what I believe is) the coating on the glass screen. I think it has a coating to help prevent smudging and finger prints, but the coating was not uniformly applied. The bottom right corner has a very distinctive patch that shows up pretty quickly after I've used it for just a couple of minutes. The patch looks like a giant smudge, but the pattern is always the same, so I know it's not just how I'm using it. I can get the whole screen perfectly clean with a cloth and can't see it at all, but it shows up as soon as any of my finger oils get on the screen. Hopefully mine is an anomaly and not characteristic of the phones in general because it does distract from the user experience.

Pros:
(*) Rock solid build quality, including Gorilla Glass 3
(*) Very nice camera quality and performance
(*) Excellent screen quality and clarity
(*) Snappy performance - I've never once found myself being impatient as I wait for something to happen
(*) Surprisingly (to me) nice audio quality from the built in speaker - far better than the one on my S3
(*) Dedicated camera button
(*) You can use either dual SIM cards, or one SIM card and a Micro SD card
(*) It comes with a case and screen protector

Notes (not Cons, really, but things to know):
(*) You cannot get to the battery to replace it or swap it out. Well, at least without disassembling the phone, that is. The back panel does not come off of this
(*) It has 4G, but it is not LTE. This phone gets about 9-10 Mbps on T-Mobile in my area, which is the same as my Kata i3s that has 3G HSPA+. LTE on T-Mobile here is about twice that fast on my Fire Phone
(*) There is no notification LED on the front. I really like that feature on my S3, but this one doesn't have one (well, either does the Fire Phone)
(*) The charging port on the bottom is off center and at an angle, so there probably will never be a docking station for this
(*) You likely won't be able to find any third-party cases or holders that are form fitting for this

In conclusion, I like the BLU Selfie quite a bit. It's not perfect for my wants, including a lack of LTE, no LED indicator light, and no easy way to replace the battery. However, it has a lot of great qualities, including being very nicely made with great cameras - and, after all, those cameras are probably why you're looking at this to begin with. :)

I love this phone! It is sleek and stylish and packed with useful features--once you figure them out.

First, I appreciate how complete this package is. You get the phone, a cover, power cord and charger, ear buds, screen protector, battery and a device to open the SIM/SD card tray. Most phones just come with a power cord and charger--if you are lucky. The cover is clear and rubberized, so it grips well and you can hardly tell it is there. All of the other accessories are white to match the color of the phone. It is lightweight and very attractive.

Unfortunately, the manufacturer only sent one screen protector, which was VERY hard to put on. It trapped dust underneath and scratched when I tried to mount it. I much prefer the nano screens that you apply with a few drops of water and a miniature squeegee. Also, this screen cover has some serious glare and shows every fingerprint and smudge. I find myself wiping the front of my phone across my pants frequently to remove the grease--which might possibly weird out the casual observer.

You can tell the Android system on this phone is newer. They are obviously trying to make it more like the i-Phone in appearance. I love the rounded "buttons" for the apps. They seem to look best against a lighter colored wallpaper (of which there is a fairly decent selection).

I am not terribly pleased with the fact that the charms for widgets/settings/pages, home and back arrow at the bottom disappear after a while. You have to remember their locations and push the general vicinity to activate them while using the phone. This is not too hard, as there are only three--one on each side, plus the home button in the middle--it's just a bit unnerving.

It's great that this phone comes unlocked. That way you can use it with any service provider that uses a micro SIM card. One unique feature of this phone is its ability to house and use two SIM cards. That way, you can have a single device for your personal phone number and one to ring for your business. You may also have one carrier you normally use, and slip in another SIM to travel abroad. The only down side is that, if you use two SIMs, there is no place to put an SD card, as one of the phone cards would take the space where you put your memory card. The good news is that this phone has so much internal storage, you may not need the additional space--unless you keep lots of photos, videos, etc., on your phone. Be patient with the card tray, as it takes so careful manipulation to get the cards to stay put and slide in place. Also, be prepared for the phone to alert you each time it powers on that the second SIM is not detected, should you use an SD card, as I do.

The memory and processing capabilities make BLU Selfie super-fast! Way faster than my HTC could ever have been. Downloads from the Play Store, emails, etc., take almost no time at all. The phone also charges quickly and stays charged most of the day. I wish it had an indicator light to show when it is charging and at 100%. Instead, you have to push the power button at the top and check the screen or open the battery setting to find out the status of your charge. I love that you can program this phone to automatically shut off and start up at set times of the day. It makes a pleasant chime when it goes off and comes back on, so it is almost as good as having an alarm set.

