Earlier this year budget phone maker BLU launched a $179 smartphone with a 5,000 mAh battery called the Studio Energy. Now the company is updating the Energy line of big-batteried phones with two new models.

The BLU Studio Energy 2 has the same battery and price tag as the original, but most other specs have been improved. Looking for something cheaper? The BLU Energy X is a $109 model with entry-level specs… except for its 4,000 mAh battery.

blu studio energy 2_05

Both phones are dual-SIM GSM phones, although the cheaper model is 3G-only, while the Studio Energy 2 supports 4G LTE. Here are some more specs for each model:

BLU Studio Energy 2

  • 5 inch, 1280 x 720 pixel Super AMOLED display with Gorilla Glass 3
  • MediaTek MT6735 quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU
  • Android 5.0
  • 1.5GB RAM
  • 16GB storage
  • microSD card slot (up to 64GB)
  • 8MP rear camera and 5MP front camera
  • 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, FM radio, and A-GPS
  • 5,000 mAh battery for up to 3 days of use
  • Quick Charge for 8 hours talk time from 20 minute charge
  • 144mm x 71.2mm x 10.1mm
  • 176 grams

BLU Energy X

  • 5 inch, 1280 x 720 pixel IPS display with Gorilla Glass 3
  • MediaTek MT6580 quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU
  • Android 5.1
  • 1GB RAM
  • 8GB storage
  • microSD card slot (up to 64GB)
  • 8Mp rear camer aand 2MP front camera
  • 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, FM radio, and A-GPS
  • 4,000 mAh battery for up to 3 days of use
  • 142mm x 70mm x 8.9mm
  • 154 grams

The BLU Energy X is available from Amazon for $109, while the Studio Energy 2 is available for $180.

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28 replies on “BLU launches more cheap phones with BIG batteries”

  1. I’ve used this phone’s predecessor (studio energy) for the past ~5 months. Performance is weak but the features and battery life are outstanding.

    The biggest disappointment is that Blu promised a lollipop update in July and that never happened.

  2. Beautiful, but would it have killed them to put in a fingerprint sensor? It’s almost 2016; there’s no excuse not to at least have it as an option on the “more expensive” of the two models.

    1. $179 isn’t really expensive though, so yeah, it probably would have killed them… Give it another year or two.

      1. What I meant by “have it as an option” was making the feature available for an increased cost; much in the same way some phones come with the option of increased storage size, but at an increased cost. I doubt a finger-print sensor would’ve cost them more than $20 to add, and I would definitely have paid for it. (Estimates are that Apple’s fingerprint scanner for the 5s increased cost by $7 over the 5c: https://technology.ihs.com/451425/groundbreaking-iphone-5s-carries-199-bom-and-manufacturing-cost-ihs-teardown-reveals , granted Apple owns the company that makes it, but it’s a decent general idea).

        1. $20 doesn’t seem like much but that is just the cost of the sensor, there is also manufacturing and software development costs associated with it. In the end it’s probably closer to $30 per unit for a company like Blu. If Blu only sold 100,000 of these (which is really low number in this industry) that it’s a $3 million hit. That’s a lot easier for a company like Apple to absorb than it is for Blu. Apple also has their own in house software engineers and owns most of the companies they get their parts from.

          1. Well, the estimate I linked was $7 for the sensor; I increased it to $20 to account for the extraneous costs. but even if it was $40, I and I’m sure many others would be willing to pay that ; that is $220 for a fingerprint version.

          2. I have a fingerprint phone and while nice it’s not a feature I would ever pay extra for. You would. Consumer’s are all different when it comes to this. When Gionee designed this phone they did market research like they do with all their phones and they decided for it to sell it needed to be under $200 as much as possible. That is R&D.

  3. A large battery has completely changed the way I use my phone (plus a 6″ screen). My phone is something I feel I can rely on now. Mid-range specs coupled with a 4k mAh battery gives me 3 days of extensive use.

    Knowing this, I have no problems with hours of calls, hours on the net, running GPS, running several apps, music, antennas on. Getting through a single day with this kind of use – no problem. It’s the first time I’ve felt liberated with a smartphone.

    1. Ascend Mate 2. Greatest phone in the world. I am ridiculously happy with this purchase.

      1. Great guess considering that I was being purposely vague:) 6.1″, 2gb ram (makes a huge difference over other mid-range phones).

