BLU has unveiled a new affordable smartphone again with interesting features – BLU Bold N1.
The BLU Bold N1 comes with a 6.4-inch 1080×2340 AMOLED touchscreen with no notch or punch hole. The company quotes a 92% screen-to-body ratio, and the display is covered with Gorilla Glass 5. There’s an in-display fingerprint sensor too. A 13 MP pop-up selfie camera explains the lack of notch/hole punch. It has f/2.0 aperture and the sensor is 1/4″. It has a wide-angle mode too.
On the rear there’s a 16 MP main shooter with the Sony IMX499 1/2.8″ sensor with f/1.8 aperture. 30x digital zoom is available, as well as a dedicated Night Mode that combines three images into one. You also get a 5 MP depth sensor alongside this main snapper, and an LED flash. Video capture is in 1080p at 30fps.
The Bold N1 is powered by the MediaTek Helio P70 chipset, and it has 4GB of RAM and 128GB of expandable storage. A 3,500 mAh battery keeps the lights on, and it supports 18W Ultra Quick Charge through USB-C with the included brick as well as wireless charging. The N1 is available in Raven Black.
Bold’s promise is “flagship-like performance and design at a fraction of the cost”, with “specs that have never existed at similar pricing”. Expect to see only one or two Bold devices per year – a stark contrast to BLU’s modus operandi.
The N1 runs Android 9 Pie out of the box, with a guaranteed update to Android 10 coming at some point in the future. You will also receive two years of security updates.
BLU Bold N1 Specifications
Network Properties
- 2G bands: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 – SIM 1 & SIM 2
- 3G bands: HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700(AWS) / 1900 / 2100
- 4G bands: LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 12(700), 13(700), 17(700), 28(700)
- Speed: HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A (2CA) Cat6 300/50 Mbps
Launch
- Announced: 2019, September
- Status: Available. Released 2019, September
Design
- Dimensions: 158.7 x 74.1 x 8.6 mm (6.25 x 2.92 x 0.34 in)
- Weight: 182 g
- Colours: Raven Black
- SIM: Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
Display
- Type: IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
- Size: 6.4 inches, 100.5 cm2 (~85.5% screen-to-body ratio)
- Resolution: 1080 x 2340 pixels, 19.5:9 ratio (~403 ppi density)
- Protection: Corning Gorilla Glass 5
Operating System
- Android 9.0 (Pie), planned upgrade to Android 10.0
Hardware
- Chipset: Mediatek MT6771V Helio P70 (12nm)
- CPU: Octa-core (4×2.1 GHz Cortex-A73 & 4×2.1 GHz Cortex-A53)
- GPU: Mali-G72 MP3
- Storage: 128GB 4GB RAM
- Memory Card slot: microSD, up to 128 GB
Cameras
- Main Camera: Dual
- 16 MP, f/1.8, 1/2.8″, PDAF
- 5 MP, f/2.2, 1/5″, depth sensor
- Features: LED flash, HDR, panorama
- Video: 1080p@30fps
- Selfie Camera: Single – Motorized pop-up 13 MP, f/2.0, 1/4″
- Video: 1080p@30fps
Multimedia
- FM Radio: Yes
- Loudspeaker: Yes
- Audio 3.5mm jack: Yes
Connectivity
- WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot
- Bluetooth: 4.1, A2DP, LE
- GPS: Yes, with A-GPS
- USB: 2.0, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector, USB On-The-Go
Other Features
- Sensors: Fingerprint (under display, optical), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass
Battery
- Battery Type & Capacity: Non-removable Li-Po 3500 mAh battery
- Charging: Fast battery charging 18W
- Fast Qi wireless charging 10W
BLU Bold N1 Price and Availability
Bold is supposedly going to have a more premium positioning, as a brand, than BLU. That said, the N1 is priced at $250, and you can currently get it for only $200 if you buy from the official website. Act fast though, for this is a limited time offer.