The FM radio feature is fun. You attach the ear phones, and the cord acts as an antenna. The phone will search and post a list of available stations in your area, so you don't have to use the advance buttons to find something to listen to. Just pull up the list, and click on the stations you want. You can also save your favorites, which are listed at the top of the series of stations, marked with a star. You can record off of the radio, as well. Therefore, if a station plays a song or program you really like, it can be saved for you to listen to again later. If you download an app to create ringtones, this would be a useful feature, as well. Should you hear something you want to share with a friend, or decide you don't want to use ear phones, just hit the speaker option in the menu to the right of the program. You still have to keep the earphones attached for reception, but the music/talk can be heard by you and/or others in the room. I would like it if I could enter a station ID or type next to my favorites in the list, at least. However, the app does display song titles, station identification, phone numbers, etc., for those stations that utilize that capability.

The camera is nice. I spent an afternoon hiking and took several photos of the amazing scenery. It takes fantastic selfies with much better focus than other phones. You can zoom in on something far away, simply by spreading your fingers from the focal point on the screen. If you push the camera button and power button at the same time, the camera will come on without you having to unlock your phone. This makes it easier to catch those unexpected shots. However, the location of the camera button can be a pain when you DON"T want it, as it is located right where you would naturally grip the phone to turn it on. There are not a lot of other options with the camera, though. It has panorama capabilities that allows you to take a full 360 photo (not just a 90-180 degree shot like most). The camera even shows you how to line up your shot as you sweep over the scene. There are features to make your face more cosmetically pleasing, but I did not have good results with those. You have options for auto, suppressed or forced flash pictures. However, I did not find a macro feature, low-lighting or night photo settings, stop-action or other features I had on my older phone. The lens is so sensitive and the exposure time is rather slow, so you have to hold the camera absolutely still, or your pictures will be blurry. The program to modify your photos lets you crop, recolor, frame, rotate, etc., so you do not have to load pictures from your phone onto your computer before uploading onto the internet.

I missed some of the features on my T-Mobile phone that Blu Selfie does not have. First, there are a lot fewer and more simple widgets on this phone. On my HTC, my clock and calendar had built-in weather options. There's not even a decent widget for weather alone (It comes with a weather/news option, but who wants a dose of "doom and gloom" every time they look at a forecast?). Second, there are only five basic (very boring) ring tones, two alarm sounds and a few alert options. I had to download mp3s of these just to have enough variety to identify my contacts and alert functions on the phone. There were fewer apps that came preloaded, as well, so I spent quite a bit of time in the Play Store, installing what came standard on my old phone.

I did not like having all my apps displayed on my home screens. On my old phone, I could determine what app buttons were on my screens and which were hidden. On the Blu Selfie, I had to either deactivate or create folders for apps I don't care for or don't plan to use much. It was also annoying to have the update for my OS automatically add apps I did not ask for.

It is really disappointing how little instruction comes with this phone. I know the trend nowadays is to make all our operating manuals electronic, but the enclosed booklet and Blu Help feature do not come with enough information to tell me how to utilize even the most basic features on the phone. I missed two calls before before I was able to figure out how to answer an incoming call (Tap the white phone icon and swipe toward the green phone icon that shows up on the right.). I fiddled for hours with the thing to learn how to manipulate other features. The color on this phone is beautiful; however the graphics tend to be somewhat fuzzy, I noticed, particularly on FaceBook.

All-in-all, this is a great phone. Visually challenged persons would find it particularly helpful, as it has big, bright buttons, and you can increase the size of the font. The screen is big enough to display more, too--another plus for low-vision users. The voice command search feature is very accurate and quite helpful. It is like having Siri to help you--but without the superfluous comments or attitude of that popular app. I highly recommend it for anyone.

Everything you need is in the box. This is a phone you play with and learn. Nothing appears missing except detailed instructions.
The most interesting feature to me is the dual SIM Card which, for many eliminates the need to carry two phones one for business and one for personal use. Or, I can switch between two plans (allowing me cheaper data options) or even dedicate one for international travel. Just remember, charge both devices.

BLU Selfie Phone:
1.7 GHz Octa-Core Processor with 2GB of RAM
4 G HSPA+, upto 64GB Micro SD
v4.4 KitKat Android
4.7”HD Corning Gorilla Glass 3 Screen that shows beautiful color and contrast in 720 x 1280 resolution

The phone has a built in FM radio which I can pick up on wifi when I'm tooling around with my hobbies.

