BLU Life Play hands-on

The bright-colored BLU Life Play is the most affordable member of the recently launched Android smartphone series by the Miami-based manufacturer. Priced at only $229 with no contract, the dual-SIM handset offers tremendous value without heavily skimping on the hardware specs.

Like the BLU Life View and the BLU Life One, the entry-level Life Play features a MediaTek MT6589 SoC with 1.2GHz quad-core Cortex-A7 CPU, a PowerVR Series5XT series GPU, and 1GB of RAM. The rest of the specs include an impressive for the price range, 4.7” 720p IPS display, 8MP main camera, and 2MP front-facing snapper. There’s 4GB of built-in memory on board, which can be further expanded via microSD card slot. The handset is powered by a removable 1,800mAh battery.

BLU Life Play live photos

As the smallest of the Life trio, the BLU Life Play is not as imposing as its larger siblings. Instead, the Life Play features an impressively slim waistline. Its measures are 137 x 68.4 x 7.9 mm, while its weight tips the scale at 125 grams.

The Life Play is the most elegant member of the Life series

The device features an all-plastic build which, while not as solid as the one found in the rest of the family, still feels like it will handle wear and tear quite well.

Software-wise, the Life View boots Android 4.2 out of the box. The quad-core SoC, while not the speediest around, offers a pleasant, hiccup-free experience.

Overall, the BLU Life Play looks poised to redefine the norm for a budget Android smartphone. Given that most of the device’s specs can be found in last year’s batch of Android flagships, the BLU Life Play offers an upper mid-range experience for entry-level money – a good deal any way you look at it. The smartphone will hit a number of major online retailers at the end of this month.