        After I rooted it directly following instructions from apk (“root Android without pc” author: quillapps; device name: mt2L03) – pretty much have my dream phone! I can’t even look at flagships anymore, especially when it’s clear they can’t do a full day at full throttle.

      1. Thanks for the link! It’s been an odd feeling not charging the battery daily (habit from previous phones). Love starting the day at 100%. Reading the study now.

  4. problem is these manufacture dont optimize their phone and mediatek drink too much battery, even with 5000mah you wont get battery life like z3c with 2600mah

      1. and how do phonearena test those phone? they just run script. in their test lumia 630 is best windows phone in terms of battery life, but in reality it isnt, there are many flaw in their test.

        too bad gsmarena didnt test this phone, their test is more accurate

        1. https://m.pocketnow.com/2015/03/27/blu-studio-energy-battery
          I guess you’re right. I’ve gotten almost 6 hours with my oneplus one before but now it’s 3-4 hours SOT, I think android wear really effects battery life.
          I’m amazed at how long a samsung galaxy s5 can go in ultra power saving mode. Are there any other phones with amoled and ultra power saving mode?

    1. I have mediatek THL 5000 (5000mah). It has fullHD resolution. Battery lasts about 2 days but it depends on usage. What matters the most is screen-on time, it is 8-10 hours.

      1. xperia z3c can get you almost 10hrs of onscreen time with half of that battery (2600mah) and some users claiming up to 15hrs of onscreen time, thats why i said they dont know how to optimize their phones. imagine z3c with little thickness and 5000mah battery you could get all day onscreen time.

        1. Unless you did some ridiculous tweaking, there is no way anyone got 15 hours of screen time. Either that or they displayed a black image for 15 hours on their screen.

        2. Optimizing a phone has nothing to do with Mediatek, it has to do with the Blu or Sony or whoever makes the phone. The THL 5000 is known to get over 10 hours of on screen time. The difference between it and your Z3C is the 5000 has a 5 inch 1080p display, the Z3c has a 4.6 inch 720p display. If you put a 1080p in the Z3 your battery life would be cut in half.

    2. I have a Meizu MX5 with 3000mAh and MT6795 and I get incredibly battery life. Mediatek and Qualcomm both have devices with bad battery life. The processor usually isn’t the culprit, the software it runs is. A lot of UI’s are resource hogs and run too much in the background which ultimately kills your battery. Another issue is the type of display it has.

      1. Nah its not, it has mediocre batterylife Gsmarena already reviewed it

        https://cdn.gsmarena.com/imgroot/reviews/15/meizu-mx5/battery/-728×314/gsmarena_001.jpg

        compare to z3c

        https://cdn.gsmarena.com/vv/reviewsimg/sony-xperia-z3-compact/battest.jpg

        yours has worst standby time which is not shown in test

        look at Gsmarena battery database you will see most of phones with good battery life they use snapdragon 800/801, only lenovo zuk with 4100mah has good battery life with mediatek, but its not that impresive due to huge 4100mah battery

        https://www.gsmarena.com/battery-test.php3

        1. I don’t guy by simulated tests, I go by my own usage. But the difference between a MX5 and a Z3C is massive. The MX5 has a 5.5 inch 1080p Super AMOLED display, the Z3C has a 720p 4.6 inch LCD display. The display is one of the biggest power users on any phone. A larger display with a full HD panel required twice as much power as a 720p panel on a smaller display. But seeing as you love benchmarks so much let’s look at Phonearenas:

          https://www.phonearena.com/phones/benchmarks

          Scroll down to battery you will see their top phone is the Blu Studio Energy. Which features a Mediatek SoC. Unless you have two phones with the same exact specs but one has a MTK and the other has a Qualcomm SoC it’s really hard to blame the SoC for battery life. Everything from display to poor software optimization affected battery life. Display is the biggest one.

  5. Why do phonemakers like to reverse the capacitive touch navigation buttons. That just screams frustration.

    1. I got use to it. I use to use software keys on my oneplus one but then switched to hardware. Now whenever I use software keys or Samsung phones I get frustrated. They should let you be able to reverse them if you want

  6. WOW that is CHEAP for very a reasonable phone. You would not even need insurance, just a good case.

    I can only hope other phones fall in price as well.

Comments are closed.