Cameras: f/2.0 Apeture | HD 1080p @ 30 fps
both front and back cameras appear to be 13MP + with Sony IMX135 sensors that lets me shoot with an acute angle so pictures are more natural and less obvious selfies. The front facing camera has a dual flash so shadows across a face are less distracting. The back camera has a single flash.
BLU Final Touch Software gives the ability to adjust and enhance pictures. I can flatter myself with adjustments to:
Make Eyes larger (adjusts the whites and pupils)
Slim face
Smoothen skin (and remove blemishes)
Light Enhancer (lets me Whiten skin tones, helpful in a darkened room).

The cameras take excellent phone pictures with ease. The Gorilla glass is both strong and crack resistant and displays excellent color separation, to my eyes closely resembling our quality LED TV screen. Sound quality is good. Using the USB I can charge from my computer. The clear case fits snug on the phone with holes fitting all ports properly. A small lip protects the glass. It's a slim, smooth profile that doesn't pick up lint yet is not slippery to fall out of my hands. That’s good design execution.

The default settings are: Voice call, messaging, data connection. I can set for Roaming. Network In Data Connection I switch between SIM 1 or SIM 2 Data Connection. To change the preset time, I had to select my city of Phoenix. MALI 450 GPU helps with video gaming, YouTube videos and movies.

The only problem I have is with privacy and security. The installation pages ask me for my name and personal information. I was asked if I had a google account after which the following screen appeared and disappeared: “You agree that your phone may receive and install updates from Google. Your use of this phone is subject to the privacy policy and other terms. Learn more” I was not given the option to accept or deny. If this concerns you, you’ll need to check into the details more closely.

All in all, this is a solid phone with some great features which will appeal to many. For me, the BLU phone doesn’t have the ease of use of an iPhone but it is significantly cheaper and has features that I would like to see included on my iPhone. I love that it is unlocked.

What’s in the box:
User Manual
USB Cable
Wall Charger
Screen Protectors
RoHS Ear buds with noise cancellation
Opeaque white phone case (looks and feels like flexible silicon)
Pin tool to install SIM cards
BLUE Selfie Unlocked Phone

UPDATES TO COME, please have patience this is a log of experiences.
Price paid for this phone in early May 2015 was $249 and the price has already dropped considerably it's a tremendous bargain.

I seem to be the first non-Vine reviewer, so I will try to make this as detailed as possible. Obviously, the Vine reviewers get their product free in return for their prompt review, which tends to make it glow a bit. That's natural (I'm an ex-Vine reviewer, so I'm being honest here) and though there is no penalty from Amazon for writing a negative Vine review, getting an expensive item like this for free and having a deadline to write the review tempts the writer to list specs and advertising data rather than actually testing the different functions.

1. My wife wanted a new I-Phone 6, but since we are not on contract, it would mean either starting a contract or paying a huge price for the unlocked phone. She saw this phone on Amazon the week it was put in inventory, liked the price, liked the dual high-quality cameras and knew that she could return the phone if it did not live up to expectations. After a month of use, she is absolutely thrilled with it! She talks for hours and hours every day using her headphones and either holding the phone like a microphone or putting it next to where she's sitting. She uses her cameras every day, many selfies and many snaps for FB and also sent to individuals. She likes the great sound quality, either using the phone itself or using the FB voice chat system (she's Filipina and international calls, even using the calling cards, is at LEAST 15 cents per minute). Calls with this phone seem to result in less repetition in both directions (not so many "whats").
2. Set up was almost instantaneous: We use ATT's GoPhone prepay service and simply moved the SIM card and microSD card into the tray on the BLU, added her long list of contacts and she was in business. We also added the required apps, of course, including the Facebook stuff she uses, Skype, a few games, a great photo viewing app, and most importantly, Google Now Launcher, which makes managing her apps and screen presentation very easy for her.
3. This is a rugged phone! For myself, I bought the BLU Vivo Air phone which seemed very fragile but the Selfie phone is a little thicker, no glass back, just the gorilla glass screen. She does use the free case provided, but it is almost invisible and has helped with multiple drops so far. The wife uses her phone all day, while she cleans, while she walks, etc and she's a little accident prone, so it has hit the floor many times with no damage whatsoever.
4. Sound output on this phone is amazing! Especially with the BLU Buds provided. They have great bass response (FAR better than other earbuds we have and we have many, including Apple and the "best seller" Panasonics). They are comfortable, easy to insert and hold position securely. This phone, with the microSD card installed, holds her whole collection of current songs hundreds and they sound MUCH better than with any Ipod we've ever had.
5. Signal strength is GREAT! We are located about 12 miles from the ATT relay transmitter, but have good coverage with the Selfie that's always been a problem, since the house and out buildings (rural) all have metal roofs. WiFi is strong throughout the house, and we do not have drop-outs even though the wireless router is located in the back corner of a large house.
6. Battery is sufficient. Though this Selfie has a bigger battery than my own Vivo Air, my wife has to make sure she charges it when not in use SIMPLY BECAUSE SHE USES IT ALMOST CONSTANTLY. My own phone only needs to be topped up every 3 days or so, but it's usually sitting there idle. The Selfie is in constant use, usually voice calls or video calls, but also doing her Facebook stuff, playing a few games, listening to music, etc. I spend most of my time on my desktop computer, so most of those things are done there and besides, nobody calls me anyway :)

