Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Phones
  3. Android
  4. Mobile
  5. News

For only $100 unlocked, the Blu Studio Touch brings the affordable boom

Add as a preferred source on Google
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Florida-based phone manufacturer Blu Products may not be known for making the best Android devices around, but it is known for making some of the most affordable ones. That trend looks to continue with the recently announced Studio Touch.

The biggest selling points of the Studio Touch are its $100 price tag and the inclusion of a fingerprint sensor that might also act as the phone’s home button. It is very rare to see a fingerprint sensor on a phone that’s so affordable, so it will be interesting to see how well the sensor works.

Recommended Videos

Elsewhere, the Studio Touch is much more tame, with the phone featuring a 5-inch, 1,280 x 720p resolution IPS display, with a 5-megapixel shooter with LED flash on the front and an 8-megapixel camera around back. A 1GHz quad-core MediaTek 6735P processor alongside 1GB of RAM power the phone, with only 8GB of native storage out of the box. Thankfully, you can add up to an additional 64GB through the Micro SD card slot.

Furthermore, the 2,500mAh battery inside the Studio Touch should be enough for a full day of usage. Finally, the phone runs Android Marshmallow out of the box, but because Blu has a spotty track record when it comes to updates, it is unknown whether the phone will get the upcoming Android Nougat update.

If there is enough here to peak your interest, the Studio Touch is currently available through Amazon. If you are willing to wait until September, however, there will be a beefier version of the phone with 2GB RAM and 16GB of native storage. You will have to pay an extra $10 to grab it, but it seems worth it to be able to have more than a handful of apps running at the same time while not needing to worry as much about getting a Micro SD card.

If you are interested in going even cheaper, however, Amazon does sell a version of the Blu R1 HD for Prime subscribers that comes with ads, with the phone starting at $50. Without the ads, however, the phone’s price jumps to the same $100 the Studio Touch goes for.

Williams Pelegrin
Williams is an avid New York Yankees fan, speaks Spanish, resides in Colorado, and has an affinity for Frosted Flakes. Send…
Samsung finally switched to silicon-carbon battery on Galaxy Z Fold 8. What’s so special about it?
One of Galaxy Z Fold 8’s biggest upgrade is hiding inside
Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra with Fold 8

Samsung has finally joined the silicon-carbon battery race with its latest batch of premium foldables packing the new battery tech. But details for this change were rather hard to spot on the spec sheets. The company has confirmed during media briefings that the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold 8, and Galaxy Z Flip 8 all use silicon-carbon batteries.

Even then, the resulting capacities are hardly record-breaking. The Fold 8 Ultra carries a 5,000mAh battery, the regular Fold 8 gets 4,800mAh, and the Flip 8 has 4,300mAh. Rivals from Honor and Motorola have already crossed the 6,000mAh mark. But the figures only tell part of the story.

Read more
I’ve used foldable phones for years. Here’s how to pick the right one between the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Flip 8
Samsung’s three new foldables solve very different problems
Galaxy foldables with its screen visible

After years of reviewing foldable smartphones, I have learned that choosing one involves much more than what looks pretty or how large you want. Book-style foldables are usually sold as productivity machines, while flip phones cater to people who value portability. Samsung’s latest lineup complicates that choice by introducing two very different book-style models alongside its familiar clamshell.

Most of their shared specifications fade into the background once you start using them. Their shapes and screens have a much greater impact on daily life. So here's how I'd make a decision when choosing between the new Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold 8, and Galaxy Z Flip 8.

Read more
How to set up selfie video sign-in for your Google account
Your face can now serve as a way to get back into your Google account. Here's how to set it up.
Google account selfie sign in tutorial featured

Losing access to a Google account is rarely a quick fix, but Google has been actively working to make things easier. Last year, the company introduced a feature called Recovery Contacts that lets you designate a trusted friend or family member to verify your identity if you ever get locked out. Now, Google has introduced a new option, one that uses your face to get you back in instead of a phone call to a friend.

Like Recovery Contacts, the new selfie video authentication feature requires some setup before you can use your face to sign into your Google account. This involves recording the reference video that Google will use to verify your identity whenever you attempt to log in this way. Here's how to set up selfie video sign-in for your Google account.

Read more