As said in other reviews, the Android operating system is adequate and will be upgraded next month. The Amoled screen allows very vivid, clear 1080p and photos are sharp and robust if taken properly. Anybody can take a bad picture with any camera, so it takes a little practice, of course it's just that this phone has a pretty good lens on both sides 13MP! So the potential is very good. The wife is a selfie addict, so she's constantly taking and deleting pictures of herself in fact I suspect she uses it kind of like a mirror.

That's all for now. There have been NO PROBLEMS or even difficulties with this phone. It is able to do everything the wife thought she'd need an Iphone6 to do, and does most of them BETTER. I will continue to add remarks as they occur.

When I first got this phone, it was mainly because I've shopped BLU brand for a long time and had never had one of their androids. I had the BLU WIN some time ago and was really pleasantly surprised about the build quality. The build quality on this one is just as good!

From the get go, this phone felt like it had a confused personality-- Selfie (with a 13MP selfie cam!!) plus dual sim!? I am not sure who will need the combination of those two features but they were two things I was personally interested in, so it only made sense for me to choose this one.

From opening the box you realize that this company goes all out-- full suite of charger, case, screen protection, everything you'd normally need to spend more money on. The build quality of the device is second to none. It's not a razor blade but it is well constructed, doesn't have any creaks or groans that often happen on phones, etc. The edge is real metal which is fantastic, and all of the buttons work well.

I was pretty pleased with the Android on this phone with one thing short: I couldn't figure out a way to uninstall Opera browser. I had no issue installing Chrome and using it as my default browser, but being a "pure google experience" person, I think they'd do one better to go pure google or nearly that, and it's not far from that short of the Opera issue.

On to the cameras-- they are good cameras, but there is one thing to keep in mind with the selfie cam-- it does have auto focus and that can sometimes be an adjustment as most phones have a fixed focus selfie cam-- so you might have to wait a second or two to get things best focused. Selfies are rarely time sensitive so this wasn't an issue at all, and some of the selfies produced were of the quality that you expect from the front facing camera. This can be great or terrible, depending on how you're looking!

On the dual SIM front, I can see where someone who is obsessed with the personal aspect of mobile phone would want to "not" carry a work phone as well, and if you are "fortunate enough" to have a carrier that allows you to bring the phone (AKA not Verizon) then you may have the opportunity to put both SIMs in this phone and not have to carry two phones.

Okay, maybe I do get it. You're so obsessed with selfies that you couldn't bare to carry a phone with a lower quality selfie cam, therefore you need a dual SIM. Okay!

The screen quality on the phone is excellent. Battery life is very good as well. If you are interested in dual SIM or a huge selfie cam megapixel count, I'd have no concerns recommending this phone with regards to features, functionality or quality. I'll definitely be giving this brand a closer look again in the future.

The challenge in reviewing a phone like the BLU Selfie is that it's tempting to compare it to phones that cost three times its list price. Against phones in that category, the Selfie is a 3.5 to 4 star phone. If, however, you only want to spend $250 on a phone without a contract, the Selfie easily deserves five-stars.

As is obvious from the ridiculous name, the Selfie's main selling point is its 13 megapixel cameras on both the front and the back. If the camera (especially the front one) is a priority for you, and this is your price point, go ahead and order the Selfie. You're not going to do better. If your expectations are for pictures comparable to a dedicated point-and-shoot, then you might want to take some time to look at the range of photos people have produced with the camera. With a little bit of time, and a steady hand, it produces quality phone pictures from the front or the back, but it's not as responsive (and the shutter doesn't seem to be as fast) as the cameras on higher-end phones.

Beyond that, the Selfie offers essentially a stock Android Kit-Kat experience, with a snappy 1.7 gigahertz, octacore processor and 2 GB of RAM. That's plenty of processing power for most Android apps and games, and they will look quite nice on the 720p screen. Videophiles should keep in mind that 720p is lower resolution than the 1080p ("Full HD") or Quad HD phones on the market, but - as a point of reference - 720p also looks fine on a 60" television. On a 4.7" screen, 720p pushes the resolution above the 300 pixels-per-inch (ppi) threshold that defines a "retina" display, and the bright, vivid screen on the Selfie should be more than adequate for most users. In addition, fewer pixels to push means less strain on the battery and the processor.

The beauty of Android is its flexibility, and I highly recommend swapping out the stock launcher on the Selfie with one of many excellent alternatives on the App Store (I like Nova Launcher). Beyond that, the Selfie is generally free of bloatware. The camera app is proprietary, and satisfactory - if a bit spartan. I understand that some folks still use phones to talk. Voice quality on the Selfie is unremarkable, and comparable to essentially every other phone on the market.

On the downside, the Selfie has an all-plastic body (with the exception of its gorilla-glass screen) and, as many other reviewers have noted, nearly a third of the front of the camera is taken up with the bezel. In addition to the aesthetics, as nearly every phone expert is quick to note, the Selfie is NOT an LTE phone, which means that data speeds will not be at the high end of available bandwidth in most urban areas in the US.

If the lack of LTE not a dealbreaker, the Selfie is likely the best phone right now for someone looking to inexpensively avoid a lengthy phone contract. It has quality components, solid (but plastic) build quality, a vivid screen, and solid cameras for the money.

I apologize upfront for such a long video, but I tried to show off the hardware and user interface, as well as giving my impressions of the phone. To save you some time, the highlights are listed below. I've also uploaded a higher quality version of the same video to YouTube (see comments section for the address).

I've been using this for about two weeks now, and I'm overall quite pleased with it. First off, this is a very nicely made phone that performs well. No part of it feels cheap. The Gorilla Glass 3 screen feels great, and I expect it to hold up as nicely as my Galaxy S3 screen that has the previous generation of that glass (and the S3 screen has remained pristine after almost three years without a screen protector).

The cameras and screen are big highlights of this model, and clearly the front camera is the biggest marketing point. Do the cameras live up to the hype? I sure think so! I clicked on the cameras almost right out of the box, and the back camera seemed on par with other nice camera phones that I've used. Then, I switched to the front camera. Woah (said in my best Keanu Reeves impression). I don't often find myself caught off guard by tech gadgets these days, but the clarity was outstanding compared to other phones that I'd used prior to that. I just bought a Fire Phone this past week, and it also has a nice front camerabut it's not Android, and that comes with some issues. So, for Android phones, this is the best that I've seen. After using the rear camera more, I noticed that it is much better at focusing in close than my S3. It can't get super close without using one of the pretty inexpensive add-on lenses available on Amazon, but it does a very nice job of focusing within a couple of inches. Although not unique to this model, it just amazes me that you can buy this for about what I paid for a much lower resolution camera eight-ish years ago, and not only does it blow that camera away, but it's also a fully capable smart phone. Just staggering what you can get these days.

The screen is just beautiful. The specs on the resolution make it seem weaker than others, and based on specs I would have passed on this, but I think that it looks fantastic with no signs of a lack of detail. Brightness is great, as are the colors. Seriously, there is just nothing about the screen that I don't like.

As for the BLU user interface, it's more iOS than Android - but you can tweak it a bit and get close to the feel of an Android interface without installing a different interface. By "more iOS," I mean that all of the apps are shown on the home screens - there is no app tray like stock Android has. I show in the video how I essentially got an app tray, which was just by putting apps into a folder and then putting that folder on the bottom set of icons. It's really easy to do. After I did that, it felt a lot more like my other phones to me. Just keep in mind that the apps on the home screens are not short cuts like on regular Android, so if you drag them to the trash icon, it uninstalls them instead of just removing them from the home screen (it says that, but I almost did it before I looked harder).

One issue that I've had with mine involves (what I believe is) the coating on the glass screen. I think it has a coating to help prevent smudging and finger prints, but the coating was not uniformly applied. The bottom right corner has a very distinctive patch that shows up pretty quickly after I've used it for just a couple of minutes. The patch looks like a giant smudge, but the pattern is always the same, so I know it's not just how I'm using it. I can get the whole screen perfectly clean with a cloth and can't see it at all, but it shows up as soon as any of my finger oils get on the screen. Hopefully mine is an anomaly and not characteristic of the phones in general because it does distract from the user experience.

Pros:
(*) Rock solid build quality, including Gorilla Glass 3
(*) Very nice camera quality and performance
(*) Excellent screen quality and clarity
(*) Snappy performance - I've never once found myself being impatient as I wait for something to happen
(*) Surprisingly (to me) nice audio quality from the built in speaker - far better than the one on my S3
(*) Dedicated camera button
(*) You can use either dual SIM cards, or one SIM card and a Micro SD card
(*) It comes with a case and screen protector

Notes (not Cons, really, but things to know):
(*) You cannot get to the battery to replace it or swap it out. Well, at least without disassembling the phone, that is. The back panel does not come off of this
(*) It has 4G, but it is not LTE. This phone gets about 9-10 Mbps on T-Mobile in my area, which is the same as my Kata i3s that has 3G HSPA+. LTE on T-Mobile here is about twice that fast on my Fire Phone
(*) There is no notification LED on the front. I really like that feature on my S3, but this one doesn't have one (well, either does the Fire Phone)
(*) The charging port on the bottom is off center and at an angle, so there probably will never be a docking station for this
(*) You likely won't be able to find any third-party cases or holders that are form fitting for this

In conclusion, I like the BLU Selfie quite a bit. It's not perfect for my wants, including a lack of LTE, no LED indicator light, and no easy way to replace the battery. However, it has a lot of great qualities, including being very nicely made with great cameras - and, after all, those cameras are probably why you're looking at this to begin with. :)

This is a complete package. The makers supply a protective case and screen cover, earphones/FM radio antenna, the USB cable and charger. However, it does not have a SIM Card or additional memory card. One of the biggest advantages that this model has over the iPhone is the ability to expand memory with a memory card (up to 64 GB over the 16 GB of internal memory).

The phone runs on an Android OS and navigation is very intuitive for me. There are three buttons below the screen for returning home, opening the settings and the back button. Screen swipes reveal the various apps. What I like about the screen configuration is that you can put the Application icons in specific locations, as opposed to the way the iOS does it. Apps are purchased through Google.

Call quality on both ends is excellent.

I was amazed at the image quality on the camera. The pictures are crisp and colorful. There is flash on the front and rear facing cameras. I noticed shutter lag on the screen facing camera. One nice touch on running the video recording is that the user can zoom in or zoom out as the recording is being performed. There are integrated features for modifying photos with included filters and settings, such as Sepia, mono, negative, blackboard and whiteboard. I do wish those options were available through the main screen, as opposed to a submenu. There are 2 modes that beat the iPhone: 1) Multiangle mode 2) Panoramic mode (vertical and horizontal).

I did not use the integrated FM radio since I use Amazon Prime radio stations; however, that is a nice feature where signal may not be ideal.

Camera size and ergonomics are excellent. There is a dedicated camera button, volume button and power button.

Overall, I am very pleased with the performance of this camera.

Two thumbs up!

With a name like Blu Selfie I wasn't sure what to expect, certainly not the impressive smart phone this turned out to be. Having used iPhones and Samsung phones you tend to expect a lot from a phone and the Blu Selfie can hold its own. It's feature rich and easy to use. The fact that this phone is reasonably priced and unlocked gives it an edge over a lot of other phones out there.

Five minutes after getting this phone I was up and running. It was just a matter of taking the SIM card out of my Samsung phone and inserting it in the dual SIM card holder (just a tad tricky) and running a software update. My contacts and email moved over without a hitch.

This is no flimsy phone, it's well built and should hold up to daily usage. I love the fact that it came with a screen protector and a case to protect it, sure would be nice if the competition did that, given how much more they charge for their products. Also included are some nice ear-buds, charger, SIM card changing tool, and instructions.

If you're in the market for a new phone this one is well worth considering. The dual SIM card capability is another feature that I find very intriguing as it expands the capabilities of the Blu Selfie.

The cameras in front and back produce quality pictures and the software that comes with it is fun for playing around with images. In the music playback area the sound is very good. The screen resolution is very good. I haven't really noticed anything about this unit not to like, which is a good thing. Take head Apple and Samsung.